Seasonal Journal Pentecost 2022
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Seasonal Journal
Pentecost 2022
Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church,
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903
Titian, Pentecost c. 1541-1545
Journal Mission: To present inspiring voices from clergy and lay writers in the
Episcopal Church and Church of England that will enrich our readers’
spiritual and intellectual lives
Table of Contents
3. Our Liturgical Season by Joan Klingel Ray, PhD
7. In This Issue by Joan Klingel Ray
9. Out of the House, Into the World: A Pentecost Sermon by the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates
12. Speaking in New Tongues by the Rev. Claire Elser
14. Editor’s Note on Paul’s Quoting Aratus’ Phaenomena in Acts 17:28
15. William Cowper’s “Light Shining out of Darkness”: A Poem that Became a Hymn by Joan Klingel Ray
20. Beautiful Trinity by the Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
23. Why Three? A Sermon for Trinity Sunday by the Rev. Melanie McCarley
26. Some Uncomfortable Truths about Our Beloved Episcopal Church: Your Seasonal Journal Editor’s
Personal Journey of Learning about the Church and Slavery by Joan Klingel Ray
33. Sacred Ground: Telling the Truth and Building Beloved Community by Suzanne G. Segady
36. Juneteenth: The Other Side of Freedom by the Rev. Dr. Lisa Fortuna
40. Juneteenth: Break the Silence by the Rev. Dr. Pamela Dolan
43. Ordinary Time: Where Is the Good News? by the Rev. Caleb Roberts
46. Baby Talk: An Introduction to the Nativity of John the Baptist by Joan Klingel Ray
46. The Birth of a Prophet by the Rev. Emily Griffin
48. John the Baptist: His Gifted Father, Zechariah by the Rev. Janie Koch
50. A Vision of Glory: The Transfiguration by the Rev. Dr. Andrew (Drew) Harmon
53. The Transfiguration: Change Comes: Like It or Not by Pastor Jennifer Williamson
55. Ordinary Time or The Green Season: God in the Midst of the City by the Very Rev. Barkley Thompson
57. Meet a Lay Ministry: The Joy of Altar Guild by Kristin Brown
59. Living Out Ordinary Time in the Name of God’s Extraordinary Love by Mary Lockey
61. Christ the King Sunday: The Kindom of God by the Rev. Ryan Baker-Fones
64. Christ the King Sunday: The Five Acts of Christianity by the Rev. Joshua Bowron
Editor: Joan Klingel Ray, PhD; Editorial Assistant: Susan Defosset; Layout and Design: Max Pearson
Printed by Print Net Inc., owned by David Byers, 306 Auburn Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80909
Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at Tejon and Monument Streets (Nave), 601 N. Tejon St. (Office),
Colorado Springs, CO 80903 Tel: (719) 328-1125 http://www.gssepiscopal.org
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson, Rector; The Rev. Claire Elser, Curate; Pastor Jennifer Williamson,
Youth Minister
If you’d like to donate to the Seasonal Journal’s publication costs, please note “Journal” in the memo section of
a check made out to GSS Episcopal or place cash in an envelope addressed to the Treasurer with a note saying,
“For Seasonal Journal.” Thanks. Permission to reprint: Please contact the appropriate writers, photographers, or
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Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs, if you post the digital edition.
2
Our Liturgical Season
This issue treats the season of Pentecost, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, All Saints’ Day,
during which we also celebrate the feast days Christmas Day, and the Epiphany) take
of Trinity Sunday, the Transfiguration of our precedence over any other day or observance”
Lord, and conclude with Christ the King (BCP: 15). All Sundays are celebrated as the
Sunday. During Pentecost, which runs so long Feast of Our Lord. Christmas (December 25)
that we sometimes think of Early and Late and Epiphany (January 6) are fixed feast days,
Pentecost, we also observe Juneteenth and the meaning they are held on the same date
Nativity of John the Baptist. The season’s annually. Movable feasts on the liturgical
length also accounts for this issue’s heft. calendar are feast days that do not fall on the
Unless otherwise noted, the source for same date each year. For example, Easter is a
information in this section is Donald S. movable feast, as it falls anytime between
Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, eds. An March 22 and April 25. Easter’s date
Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, NY: determines Ash Wednesday (forty weekdays
Church Publishing, 2000. Online, this helpful before Easter), Ascension Day (forty days
resource is the Episcopal Glossary found at after Easter), and Pentecost (fifty days after
(https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/). Easter, the seventh Sunday after Easter).
The Book of Common Prayer is abbreviated
BCP. Pentecost:
Derived from the Greek word pentecostē,
To Celebrate Religiously: meaning fiftieth, Pentecost is a major feast day
hagag חגגThe Hebrew root-verb hagag in the Episcopal Liturgical Year. Marking the
describes “a gathering of people in order to end of the Easter Season, Pentecost in 2022
celebrate or hold a feast, specifically any of falls on June 5th and celebrates the outpouring
the three main pilgrimage feasts that Israel of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, fifty days
was to celebrate” (Exodus 23:14-16). When after Christ’s resurrection. In the British Isles,
we celebrate in a religious sense, we are Pentecost Sunday is called Whitsunday
honoring a day with solemn rites. In the because baptismal candidates wear white: the
Episcopal Church, we celebrate feast days. BCP identifies Pentecost Sunday as
(For the Hebrew, Abarim’s Online Biblical “especially appropriate for baptism” (312).
