Author: Wick

One of the aspects that couldn’t be captured well in this film, but I would have liked to see, is the film-makers’ return to his normal life. A life of traffic, cell phones, fast food, internet, and half-naked women in every advertisement. After spending 6 months sharing life in such simple, quiet, and holy ways.

In the Celtic tradition, there is a belief in “thin places”. Actual physical locations where the pursuit of God has occurred so often, or in such grand ways, that the veil between “Heaven” and earth are worn thin. If there is any such place, it seems the monastery from this documentary would be one. Life, ritual, and liturgy happening in very much the same way for almost a thousand years. To spend 6 months in this place, participating in this liturgical way of living….wow.

But then to return, not to a life and arena that one would consider “unholy”…..but rather, a creation that God is already involved in creating anew. Holiness breaking out all over the place. But still, very different from past 6 months in space and time.

Anyone who watches the film has a similar, albeit smaller, experience. Heck, anyone who attends worship services with a church family should probably have regular similar experiences. Many have had those moments….those experiences that make us want to stay doing whatever it is we’re doing because of how we are participating in God’s activity.

But we…we are not called to be monks. We are not called to sit and stare at video of a simpler life and drool over such freedom. We are not called to exist within the context and walls of a worshiping congregation. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) to live amidst a creation being renewed as people who have spent time in the presence of God. Who spend time in the presence of God. There is a similar “brotherhood” among us, as seen throughout the men of the Grand Chartreuse. When one joined their “family”, the new member would walk to each individual in the circle and they would embrace as kin.

Then the senior members would accompany them to their cell, and sing/pronounce blessings over this new one, and welcome them to a new way of living.

God is. We experience the presence of God. We experience the abandon that comes as both freedom and sacrifice. We are infinitely compelled by a Love that defines love. And we live from these, in and towards His Kingdom….”on Earth as it is in Heaven”…

I guess…all of that to say….it was a pretty good movie. 🙂

Setting the concepts of “eros” aside will do the following thoughts well:

One of the lines repeated over and over again throughout “Into Great Silence“, is the line “Lord, you seduced me, and I was seduced.” from Jeremiah 20. Here are a few other translations:

NRSV: “O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed.”

NLT: “O LORD, you persuaded me, and I allowed myself to be persuaded.”

Douay-Rheims: “Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived.”

The NIV also chooses the word “deceived.”

The Complete Jewish Bible: “You fooled me, ADONAI; I have been your dupe.”

The Message: “You pushed me into this, GOD, and I let you do it.”

It’s an interesting concept, and one that fits well with the “Weakness of God” wrestling I’ve done in recent months. God’s power is very much a “infinitely compelling”type. To think of why someone might live simply, or follow the thousand-year-old liturgies these monks live out. Or why someone today may choose to live counter-culturally and towards the way Christ has revealed His Kingdom to be.

It’s not because God has a giant finger on a cosmic “send you to hades” button. It’s because when we experience God….when we are faced with His presence, or new knowledge or revelation of His Spirit….or possibly even His words become flesh…powerful seduction may be a very appropriate way of describing how we are led to being transformed by His Spirit.

May we find ourselves seduced by the infinitely compelling presence and Hope of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit that is always active, and in whose presence we cannot help but be transformed from…..and to…..

It’s one of those verses that if you’re reading online through some sort of “internet bible“, you desperately want to click the “read in context” link above it. Luke 14:33, “So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. “

So there you have it. The word for “give” here doesn’t emphasize so much the action of giving, as it does the letting go of. The “renounce, or bid farewell to”.

What is it that you have a hard time “bidding farewell to”? The word for “possessions” here can also be translated as “substance”. What part of our identities would be the hardest for us to hold before God, palms up? What desires/motivations are we moved by in our daily lives that we would have a tough time letting go of?

I think marriage and family are great practices in this area, but also complicate the whole thing. In a marriage relationship, we (in theory, not always in practice) are giving up ourselves for the other. We desire to put the other before ourselves, and love them as Christ loved the Church. Each day offers new opportunities (whether we take them or not….I should more often I know) for us to let go of ourselves, for the sake of the other. Then come children. We parents would sacrifice anything for our children. To provide for them. To protect them as we see fit. Even as they are newborn, we begin the practice of letting go of ourselves (and our sleep) in order to give ourselves to them.

But this also complicates things. Our spouses, and our children….in Luke 14:26 Jesus speaks about these challenges to being a disciple. To make decisions towards Christ that may offend my family…my wife…my children…would be a bit harder to do than just anyone. To hold these relationships, palms up, before God on a daily basis….trusting His love for them is beyond anything I can bring to the table. Difficult…but at the same time, freeing.

I can see why monks vow to a life of celibacy. Any new familial relationship is another relationship to offer God on a daily basis…and can be very tempting to hold onto tightly as a possession.

May we practice Holy abandon of our possessions, relationships, and even our own “substance”…even as we move towards a week of Thanking God for these things…