god – Page 2 – Abiding Quaker

^{Prayer is wholly out of the will of the creature, wholly out of the time of the creature, wholly out of the power of the creature, in the Spirit of the Father, who is the fountain of life, and giveth forth breathings of life to his child at his pleasure. –Isaac Penington}

^{This past week I received an email from someone who had recently discovered this blog and, as a result, also had visited the YouTube channel where there are recorded sessions of our Isaac Penington Study Group.1 He had listened to the 24th session in which our small group had discussed “prayer.” In his email, this reader had offered some of his thoughts on prayer, describing it as “a state of being. . . . a living in the Life,” and he went on to summarize: “prayer is receptivity to the operations of the Spirit on our being.”}

^{I felt}^{hesitant to accept his thoughts}^{unconditionally}^and^proceeded^to^identify^{the reason}^{behind my hesitation}^:

^Although^r^eceptiv^ity^to^the^Spirit^{is one element occurring in}^prayer^,^{it does}^not^{follow that}^{all receptivity to the Spirit}^{’s work on our being}^is^prayer^{. P}^{rayer is}^{a heightened state of communion with}^God^where^one’s^{inward being is}^{filled with}^the^Light^{of Christ.}^This^state^{is distinct from}^{our normal day-to-day consciousness}^{in which we may live with}^a^{fear of God, meaning a knowledge and}^{reliance upon}^Christ,^{the sure foundation of our life.}^If^the^transcendent^state^and^daily^{consciousness}^{are run together}^—^as^if^there^were^{no distinction between them}^—^then^{a problem may develop:}^{the transcendent}^{may be reduced}^to^something^{less than it is and normal consciousness}^{conflated with and raised}^up^into^{something more than}^can^be^{legitimately claim}^ed^{, which}^{was t}^{he first}^and^{is the}^ever-present^temptation.

^I^{ntending to}^ex^plain^{and support}^{my reason}^{in my response to this person,}^I^c^opied^{a passage from Fox’s}^Journal^{in which he describes his}^“veiled”^{consciousness}^,^{that is,}^{when he doesn’t}^{see Christ present yet}^nevertheless^feels^{firmly grounded}^{in him}^.^{Fox writes:}

^{And when at any time my condition was veiled, my secret belief was stayed firm, and hope underneath held me as an anchor in the bottom of the sea; and anchored my immortal soul to its Bishop, causing it to swim above the sea, the world where all the raging waves, foul weather, tempests, and temptations are.2}

^{(My response continued.)}^{How this state that Fox describes here differs from prayer is that a person can sense (have a “secret belief”) that he is grounded and preserved by Christ and therefore feel hope, while yet attending to all the various distractions and requirements necessitated by daily existence. In prayer, however, one’s eye is single, and, as a result, one’s whole body is full of light (Matt. 6:22). Prayer is a very focused (single-eyed) activity that brings one into an exalted (Light-filled) state. Jesus often goes to a mountain to pray (Mt. 14:23; Lk. 6:12; Mk. 6:46), and this is a way of saying he ascends into a different space spiritually as well as literally. The}^{Transfiguaration}^{occurs following Jesus’s and the disciples’ ascent up the mountain; it is there that Jesus appears full of light, which is different from the state Fox describes as his}^“veiled”^{condition. So, you see I distinguish between my daily condition where I must attend to many things}^(distracted^{, veiled)}^{while still feeling}^constantly^{undergirded by the Bishop of my soul, on the one hand, and, on the other, the high, focused,}^unveiled,^{Light-filled state of prayer.}

^{The following is a transcript of a portion of the Penington Study Group’s discussion on prayer, Session #24. This segment of the discussion (31:10) looks at the Lord’s Prayer as a means to prepare one to be lifted from regular consciousness into spiritual awareness. The transcript has been edited lightly for clarity. The complete discussion can be heard here:}

