The Deacon’s View
“Advent: A Cud-chewing Time”
On Sunday, November 19th we heard my favorite collect of the
year. In part it says, “Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy
Scripture to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them,
read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and
ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life.”
These words have long been the backbone of my
spiritual life, and yet each time I hear this collect the challenge is
brand new. So again, I ponder: “what does it really entail to
hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest holy words?”
For me, first and foremost, this is a reminder that
I (we) cannot settle for simply hearing someone else read the lessons
on Sunday morning. The prayer is that we may hear, and this moves
us beyond mere listening. The Hebrew word for ‘hear’ is the same
as the word used for ‘obey’. Thus we are praying that we might so
hear the words of God so as to become obedient to them. This sort
of ‘hearing’ takes time and a yearning to be changed by the power of
God’s love.
The entry into this level of hearing begins when we
look/gaze at the words carefully and slowly, paying careful
attention. What is really being addressed here? What
interior questions arise within me/us? (I find that these are
usually not ‘why?’ questions. More often they seem to be ‘can it
be?’ or ‘how?’ questions.) What interior challenges for me (you)
seem to emerge from the words? What impact, or challenge, do they pose
for today’s schedule or plans? Will these holy words make any
difference at all to me (you) today?
Finally, it is time for the inward digestion of the
words. The early Church Fathers liked to use the image of a cow
slowly chewing its cud. Having eaten its fill of grass, the cow
goes through a day-long process of regurgitation and reworking what has
been eaten, so that by early evening the food will have been fully
assimilated and transformed into rich, creamy milk to be given away.
The “rich milk” that results from our spiritual
cud-chewing is the Holy Spirit welling up within us, and overflowing.
Over time, if we keep at it, our whole being, and especially our
hearts, begin to be changed, and we move from casual faith to a deeper
and deeper awareness of God-always-present.
I do not think that it is mere chance that every
year this collect occurs right before the beginning of the season of
Advent...the Church season probably most at odds with the secular
world’s calendar. Advent always raises up a choice for us: will
we join the chaotic rush and pressure of the secular season, or, will
we step off this well beaten path to engage in daily cud-chewing?
Each of us will choose one of these paths.
However, the two choices are not as mutually
exclusive as they may seem. Cud-chewers will discover that they
still have plenty of time to decorate the tree, enjoy family and
friends, write notes and wrap gifts. But they will find that they
do these tasks differentlyThey will notice that people enjoy being
around them more, and that they experience calmness and peace instead
of panic. Those who choose to develop daily “bovine skills” will
find that by Christmas Eve they are ready to receive the deep inner
glow of joy that causes them to reverently kneel at the wonder of how
God chose to bring true peace and rescue into a restless world.
God came to the world quietly, without pomp or glitz (unless you count
stars and angelic choirs!). God came for everyone, no credentials
necessary, except for a hungry heart and a willingness to receive
Him. Will I/we be ready to hold this amazing
gift?
Cud-chewing material for Advent:
Take home the Sunday bulletin and chew on Sunday’s lessons all week.
BCP (Book of Common Prayer), pages 936 and 938. These are the
daily lessons for Year One, day by day.
May God graciously grant each of us the strength of commitment to
choose daily to hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest His
Life-renewing Word. Amen.
Gay Blundell, deacon