Hebrew Dictionary http://www.abarim The term Whitsunday may also derive from
publications.com/Dictionary/ht/ht-g- the Anglo-Saxon word wit, meaning
g.html#.XI0SjxNKiGg Retrieved 3/27/2022.) understanding and celebrating those in the
room in Acts 1 and 2 who were filled with the
Feast Days and Movable Feasts: wisdom of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1, we read
Feasts in our Church are days of celebration that the Apostles, along with “certain women,
with solemn rites. “The seven principal feasts including Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well
(Easter Day, Ascension Day, the Day of as his brothers” were gathered in a “room
3upstairs,” praying. The second chapter Good Friday; resurrection on Easter). Instead,
recounts how a sudden gust of wind filled the we are reading Scripture about the life Jesus
room, whereupon “Divided tongues, as of fire, led during his earthly time in terms of what he
appeared among them, and a tongue rested on said and did in Galilee and Judea, with
each of them. All of them were filled with the activities also in Perea (on the eastern side of
Holy Spirit and began to speak in other the Jordon River valley) and Samaria.
languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability”
(Acts 2:3-4). Some scholars interpret the Liturgical Color:
speaking in tongues as symbolic of the On Pentecost, the liturgical color for the
Church’s worldwide reach. The languages clergy’s vestments and the paraments
spoken were intelligible (e.g., Aramaic, (hangings on the altar, lectern, pulpit) is red,
Greek, and other regional languages spoken at symbolizing the tongues of fire as the Holy
that time), not other worldly: as Acts 2:6 Spirit descended.: hence, the red cover of this
states, “each one heard them speaking in the issue. But after Pentecost Sunday, the
native language of each.” Pentecost is liturgical color changes to green. Green is the
frequently called the “birthday of the color of living, growing things, the color of
Christian Church.” hope and renewal as we celebrate the Holy
Spirit in our lives. We are likewise growing in
Ordinary Time, more frequently called our Christian lives as we learn about the
“the Season after the Pentecost,” begins the earthly life of Jesus Christ. For certain Feast
day after Pentecost Sunday and ends on the Days within Pentecost, however, including
first Sunday in Advent, which begins the new Trinity Sunday, the color is white.
liturgical year. Pentecost (i.e., Ordinary Time)
is the longest season in the church year. The Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after
term “ordinary time” is not used in the BCP. Pentecost: June 12, 2022. It is the only feast
The usage of the word “Ordinary” in this day in the church year that commemorates a
context does not mean ordinary in the sense doctrine—the Trinity—rather than a person or
of common, regular, mundane, usual, or event. Trinity Sunday is the “Feast that
below average. Rather, “Ordinary” is derived celebrates ‘the one and equal glory’ of Father,
from the word ordinal, meaning counted. Son, and Holy Spirit, ‘in Trinity of Persons
Thus, we’ll see in our church bulletins that and in Unity of Being’” (Episcopal
Sundays in this season are named according to Dictionary: 528; BCP: 380).
their relationship to Pentecost: for example,
the Second Sunday after Pentecost, the Juneteenth: The Episcopal News Service
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, etc. This reports that “Celebrations of Juneteenth, an
period is also known as the “Green Season,” American holiday celebrating the
because it occurs when our trees and grass are emancipation of slaves, though not a federal
green. Our Scripture readings during this holiday, is celebrated on June 19, the
period do not commemorate the major events anniversary of the day in 1865 when Union
in Jesus’ life (his birth at Christmas; death on Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops
4arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced to The biblical account of John the Baptist’s
slaves there that they had been freed. The birth appears in Luke 1. In fact, Luke 1 is
Emancipation Proclamation issued by chocked full of information about John the
Baptist and his maternal cousin Jesus: John’s
President Abraham Lincoln had taken effect
birth is foretold; then, Jesus’ birth is foretold;
on Jan. 1, 1863, freeing slaves in the states then Mary visits Elizabeth and offers the
that had joined the Confederacy, but the order Magnificat; John the Baptist is born, after
had little effect in the parts of the South still which we hear John’s father, Zechariah, offer
controlled by the Confederacy during the his canticle (the Benedictus). And all those
Civil War. [These were called “Border events occur just in chapter 1! John was
States”; see the sermon in this issue by the preparing people for the coming of the
Messiah, derived from the Hebrew / Aramaic
Rev. Dr. Lisa Fortuna.] And even though the
word Mashiach for “anointed one.” Scholars
war ended in April 1865, former slaves in agree that the historical Jesus spoke Aramaic,
Texas didn’t receive news that they were free a Semitic language. The term “historical
until two months later. Slavery was officially Jesus” refers to the human being Jesus who
abolished in December 1865 by ratification of walked on earth and whose life has been
the 13th Amendment. ‘On this day we reconstructed by academic research. When
remember the hope … that people heard in the Mary visited Elizabeth, who was already six
months pregnant with John, fetus-John leaped
words of the Emancipation Proclamation,’
in his mother’s womb, sensing the presence of
Texas Bishop Andrew [Andy] Doyle said in a the Messiah within Mary. This, then, was the
video marking Juneteenth. ‘We remember first time John proclaimed Jesus as the
how that echoed from the shores of Galveston Anointed One. The nativities of John and
Island across the South, and how the humble Jesus are the only two nativities officially
must have sung in that moment, a hope that celebrated in the Episcopal Church. So, let’s
wish John the Baptist “Happy Birthday” on
something had ended and something good and
June 24th!
glorious had taken its place’”
(https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2020/
06/19/episcopal-juneteenth-commemorations- The Transfiguration of Our Lord is
add-to-national-attention-to-holiday- celebrated on August 6, remembering the
celebrating-freed-slaves/) pinnacle of Jesus’ earthly life: on Mount
(https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/c- Tabor, he miraculously changes appearance in
andrew-doyle/ Retrieved 3.27.2022). the presence of Peter, James, and John,
revealing his divinity. The Gospel of Matthew
The Nativity of John the Baptist: (17:1-8) records that 2“he was transfigured
The Episcopal Dictionary states that the “feast before them, and his face shone like the sun,
of the Nativity of John the Baptist was
and his clothes became dazzling white.” At
originally associated with the Epiphany, but
its observance was moved to June 24 in the this moment Moses and Elijah appeared and
west and June 25 in the east. This feast is talked with Jesus. Peter, misunderstanding the
celebrated about six months before Christmas, meaning of this manifestation, offered to
as Elizabeth was in the sixth month of her “make three booths [i.e., huts made of tree
pregnancy at the time of Jesus’ conception.” branches, dwellings]” for Jesus, Moses, and
5Elijah. A bright cloud overshadowed them, Christ the King Sunday:
and a voice from the cloud stated, “‘This is Celebrating the reign of Christ over all
my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well creation, Christ the King Sunday is the final
pleased; listen to him!’” The disciples fell on Sunday of the Liturgical Year: November 20,
their faces in awe, but Jesus encouraged them 2022. The liturgical color for the vestments
to arise, saying, “‘do not be afraid.’ And when and hangings on the altar will be white. Pope
they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus Pius XI (1857-1939) originally instituted
himself alone.” 2 Peter 1:16-18 mentions this Christ the King Sunday in 1925 as a
event, stating that “we had been eyewitnesses “celebration of the all-embracing authority of
of his majesty” and “We ourselves heard this Christ, which will lead mankind to seek the
voice come from heaven, while we were with ‘Peace of Christ’ in the ‘Kingdom of Christ’”
him on the holy mountain.” The Trans- (Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church).