^{I think it’s significant that Jesus gives us a prayer to say in the Lord’s Prayer, and how this can be a transition or a fulcrum for moving into that wordless waiting upon the Lord. Those few verses function as a pathway, and what I find is}^that^they^{allow me—as I focus on the words—to concentrate my attention in a way that is the state the mind needs to be in, in order to be in that open}^,^{waiting state. I think I’ve said this before here, but I find that}^I^{intensely focus upon each phrase and proceed}^through^{the prayer phrase by phrase. My intent is to}^{feel that}^{each phrase}^{has been incorporated into my mind, so that my mind is focused and has made meaning of that phrase:}^that^{I’ve come into contact with the meaning of it. You know how you can say words, and there isn’t meaning, but sometimes when you say words, there is meaning. So what we’re looking for in that process is to get a strong sense of meaning in the words that we are saying.}

^{One time my family was visiting a Quaker up in Maine}^,^{a Quaker family up in Maine}^,^{and there wasn’t any meeting nearby so}^when^{Sunday came}^,^{we went to a Baptist}^c^hurch^,^{and in that service the}^m^{inister led the congregation}ⁱⁿ^{reciting the Lord’s Prayer in unison}^.^W^{e all stood up}^,^{and we all began to say the Lord’s Praye}^{r. M}^{y daughter}^,^{who was about seven at that time}^,^{pulled me down so that she could whisper in my ear}^,^{and she said}^{, “T}^{hey sound like zombies}^.”^A^{nd they did}^,^{because there was there was no life in in those words that were being said}^{; t}^{here was no}^meaning^;^{it was just a recitation of words that everybody was familiar with and nobody was putting any meaning into them}^.

^{I think how this Lord’s Prayer can help us is that if we take each phrase and just focus on it so intensely}^,^{the meaning comes to us}^.^A^{nd when each phrase has had that happen}^,^{then we move to the next phrase}^;^{and we proceed through that prayer one phrase at a time}^,^{allowing it to gather meaning for us}^.^{I find}^that^{by the time I get to the end of that prayer}^,^{it’s like I am lifted off from the world into a spiritual realm where there are no words}^,^{but there’s just}^S^pirit^:^{it’s almost like being launched into a spiritual place}^.^T^{hose words in that prayer are arranged to help us move from our normal frame of mind into a place that we can receive God}^,^{that we’re prepared to receive God}^.^A^{ll we can do is prepare}^,^{and that prayer does do that}^.

^A^{nother part of that process for me is if I lose my concentration in any of those verses}^,^{I feel morally obligated to go back to the beginning and start over}^.^T^{here needs to be a sustained concentration}^,^{because at the end of it what we are is just focused concentration waiting}^,^{and what works against us is our distractions}^:^our^{tendency to become distracted}^.^So^{what we want to do is concentrate and focus}^,^{and the difficulty is that we’re not focusing on a particular object or a particular thing}^;^{we’re focused on waiting}^,^{so it becomes}^that^{we’re focused on an absence of object}^.

Epigraph. Penington, Works, 2:345. Isaac Penington Study Group, 9/18/24, YouTube.
Nickalls, Journal, 14.

St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata, Jan Van Eyck, c. 1438

This post includes an email exchange with Evan Knappenberger, a Friend with whom I regularly worship at the Seekers’ Haven Worship Group, a Conservative Friends online group that meets each First-day morning for worship. Evan is a graduate student, an Iraq war veteran, and has two degrees in theology. He often ministers in our worship sessions, and I am always led to listen closely, because he speaks with sincerity and a sense of the faith. Evan’s contribution to this post is a story about two Trump canvassers who appear on the protagonist’s doorstep one October afternoon and the response given to them. Evan sent the story to a local newspaper and to me, asking for my response, which is copied after the story.

Evan’s writing begins:

Dealing With Fascism at Your Door: A Friendly City Primer

By E.K. Knappenberger

for the Harrisonburg Citizen, 10/24/2024

It was 4:30 on a warm October Harrisonburg afternoon, and I was just sitting down to my 900-level university creative writing workshop on zoom, when the doorbell rang. The dogs immediately went nuts. Annoyed, I got up thinking that some important business was at hand. I was right, but not in the way I expected.

