Into the Abyss With Jesus
- davidwperk
- May 15, 2024
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, May 15, 2024
The week of the seventh Sunday in Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s epistle reading:
7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.’
9(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended* into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 965)
AM Psalm 101, 109:1-4 (5-19) 20-30; PM Psalm 119:121-144
Isa. 4:2-6; Eph. 4:1-16; Matt. 8:28-34
Today we celebrate the Feast of Junia and Andronicus. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
The poet Gregory Orr affords the imagination a fresh fix on the whereabouts of the abyss at the base of our existence.
“The Entrance to the Underworld”
A common enough mistake:
looking in the wrong place.
It's not a fissure
in the earth, or crack
in a cliff face
that leads sharply down.
You were looking in the wrong
world. It was inside
you – entrance
to that cavern
deeper than hell,
more dark and lonely.
Didn't you feel it open
at her first touch? *
The epistle reading for today speaks to us with powerful images on the heels of Ascension Day (last Thursday’s feast). The Christ who ascended also descended into the “lower parts of the earth” (v. 9), or to use Orr’s imagery, the underworld. The referent here eludes definition. Perhaps the writer alludes to that concept recited in the creed, “he descended to the dead.”
Christ’s ascension to heaven cannot be understood apart from his absolute descent into the darkest recesses of human existence. This text gets read as one of a small cluster of readings hinting that Christ effected some sort of redemptive descent to the dead prior to his resurrection/ascension (Matthew 27:51-53; 1 Peter 3:19-4:6; Romans 10:6-7) The writers, especially 1 Peter, may well be encouraging us to stretch ourselves into witness to the farthest regions and the least appealing people, since Jesus took the good news of salvation to the lower regions.
If such a descent did happen (and I believe it did), could we, by analogy, assume that Christ descends into the deepest and most foreboding dead, dark spaces in our world and within us, the abyss of Orr’s poem? We might assume God to be absent from and avoiding those foreboding regions of our world and of our dark inner underworlds, those unknown inner crypts entombing our deadest and least lovable selves, especially given our ambivalent alternating openness to and resistance of God.
Focus with me for a moment on those dark inner underworlds. Can any dead, evil, rejected piece of ourselves elude the searching, probing impact of God’s saving love? If not, what might our response be? Could we invite Christ into those caverns to roam freely, to bring to life our deadest being, to embrace the least lovable and shunned parts of ourselves, to keep company with us in the emptiest, most lifeless neighborhoods of our inner world? Could we ally ourselves with God’s saving intent by more time in prayer, more attention to our dreams, more openness to the feedback trusted friends offer, more sensitivity to and acceptance of those surging, frightening, violent desires and fears, and more acknowledgement of those areas of shame and self-disgust.
Sweet Jesus, descend deeply within us. Guard us from ourselves. Quicken to life what otherwise would keep decaying into death. Break the shackles of fear, greed, lust, and rage that swirl up from within like noxious fumes from the smoldering ashes of an unlovely and unlovable self, deepening our sense of captivity and shame. Bless you for unrelenting love that treasures us and robs evil of its intent to destroy us. Praise you for dwelling within such an uninhabitable habitat and sanctifying it by your loving presence.
* Gregory Orr, The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press)
Collect of the Day, Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (BCP, 226)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Junia and Adronicus, apostolic associates of Paul.
Collect of the Feast of Junia and Adronicus
Almighty God, whose Son, the risen Christ, sent forth your apostles Andronicus and Junia to proclaim the Gospel and extend your reign: send us forth in your Holy Spirit, that women and men may minister as one in faithful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in perfect unity, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for Grace
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Disturb Us, Lord
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of the things we possess we have lost our thirst for the water of life.
Stir us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery, where in losing sight of land we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hope, and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope and love. Amen.
(Attributed to Sir Frances Drake upon departing to sail to the New World, 1577. Cited by The Right Rev. Clay Matthews, Clergy Retreat, Diocese of So. Virginia, 2004.)
A Prayer for Light
O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)
Daily Office Epistle, Ephesians 4:1-16
4:1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.’
9(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended* into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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