figuration revealed Christ’s glory prior to the Christ the King Sunday is the final Sunday
crucifixion, thus anticipating his resurrection before Advent, the first day of the new
and ascension. This event may have given liturgical year, which on November 27, 2022,
strength and comfort to his disciples in the will begin Liturgical Year A. What do I mean
difficult times that followed as he proceeded by Year A? The Revised Common Lectionary,
to Jerusalem. Jesus’s Transfiguration also from which we take our Sunday scripture
prefigures the glorification of human nature in readings, runs in three-year cycles (A, B, C),
Christ. See in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew with each liturgical year beginning on Advent
17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-26; also Sunday. Year A always begins on the First
see 2 Peter 1:16-18. While the Transfiguration Sunday of Advent in years evenly divisible by
likely occurred in February or March, three. Our last year A was 2019 because
Western Christianity has celebrated it on 2019 ÷ 3= 673 with no remainder. The
August 6th since 1457 when Pope Callixtus III following years were B (began Nov. 29, 2020)
(1378-1458) set the date to celebrate the and C (began Nov. 28, 2021). The next year A
Christian victory over the Muslim Turks at the will begin on Advent Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022:
Siege of Belgrade (1456) 2022÷ 3=674.
(https://www.britannica.com/topic/Feast-of-
the-Transfiguration Retrieved 3.20.2022).
Below is Raphael’s The Transfiguration:
6In This Issue
by the Editor
We always begin an issue of the Seasonal its source: “God moves in a mysterious way.” The
Journal with an account of the liturgical Episcopal Glossary reminds us that “the word
seasons(s), as well as selected Feasts that occur ‘mystery’ means a transcendent purpose of God.
during the season(s). This issue covers the long It exceeds human understanding, but we have
Pentecost Season: Christ the King Sunday marks some knowledge and experience of it.”
the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost Sunday. The mystery of the Trinity prompts many
We begin the issue with the Rt. Rev. Alan sermonizers to begin their Trinity Sunday
Gates’s “Out of the House, Into the World,” in sermons with statements like, “In divinity school
which the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts we were warned not to try to preach about this
reminds us that Acts 2:2 reads that the “sound like phenomenon.” Presbyterian minister and
the rush of a violent wind . . . filled the entire theologian Frederick Buechner writes in his
house where they were sitting” (my italics). That much-quoted Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s A, B,
must have been one big house! Newly “spirited,” C about “The much-maligned doctrine of the
the apostles streamed into the world, and the rest Trinity,” an “assertion that, appearances to the
is history. Mother Claire writes in “Speaking in contrary notwithstanding, there is only one God”
New Tongues” about the need for the Church to (NY: Harper Collins, 1973, rev. ed 1993: 114).
speak in the language of popular culture. Hers is a But our rector in his “Beautiful Trinity” and the
timely article, for by the time this issue of the Rev. Melanie McCarley in her “Why Three?”
Seasonal Journal appears, an updated edition of speak meaningfully and prayerfully about how
the Bible’s New Revised Standard Version with “the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us,
some 20,000 changes in diction or word choice and the mystery within us are all the same
will be available for purchase. This edition is mystery” (Buechner: 116).
already available in a digital version. The One week after Trinity Sunday (June 12,
National Council of Churches approved the 2022) is Juneteenth (June 19): “an American
NRSV Updated Edition (NRSV UE) in October holiday celebrating the emancipation of slaves”
2021 (Retrieved 4.5.2022 (Episcopal News Service). As a participant and
(https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2021/11/1 later co-facilitator for the Episcopal Church’s
8/new-revised-standard-version-bible-updated- nationwide Sacred Ground discussion series, I
with-consideration-for-modern-sensibilities/). was shocked to learn about the Episcopal
Here’s an example of the NRSV UE: in Matthew, Church’s complicity in slavery. Because I am a
2:1, instead of speaking of the “wise men” who trained scholarly researcher, I decided to
visited the baby Jesus, the new version will speak investigate this issue: the result is my essay,
of the magi, which is the original Greek term. “Some Uncomfortable Truths about Our Beloved
The journal then turns to my discussion of Episcopal Church.” Suzanne Segady, a GSS
William Cowper’s (pronounced cooper) long- parishioner and participant in the Sacred Ground
beloved poem, “Light Shining Out of Darkness.” dialogue circle that our former deacon, Debbie
Yes, “beloved”—so beloved that its words Womack, and I co-facilitated, reports on her and
provide the lyrics to a hymn in our Hymnal, and others’ experiences learning about white privilege
you likely know the first line of the poem but not in Sacred Ground in her essay “Telling the Truth
7and Building Beloved Community.” (To be clear experience in terms of Ordinary Time in “Living
and accurate: Sacred Ground is not a course on Out Ordinary Time in the Name of God’s
Critical Race Theory, a widely misunderstood Extraordinary Love.” Mary writes for Forward
term that has been around since the 1970’s, and is Day by Day, which many of you read with your
an academic, post-graduate, cross disciplinary daily morning prayers, as do I. Having
study in such fields as Sociology, Law, Public appreciated Mary’s March 2022 entries, I
Policy, and Political Science.) Suzanne’s essay contacted her for a piece for the journal, and she
leads us to two inspiring Juneteenth sermons by kindly replied.