When I opened the door and stepped outside, two pasty, rotund old ladies were standing there with Trump literature. “Hello!” they tried to sound cheerful but they looked exhausted, “I’m Betty and this is Linda. We want you to vote republican.” They pushed some glitzy propaganda in my face.

My first reaction, which I suppressed successfully, was to hiss, to rant, or to confront. Like many people who are not in the cult of the spray tan Mammon, I find the presence of the (somewhat more rare than last time) Trump signs and stickers to be a threat to everything that I hold dear as an American and as a Christian. Because of their convict-idol’s rhetoric of violence, which has explicitly called for the imprisonment and execution of those of us who helped the democratic party, it is not unreasonable to feel threatened by the mere presence of trumpian hate speech. The little old ladies walking around our town, who are by many reputable press accounts paid by shadowy post-Citizens United billionaire cash contributions, represent something much more sinister than appearances suggest.

Precisely because the self-described wannabe dictator has said repeatedly that anyone who stands in the way of his “extreme power” will face violent “bloody” consequences, I myself (along with the majority of my fellow Harrisonburgians who refuse to consent to authoritarian takeover of the federal government) have been forced to grapple with the hard truth that, like many countries on the brink of massive political violence in the past, one third of America would likely exterminate another third of America, while the last third did nothing to stop it from happening. Betty and Linda, despite their benign-seeming presence on our Harrisonburg front porches, whether they know it or not, are harbingers of death. I can say this as a historian, but also as a combat veteran and former intelligence analyst who witnessed a genocide up close. Every moral fiber in me revolts in disgust from watching such people advocate their death cult among the good people in our land of putative freedom.

My friend Sofia Samatar, in her beautiful meditations perambulating the Friendly City, recently wrote in her column describing the reactionary violence of a deranged diner at Capital Ale House, who verbally assaulted her children for purely political reasons. What does one do in such situations? What can one do against such pernicious, deep seated evil? As a Christian and as a thinking person I offer the following template, a Friendly City primer on telling off those trumpian idolaters who spread their evil in our little corner of the world. A template of certain terms and theological language that no true Christian can deny. Let me also add that one needn’t be a believing Christian to engage in the kind of theological argumentation below — Lord knows, there are scant few believing Christians among the Trump idolaters. But of course, it helps to be familiar with the New Testament to make a convincing argument as I have suggested below.

“Betty, Linda,” you can say with some practice, “I am glad that God has led you here for us to learn something today. Pray with me.” You can take their hands if you want, bow your head, and screw your eyes up tight. Before they can start talking, continue in a tone approaching prayerfulness.

“Lord, we know that you sent your only begotten Son, Jesus, so that we might not perish but have eternal life. We know this from the Gospel of John, chapter three, Lord. You told us that Christ Was, in the beginning, before the creation of the world, that he Was and Is and always Will Be your holy Word. We know that from John chapter one.”

Take a deep breath but don’t wait too long. Continue.

“Almighty God, we know that your Living Word Jesus Christ is the Truth, by whom alone we are sanctified (John chapter 17 verse 17); and that the Truth alone can set us free in body and in spirit (John chapter 8, verse 32). Heavenly father, we know that Jesus left us the Holy Spirit, who is an Advocate of God’s Truth (John 14:16) who alone can defend us and whom alone we should trust.”

Here you can begin to build your prayer louder so that all your neighbors can hear. Continue in power with conviction if possible.

“We also know that to blaspheme this Holy Spirit of Truth is an unpardonable sin. (Mark 3:28, Matt 12:31, Luke 12:10). Lord, we know that lies alone such as Trump makes every day, are a sin; but we confess to you Lord that when we blaspheme the spirit of Truth itself, as Trump also does daily, we are assaulting the very nature of our God’s goodness, freedom and aid. We are bothered, Lord, when worldly leaders like Trump lie openly, and even moreso when they expect the Truth to conform to their unholy word.”

