The
Collect for the Day for a Sunday in July (see Proper 15, Book of Alternative Services,
p. 367) begins with these words, based on
a line from
Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless
until they find their rest in you.
The
book tells the story of a seeking and restless heart, a heart which took its
writer to places that we would not expect to find in the formation of one of
the Church’s great teachers. As I read the book, the details of Augustine’s
life are secondary to his ever-growing awareness of something being amiss in his
life, from with his dissolute youth through troubled early adulthood, until the
dramatic moment when he realized that he could no longer resist God’s call. He
was baptized at the age of 33, and wrote this book in his early 40’s, shortly
after he became Bishop of Hippo in
Augustine’s
“Confessions” is a classic because it
points us towards one of the great realities of human existence—the
restlessness of our hearts, the sense that something’s missing in our lives.
This unease of the heart is the source of much of what is best in history and
human endeavour. It is a Christian classic because it identifies the unease
with that longing for God which C. S. Lewis called the “God-shaped hole” in our
hearts.
Augustine
may have been one of the first in our branch of history to write down a
personal story like this, but the reality of which he wrote did not begin with
him. Longing for God, whether conscious or not, is part of who we are.
Centuries before Augustine, as the people of
But
Zephaniah said to the people “Rejoice!”
Centuries
on, Paul wrote to his beloved church in
And
Paul said to the people “Rejoice!”
Rejoice!
Things are bad? Does God seem absent or indifferent? Rejoice anyway! There is
no better cure for the unease of the heart than to seek its rest in the only
true rest—the love and peace of God.
Rejoice!
Come home to the one who has always been there, the one who has always loved
us, no matter how far we stray, no matter how lazy or indifferent we are in our
lives, no matter how much we begin to believe He doesn’t care. Come home to
God…and rejoice!
Augustine
first heard the call as a little boy, from Monica, his Christian mother who
longed for him to find God. It took decades for him to come home, to find that
rest.
The
people of
The
early Church heard the call from the apostles, from Peter and Paul and all the
others who had walked with Jesus, and borne witness to the resurrection. When
strife and persecution shook their faith, they heard the words of Paul to find
that “peace which surpasses all understanding.”
Restless
human hearts, far from home, are only made more restless by the cares and
worries of the world, the pressures and concerns that work to drive away joy.
How to hold on to the joy? Don’t try to fix everything. That just makes things
worse, because you can’t fix everything, and then you’re even more restless.
No, just “Rejoice!”
Rejoice in the Lord
at all times,
and again I will say, Rejoice.
John
the Baptist preached to crowds of restless people, people who knew their need
of God’s salvation, and who wondered if John might be the one. He was not, but
he pointed their eager and questioning hearts towards the one who was coming
after him. Just as the prophets before him had done, he called the people home
to God, to a way of life that gave glory to God. “Bear fruits worthy of repentance!” he told them. And as Jesse
Jackson has said “It is easier to walk
your way into a new way of thinking…than to think your way into a new way of
walking.”
John’s
preaching may sound stern and demanding to modern ears, but for Luke it is good
news—God is coming home to his people, to be with us, to love us, and to judge.
And let us remember two things: first, that judgment is for our benefit, and
second, that the one who judges us is the one who loves us the most.
The
time is now to Rejoice, and to amend our lives that our joy and peace may be
complete.
…ring out your joy,
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of
God
is coming home to his people—seeking out the restless hearts, seeking to fill
that God-shaped hole in the centre of each of us, seeking to give us the peace
that surpasses understanding.
God
is always coming home to us, even when we are most restless and fearful. So
Rejoice always! Rejoice without ceasing! Rejoice!