Episcopal priests, “Juneteenth: The Other Side of I introduce the two sermons on The
Freedom” by the Rev. Dr. Lisa Fortuna and Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24th) with a
“Juneteenth: Break the Silence” by the Rev. Dr. short piece called “Baby Talk,” a discussion of
Pamela Dolan. Raphael’s charming painting of the toddlers, John
The lengthy Pentecost Season is also and Jesus. The Rev. Emily Griffin thoughtfully
called Ordinary Time and / or the Green Season; ponders the question, “Is a prophet born or
consequently, the journal includes several made?” John’s gifted father, Zechariah, whose
insightful essays about how Ordinary Time can be Song or Canticle, Benedictus Dominus Deus,
extraordinary. These sermons and meditations are appears in Luke 1:68-79, as well as twice in our
interspersed throughout this issue. The first one Book of Common Prayer (50, 92) is the subject of
that you’ll encounter is the Rev. Caleb Roberts’ the Rev. Janie Koch’s insightful sermon.
“Ordinary Time: Where Is the Good News?” On August 6th we celebrate the Feast of the
Several pages later in the journal comes the Very Transfiguration of our Lord. We prayerfully
Rev. Barkley Thompsons’s meditation on how the consider this day with our own Pastor Jen and the
Celtic knot embroidered on his green stole (for Rev. Dr. Andrew (Drew) Harmon. As Pastor Jen
the Green Season), which he wears during remind us, “Change Comes, Like It or Not,”
Ordinary Time, symbolizes for him that “we are while Father Andrew asks us to “Take time to sit
one with Christ and one another, just as Jesus and with the Transfiguration in all its richness.”
the Father are one.” A priest’s stole is “a long, Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday
narrow strip of cloth worn around the neck of the of Pentecost (Ordinary Time or Green Season)
priest and allowed to hang down the front of the and the current liturgical year, celebrates the
clerical vestments; some stoles are decorated with Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the
diocesan or school insignia near the lower ends” Universe. The Rev. Ryan Baker-Fones, in his
(Information about the priest’s stole is from wordplay of KINdom for Kingdom in “Christ the
http://www.saintgabriels.org/common- King Sunday: The KINdom of God,” preaches a
terms.html#S Retrieved 4.5.2022). needful lesson: we are all kin; we are siblings in
Serving on the parish’s Altar Guild is Christ, and our divine parent is a God of Love.
anything but an ordinary lay ministry. GSS Altar This issue closes with the Rev. Joshua Bowron’s
Guild member Kristin Brown writes about the joy “Christ the King Sunday: The Five Acts of
she finds in this ministry. At the end of Kristin’s Christianity”: Creation, Covenant, Christ, Church,
article, the Editor’s Endnotes offer what I like to and Consummation—a great thought for us as we
think of as the specialist’s vocabulary one learns end one church year and enter a new one on the
for preparing the Eucharist. A guest columnist First Sunday of Advent (November 27th), when a
from Grace Church in the Mountains of North new Seasonal Journal will be available.
Carolina, Mary Lockey, offers her Altar Guild
8Pentecost
The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, the 16th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Massachusetts, is a native of that state and graduate of Middlebury
College. Prior to seminary he was a Russian language translator,
researcher, and intelligence analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense,
including a tour of duty at the State Department. He holds a Master of
Divinity degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and
was ordained to the priesthood in 1988. He served congregations in the
Episcopal dioceses of Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts, and
Chicago prior to his call to Ohio in 2004. He was the rector of St. Paul's
Church in Cleveland Heights until his election as bishop in 2014. Bishop
Gates was ordained and consecrated a bishop on Sept. 13, 2014. Bishop
Gates is currently on the board of the Anglican Theological Review. He
serves on the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on World
Mission and is a member of Bishops United Against Gun Violence. He
and his spouse, Patricia J. Harvey, have two adult sons. (Thanks to
Laura Simons, Executive Assistant to Bishop Gates, for her help.)
the entire house where they were sitting.” (Acts
Out of the House, Into the World 2:1-2). They were in a house! Somehow this
A Pentecost Sermon, detail had escaped me: All this drama took place
Preached on May 31, 2020 in a house. Evidently, with all that wind and
by the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates noise, and hazardous pyrotechnics, they moved
Acts 2: 1-21, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 outdoors to begin their polyglot proclamation. But
it started indoors.
I seem to have missed it, all these years. I’ve been missing, all these years, the
The story of Pentecost Day (Acts 2:1-21) crucial, initial movement of the Day of Pentecost:
is as familiar as any in the Bible. I’ve read it, and the Apostles move from inside the building out
told it, countless times. Here’s this great global into the world. Thus completes the transformation
gathering. A crowd of people “from every nation from Good Friday to the dawn of the Church.
under heaven,” says the text that every lector vies After Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples are
to read: Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Phyrgia, and terrorized, demoralized, paralyzed. They huddle
Pamphylia! Not to mention “the parts of Libya behind closed doors. Then the Risen Christ comes
belonging to Cyrene!” (It has to be true, by the and breathes the Spirit onto them and into them
way. Nobody would make up a detail like that.) [John 20:19-23, April 19, 2020, Second Sunday
So, with all those people, and all the noise of Easter]. (We heard it the Sunday after Easter.
of that violent wind, and those tongues of fire One choice for today’s Gospel repeats the same
lashing around to land on the apostles, I guess I story. Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” and
just assumed that all of this took place outdoors— breathes on them: “Receive the Holy Spirit”
must’ve been in some big public square, right? [John 20:19-23 ].)