“We are perplexed when trumpian apologists ask, like Pontius Pilate, “what even is truth?” (John 18:38). But Lord, we are utterly confounded when the idolaters of Trump, like the pharisees who sought to murder your Word made Flesh, act in order to destroy every notion of what is true and what is false. (John 7 through 9). Help us to repent, Lord, of the blasphemous notion that Trump’s satanic lies are little white ones! Help us recant the diabolical assertion that while Trump is often factually incorrect, that he is still somehow correct in spirit, or in orientation. This, we confess to you, all-knowing God, is the blasphemy of placing Satan’s lies on the altar of your Truth.”

“In the name of Christ, we renounce the demons in Betty and in Linda and in all those possessed by the spirit of lies. We repent their worship of a false idol on their TV screens. Almighty one, save us, drive the lie-loving power-hungry exploitative ones who mislead these little old ladies into a lake of fire (Rev. 20:10) as you have promised. Father, do not wait to save us from the falseness of those who blaspheme and who seek the death of your servants (Psalm 38).

“How long, Adonai, will you suffer your Truth to be trampled and devoured by lying, unclean hypocrites? (Matt 7:6). But save us, let your Truth set these deceived ones free, and deliver us from the evil of Trump and his satanic snares, as you have promised. Take these two women, God. Turn their rotten hearts toward you, O Lord! Open their scaly eyes and teach them to stop causing others to stumble! Force them to unbind their deformed consciences, Lord! Chastise them that they might be saved from the evil they think they want to commit in the name of Trump!”

Let go of Betty’s and Linda’s hands, but before they can respond, say quickly “Go and sin no more! ” and be sure not to slam the door too hard in their faces.

Patricia wrote:

Thanks for this, Evan. I think you have zeroed in on the main issue: the avalanche of deceit that has been the mainstay of Trump’s public performance these past eight years. There are plenty of other behaviors that make him offensive, but the continual violation of truth is—as you have written—to “blaspheme the spirit of Truth itself . . . [is to] assault[ing] the very nature of our God’s goodness, freedom and aid.” And in Matthew 12:32, Jesus confirms the condemnation resulting from this assault. To speak against the Holy Ghost, the spirit of Truth, is to nullify in oneself the true standard and power by which one is guided to righteousness. Though lying about particulars is damaging to one’s soul, to deface the living law in the heart by which we discern truth is to render oneself incapable of functioning as a human being, i.e., a creature made in God’s image. This denial of Truth is the nature and beginning point of all evil words and actions, and is why the devil is called the father of lies. This is a problem that has plagued individuals throughout history, but it becomes exponentially terrible when social groups given to this blasphemy gain political power, as in Europe in the ’30s.

It’s been particularly galling that Trump is getting support from so-called Christians. People need no further goad to despise Christians, as it’s been a mainstay of the entertainment industry for the past 60 years to see Christians as deceitful, hypocritical, and the contempt for Christians now permeates the psyches of most of the educated and spiritually immature. I keep my mind focused on the work of presenting sound understanding of the Way to those who love the Truth, as I do. I have no expectation that those who have given over their God-given capacity to seek and love the Truth would be nudged to change their ways, nor that the spiritually immature might be transformed by my writing. That said, I think the deceitful can be shamed by having their behavior brought to light: their conscience might be pricked or their fear of social ostracization might influence them to take a new stance. I think your writing here is undergirded by that expectation: Who would want to see himself in unity with these two unthinking, buffaloed Trump supporters? I also used the technique of shaming bad behavior in my essay “The Ubiquitous War of the Lamb,” which was also anti-trump. Neither does Jesus hold back from calling out others (Matt. 11:21, 23:23).

I am glad that you wrote this piece and sent it into the Harrisonburg paper. Please let me know if you hear of any response.

Your friend,

Pat

Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government (detail), Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338-39, Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico frescos

Tag: god

Some Observations on Prayer

Good or Bad Government