But no! “When the day of Pentecost had And the Risen Lord is with them for forty
come, they were all together in one place. And … days. And then he ascends to heaven. And darn it,
a sound like the rush of a violent wind, … filled he’s gone again! They sit around for ten days:
9“Ascensiontide,” we call it: an in-between time, if action, a way of being—not just within its
ever there was. Here they are, holed up again building, but outside of it as well.
behind closed doors—slipping back, perhaps, into Because of COVID-19, we have been
that discouraged, paralyzed state. But now: suddenly and unexpectedly cast out of our
violent wind, tongues of fire, multi-lingual buildings: offices, schools, and churches were
miracle. The apostles are blown out into the world closed. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us
on the phenomenal winds of that Spirit: full of out. It has forced us to embrace change whether
confidence, faith, and proclamation-al we wanted to or not. It has redefined how church
proficiency. both is and is not a “destination.” It has invited us
Huddled and anxious behind closed doors. into new ways of worshiping, new ways of being
Sheltering-in. Sound familiar? But on Pentecost together—and even more puzzling, perhaps—new
Day the apostles are catapulted outdoors. The ways to serve the world around us.
Holy Spirit turns them from “dispirited” to This crisis has deprived us in many ways.
“spirited,” and gives them hope. Oh, boy, could Perhaps it has unbound us in others. In many
we use some of that Spirit! We could use that churches daily prayer offerings have taken hold
Spirit right now! where never seen before: Zoom and Facebook.
And of course: we’ve got it. From today’s Elderly and shut-in members feel reconnected by
Epistle, these familiar words: “There are varieties online worship. Study groups and discussions
of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are draw new participants from distant points. One
varieties of services, but the same Lord; … To statistical study in England suggests that not only
each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for is online worship attendance up, but one-third of
the common good” [1 Cor 12:4-6]. The Holy the viewers are under the age of 35—an
Spirit is with us every step of the way. And that astonishing development.
Holy Spirit comes blowing again and again, so The Pentecost wind “filled the entire house
that on its winds we may be empowered anew as where they were sitting.” And when they left the
both recipients and agents of God’s healing. building, at the sound of that Pentecost wind, “the
About five years ago a documentary film crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each
appeared, entitled When God Left the Building.1 A one heard them speaking” to them. It turns out
screening was held right here at our cathedral that meeting people where they are―instead of
[i.e., The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston]. just expecting that they’ll show up where we
The film profiled two churches in decline. One of are―is not a bad idea!
them was spiraling into oblivion as its members I wonder what we are learning from this
fought with one another, blamed their pastor, and hard time of both deprivation and liberation. I
endured a crisis of faith. The other church, too, wonder how we will be changed. I wonder what
was wrestling with its future, and not quite sure former things we will cherish more than ever. I
what to think about one of its faithful members wonder what former things we will discover don’t
who had crazy ideas, like opening an outreach really matter so much. I wonder what new things
ministry in a pub. The theme of the documentary we will not want to relinquish for all the world.
was how a church might take its life and ministry You and I are so eager to get back to into
beyond its walls. How it might embrace change. our church buildings. Of course, we are! We miss
And how to turn “church” from a noun denoting a one another. We miss the nourishment we receive
destination, into something more like a verb, an there. Ours is a tradition that values deeply the
experience of sacred space. We are not yet able to
10be back in our churches. It is simply not yet the Two years ago this week I lost my
time. But in due course, the time will come. dearest mentor, George Councell,2 a
As we prepare for that time, I have been colleague and friend for more than 30
thinking about one more theme of that years. George rarely spoke of his family in
documentary, When God Left the Building.1 sermons. But here is one of his stories with
Alongside the two declining congregations, there which to conclude. George wrote:
was another institution profiled by the film: the Some years ago one of our
Eastman Kodak company. Even more daughters took a serious interest in
dramatically than those two churches, the Kodak music and set out to become a
company collapsed. From dominant and professional. As I sat with her one
ubiquitous to marginal and forgotten, it fell. And day before an important audition, I
the documentary editors suggest why: Kodak handed her a card that read, “Let
misunderstood what business it was in. Kodak them know you love it.”
was certain it was in the film business. And they George knew that competence and proficiency
knew how to make film. But in the end, film was and even beauty would not be enough: “ Let them
only the medium. The real business was images. know you love it.”
Some of the earliest research and [George continues:] “Our goal [as
development of digital photography occurred at Christians] is so to live that the world may know
Kodak. Had Kodak understood itself as being in that we love life, for the love of God who gave us
the image business, the story could have been this wondrous gift, the grace to enjoy it, and a
different. But the new medium was not embraced. passion to share it, for the sake of Jesus Christ.”3
The corporate executives looked to what they To love, and to share the gift of life, for
knew. The board—or was it Kodak’s vestry, or the sake of Christ. This is our purpose. This is our
was it Kodak’s bishops? (probably the reason for being. For this did Jesus say of the
bishops!)—were not interested. Or not capable of Spirit, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow
seeing. And the rest is history. rivers of living water” [John 7:38]. For this the
“Does the church know what it is for?” Holy Spirit anointed the heads and warmed the
asked the documentary. Do we know our reason hearts of the Apostles on that first Pentecost Day.
for being? Do we know our deepest purpose? For this the Spirit gave them courage. For this the
In due course—slowly and Spirit equipped them to cherish the old and
responsibly—we will find our way back embrace the new.
into our worship spaces. But let us The apostles were transformed that
remember that the Pentecost Spirit has Pentecost Day from anxious to confident,
blown us out into the world. Sent us there from traumatized to energized, from
two thousand years ago. And in dispirited to “Spirited.” So may we be this
paradoxical ways, the Spirit is sending us day!
there again in 2020. I expect that if we are
to sort out what we need to learn from this Endnotes
experience, we will do well to be mindful [Bracketed notes 1 and 2 are by the Seasonal
of the Parable of Kodak. To ask: what Journal’s editor.]
1 [When God Left the Building, The Exodus of
really is our deepest purpose? What are we
for? America’s Faithful and What’s Next, a documentary
by Tom Schultz, and released in 2014, is available
for rental on Amazon Prime.]
112 [The Rt. Rev George E. Councell, 11th Bishop of rip-bishop-george-edward-councell-of-diocese-of-
the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, “died at the new-jersey/ Retrieved 2.22.2022).]
3 Sermon of George Councell, April 27, 1997, at the
age of 68 of complications of a stroke, a
complication of Parkinson’s Disease, on May 21, Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Forest, IL, where
2018” he had served as rector.
(https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/05/22/
The Rev. Claire Elser joined Grace and St. Stephen’s in June 2020, with a
newly minted MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS). The Rt. Rev.
Kym Lucas, Bishop of Colorado, ordained Mother Claire to the priesthood on
our church’s South Lawn on October 2, 2020. As Curate, she assists Father
Jeremiah with worship, formation, and pastoral care. A cradle Episcopalian
(with a couple of forays elsewhere), Claire was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska.
While at VTS, Claire sang in the Schola Cantorum, played for the Fighting
Friars flag football team, and earned the Jean B. Tachau Memorial Prize for
excellence in biblical languages. She and her husband Stefan, a data scientist,
have a daughter, Ruth, and a cat, Scribbles. Claire enjoys watching college
football (“Go Big Red!”), viewing terrible movies, playing the piano, running,
and baking.
Speaking in New Tongues which I really wish to draw your attention: “a
by the Rev. Claire Elser system of communication used by a particular
country or community.”3
When the day of Pentecost had In a posthumously published collection of
come, the disciples were all together letters by J.R.R. Tolkien, he wrote, “The invention
in one place. And suddenly from of languages is the foundation. The ‘stories’ were
heaven there came a sound like the made rather to provide a world for the languages
rush of a violent wind, and it filled than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the
the entire house where they were story follows.”4 That is, languages need a world, a
sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, culture, to inhabit in order to be alive. All cultures,
appeared among them, and a tongue including fandoms5 like Tolkien’s Lord of the
rested on each of them. All of them Rings, have their own language that those who
were filled with the Holy Spirit and inhabit those cultures use to communicate with one
began to speak in other languages, as another.
the Spirit gave them ability.1 All specialized groups have their own
languages within them. It might surprise one to hear
At the risk of beginning with a cliché, I offer that a “concert pianist” isn’t simply a pianist who
two dictionary definitions of the word “language.” performs. It’s a special category of performing
The first is what persons would think of when they pianist. If someone “in the know” hears you are a
think of a “language”: “the principal method of concert pianist, she would assume at the very least
human communication, consisting of words used in that you make most of your living performing
a structured and conventional way and conveyed by professionally, you have a manager or an agent, you
speech, writing, or gesture.” 2 But it is the second to have probably made professional-quality recordings
12of your performances, and you possibly have a In the same way as the Bible has been translated
contract with a particular piano manufacturer. But into the vernacular of modern English, the church
most people outside of the world of classical has a responsibility to respect that the God “in
musicians would have no way, or reason, to know whom we live and move and have our being,”7 the
that. In the same way, if someone who is a fan of God who sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles to
the show The X-Files says they’re a “shipper,” what speak all the tongues of their time, also wants us to
he’s trying to communicate is not his love of boats, speak in the tongues of our time.
but rather that he wants Mulder and Scully, the Endnotes
1Acts 2:1-4 NRSV.
main characters, to be romantically involved with
2Oxford Languages, languages.oup.com, accessed
one another. X-Files “shippers” were such a vocal
group that the word “ship” has bled over into other 5/5/2022.
3Oxford Languages, languages.oup.com, accessed
fandoms (and into fanfiction), where people have
5/5/2022.
“ships,” canonical or non-canonical, about which 4Carpenter, Humphrey; Tolkien, Christopher
they have very strong feelings. (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. United
The new languages coming about within pop Kingdom: George Allen & Unwin. Letter No. 165.
5 “A fandom is a subculture composed of fans
culture provide an opportunity for the church. The
Rev. Dr. Patricia Lyons calls it a “Pentecost characterized by a feeling of empathy and
Moment.” In her book Teaching Faith with Harry camaraderie with others who share a common
interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor
Potter, as well as in the workshops she does around
details of the objects of their fandom and spend a
the country, Dr. Lyons ties themes from various pop significant portion of their time and energy involved
culture communities to theology. The church’s with their interest, often as a part of a social
opportunity is to learn the languages of these network with particular practices, differentiating
cultures that are forming all around us, and to speak fandom-affiliated people from those with only a
to the members of that culture in their language. It casual interest.”
is a new way for the church to meet people where https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fandom, accessed
5/5/2022.
they are and to speak to them in a language they 6 Patricia M. Lyons. Teaching Faith with Harry
understand. The church has an opportunity to Potter. NYC: Church Publishing, 2017: 151.
translate the Gospel, remarkable and yet remarkably 7Acts 17:28 was an opening invocation to Zeus
difficult to understand, into a new “tongue” in (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aratus-
which the world has not yet heard it. Greek-poet, accessed 5/5/2022). [Editor: Please see
In Teaching Faith with Harry Potter, Dr. below my discussion of Paul’s using a line from
Aratus’ pagan poem that begins with an invocation
Lyons tells the story of giving a talk on the Harry
to Zeus.]
Potter series at a small church. The church had
lightly publicized her talk around the neighborhood
and throughout the community. When Dr. Lyons
got there, the parish priest had set out about 20
chairs, feeling that he was being optimistic. The 20
chairs were nowhere near enough, and the priest
was joyfully rushing around and setting up
additional chairs, astounded at the number of people
who were there to hear about faith and Harry
Potter.6
People are hungry for the Gospel. The
modern church, like the original apostles, needs to Raphael’s St. Paul Preaching in Athens (1515),
proclaim it in a language the world can understand. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
13Editor’s Note on Paul’s Quoting Aratus’s Phaenomena in Acts 17:28
Having studied Paul’s writings in my second year of Education for Ministry (EfM), I
grew to admire his rhetorical skill. By this I mean that he used language effectively. Paul,
preaching in Greece, was “deeply distressed to see that the city [Athens] was full of idols” (Acts
17:16). The King James Versions reads that “his spirit was stirred in him.”
A Greek-speaking Jew who, of course, knew the commandments, Paul was surely
thinking of the second, forbidding graven images. He preached the Gospel in both the Athenian
synagogue and marketplace, leading to controversy in this pagan-worshipping, but highly
cultured city. Some Greeks brought Paul to the Areopagus, the Athenian court and lecture
venue, to explain and even defend his preaching of Christianity.
Presenting what has come to be known as his Areopagus Sermon, Paul displayed his
rhetorical versatility. The Athenians judging him at the Areopagus were certainly familiar with
Aratus’s Phaenomena, a manual in poetical form on the constellations and weather signs. The
Phaenomena was the most widely read work in Ancient Greece after Homer’s Iliad and
Odyssey; it is the only surviving text by the Greek poet Aratus (c.315-c.245 BCE). Here are the
first six lines of Aratus’s Phaenomena, which invoke Zeus, the chief Greek deity: “From Zeus
begin; never let us leave / His name unloved. With Him, with Zeus, are filled / All paths we
tread, and all the marts of men; / Filled, too, the sea, and every creek and bay; / And all in all
things need we the help of Zeus / For we too are his offspring” (my italics).
Many scholars believe that Paul deliberately quoted Aratus’s well-known sixth line in his
defense / lecture to the men judging him at the Areopagus. He was speaking to his fellow
Greeks, strategically using a famous line from a poem with which all educated Athenians were
highly familiar. In verses 22-31, Paul provides the context for quoting the line, saying in verse
23: “For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found
among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as
unknown, this I proclaim to you.”
Paul, a skilled rhetorician, ingratiates himself with the Athenian court by then repeating
Aratus’s well-known line, which I have italicized, but using it in a different context,
emphasizing that we are God’s children, not Zeus’s:
God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as
though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and
all things. From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he
allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they
would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him
14and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live
and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets [i.e., Aratus] have
said, “For we, too, are his offspring.” Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not
to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and
imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance,
now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on
which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has
appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
(Acts 17:24-31 NRSV).
Paul’s Areopagus Sermon won some converts: “When they heard of the resurrection of
the dead, some scoffed, but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ At that point Paul
left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the
Areopagite [an Athenian judge in the court of the Areopagus, a major Neo-Platonic
philosopher, and the Church’s first Bishop of Athens] and a woman named Damaris and others
with them” (Acts 17:32-34 NRSV). No wonder persons speak of Paul as the Church’s greatest
missionary. The Johns Hopkins University Press and Harvard’s Loeb Library offer Aratus’s
book in English translation (https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/10000/phaenomena
Retrieved 5.6.2022).
William Cowper’s “Light Shining out of Darkness”:
A Poem that Became a Hymn
by Joan Klingel Ray
Though the name William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) may not be familiar to you, he was
friends for nearly thirty years with the priest-composer of the beloved hymn, “Amazing Grace.”
In this issue, we will examine a poem by Cowper that provides the lyrics to another hymn in our
Hymnal (677). While the past two issues of the Seasonal Journal featured poems that required some
scholarly background, Cowper’s is more accessible. That is, for the Advent / Christmas / Epiphany
issue of the Seasonal Journal, understanding John Donne’s “Nativitie” involved learning about the
Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, wherein the meditator / poet places himself in the scene of
a religious event: in Donne’s poem, the speaker imagines himself in the stable at the nativity. George
Herbert’s “JESU” in the Lent / Easter issue required historical background on the letters I and J.
But no special knowledge about Ignatian meditation or orthography is needed for William
Cowper’s “Light Shining Out of Darkness,” a poem that explains, without much complication, the
poet’s view of how God works on our behalf. However, like all poetry, Cowper’s is open to
interpretation—interpretation grounded in mindfulness, of course. Knowing something about Cowper’s
troubled life enhances our reading of a poem that provides the lyrics for a hymn.
Interestingly, Cowper bears connections to both Donne and Herbert—not poetically, but
genealogically to the former and spiritually to the latter. The son of a well-connected and wealthy
Anglican clergyman, the Rev. John Cowper, D.D., and descended on his mother’s side from the great
17th-century poet-priest, the Rev. John Donne, Dean of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, William Cowper
(1731-1800) was one of the most popular poets of his time. Novelists Jane Austen and the Brontës, as
15well as abolitionist William Wilberforce, named Cowper as their favorite poet. On our side of the
Atlantic, Benjamin Franklin admired Cowper’s poetry.
Cowper was born in Berkhampstead, north of London: one of only two Cowper children—out of
seven—to survive into adulthood.1 Because his mother died when Cowper was just six, the boy was
sent to Dr. Pitman’s boarding school in Bedfordshire. Here, according to Cowper’s Memoir, a
particularly cruel older boy, whom he calls “my tormentor,” bullied him mercilessly—a trauma that
scarred him for the rest of his life (Memoir of the Early Life of William Cowper, Esq., Written by
Himself. London: R. Edwards, 1816: 2-3).
Fortunately, at age ten he went to the prominent and historic (founded 1560) Westminster
School in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. At Westminster until age eighteen, he found lifelong
friends and flourished academically and emotionally.
Leaving Westminster, Cowper proceeded to study law but began showing signs of depression—
indeed bouts of insanity that would plague him until his death. Through family connections, he was
offered two administrative positions in the House of Lords. But when faced with the examination
required to assume those posts at the age of thirty-two, Cowper suffered the first of four major mental
breakdowns during his lifetime. Committed to an asylum, he was troubled by fears of religious
damnation. But he soon found comfort in the poems of the Rev. George Herbert—“the only author I
had any delight in reading” (Memoir: 9)—who described his own spiritual struggles in his poetry over
a hundred years earlier. Cowper’s own words about finding the Scriptures while walking on the
asylum’s grounds are moving:
Having found a Bible on the bench in the garden, I opened upon the 11th of St. John,
where Lazarus is raised from the dead; and saw so much benevolence, mercy, goodness,
and sympathy with miserable men, in our Saviour’s conduct, that I almost shed tears
upon the relation; little thinking that it was an exact type of the mercy which Jesus was
on the point of extending towards myself. I sighed, and said, “Oh, that I had not rejected
so good a Redeemer, that I had not forfeited all his favours.” Thus was my heart softened,
though not yet enlightened. (Memoir: 65)
With a self-acknowledged “softened” heart—a spiritual phenomenon that poet George Herbert
explores in his poetry—Cowper then re-opened the Bible and happened upon Romans 3:25, “Whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (KJV).2 Again, we have Cowper’s
verbatim reaction to reading Paul’s Letter to the Romans:
Immediately I received the strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Sun of
Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my
pardon sealed in His blood, and all the fullness and completeness of His justification. In a
moment I believed and received the gospel ... Whatever my friend [and first-
cousin, Martin] Madan had said to me, long before, revived in all its clearness, with
demonstration of the spirit and power. Unless the Almighty arm had been under me, I
think I should have died with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice
16choked with transport; I could only look up to heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with
love and wonder (Cowper, Life and Works of William Cowper. Frankfurt, Germany:
Outlook Verlag, 2018, vol. 2: 99-100).3
Omitting for the sake of space other events in Cowper’s personal life that led to further
psychotic episodes, I now take us to 1767, when he moved to Olney, Buckinghamshire. Here he was
befriended by the Rev. John Newton (1725-1807), with whose story you may be familiar. Newton had
been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade until his conversion to Christianity.
Ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1767, Newton became curate-in-charge of Olney’s parish
church of St. Peter and Paul, as well as an ardent abolitionist and extremely popular preacher,
especially among the poor. He was part of the Evangelical movement in the 18 th- century Church of
England: promoting personal piety, social justice and welfare, and abolition, the Anglican Evangelicals
emphasized the Protestantism of the Church of England. They are not to be confused with today’s
Christian Evangelical movement.
Collaborating with Cowper, Newton composed The Olney Hymns (published in 1779),
comprised of over 300 hymns, the most famous of which is Newton’s “Amazing Grace.” Among
Cowper’s contributions are “Oh, for a Closer Walk with God” (The Hymnal 1982: 683, 684), and
“Light Shining Out of Darkness” (The Hymnal, 1982: 677)4, based on the poem we are now
exploring—a poem about God’s Providence or in Cowper’s words, God’s “sov’reign will” (l.8), which
is beyond human understanding.
Light Shining out of Darkness
by William Cowper Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
God moves in a mysterious way, Behind a frowning providence
His wonders to perform; He hides a smiling face.
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm. His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding ev’ry hour;
Deep in unfathomable mines The bud may have a bitter taste,
Of never-failing skill, But sweet will be the flow'r.
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sov’reign will. Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain:
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, God is his own interpreter,
The clouds ye so much dread And he will make it plain.
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
17The poem’s title, “Light Shining out of Darkness,” may have been inspired by John 1, especially
verse 5: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (KJV). The first
line of the poem is so widely known that it is nearly a cliche, “God moves in a mysterious way.” We
often take the first line to mean that God “[acts or works] in a mysterious was,” as He performs His
wonders. But Cowper’s God is also God-on-the move. He is so powerful that He walks “in the sea”—
as opposed to walking on water (Jesus walks on the water in Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, and
John 6:16-21)— and “rides upon the storm,” alluding to Jesus and his disciples in the boat on a stormy
sea that he calms (my boldface, Matthew 8: 23-27; Mark 6:45-52, Luke 8: 22-25).
God moves through His creation. God is everywhere in His Creation. This is the God of the Old
Testament, which anthropomorphized Him: anthropomorphize means to give human attributes to a
god, animal, or object. As Andreas Wagner, PhD., Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Bern,
Switzerland, explains in God’s Body: The Anthropomorphic God in the Old Testament, trans. Marion
Salzmann (London, Oxford: Bloomsbury, T&T Clark, 2019-2020): “Old Testament tradition
consistently assumes that the concept of the body is the same for humans as it is for God” (1). Of
course, this concept derives from Genesis 1: that the human being is made in the image of God.5 We are
all familiar with the anthropomorphism of God, having “seen” depictions of God in stained glass
windows and paintings.
The sea in line three is, of course, deep, as are the “deep . . .unfathomable mines” in which God
stores his “bright designs / And works his sov’reign will” —God’s providence. “Unfathomable” means
incapable of being explored, comprehended, measured, or understood. We thus have a sense of God’s
infinitude, immensity, and incomprehensibility, even as He is present throughout His creation.
Moreover, God’s skill is perfect, “never-failing.” Cowper certainly alludes to Romans 11:33: “O the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments,
and his ways past finding out!” (KJV, my italics).
Beginning in the third stanza, the poet speaks directly to us, his readers: Take courage, “ye
fearful saints.” But Cowper himself, who suffered extended psychotic episodes, was also a “fearful
saint.” The dreaded storm clouds that seem so dark and frightening (think of Cowper’s melancholy
mind, as well as the storm clouds of life), however, are actually “big with mercy.” Indeed, these
towering cumulus (i.e., cumulonimbus) clouds will rain blessings and mercy on us. The speaker further
comforts us (and tries to comfort himself): don’t judge or think of God as frightening and angrily
frowning down on us. That’s a feeble way of contemplating the Lord, especially when we remember
1 John 4:16, “God is love.” God is really smiling on us, smiling with divine love, and offering us
grace—God’s favor toward us, no matter our unworthiness. God desires to help us, no matter how
undeserving we think we are—and poor Cowper felt he was damned. God offers unconditional love—
if only we can accept it, which poor Cowper frequently doubted for himself.
The speaker continues that God’s purposes will soon be apparent to us. Using a flower image, he
tells us that while the bud may first taste bitter, the blossomed flower will be sweet. Cowper uses the
bud / flower image to remind us that God is there but hidden. What seems unsatisfying, hard to endure
or accept, or distressing will ultimately bring us God’ grace and love.
In the final stanza, the speaker addresses “blind’ “unbelievers,” atheists, who erroneously “scan
[God’s] work in vain”—as if mere mortals can comprehend His “mysterious” way. The most
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