T.S Eliot on the incarnation
I recently went to our thirst congregation on Sunday night. Thirst is our congregation that meets at 6pm on Sunday night in a little chapel that is part of our ministry centre in Preston, They use ancient Christian rituals such as lectio divina, meditation, silence etc to connect with God and then conclude with a simple meal of soup and bread. I don’t usually go to Thirst but I appreciated this reflection on some TS Eliot poetry.
From T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets (1941), The Dry Salvages was written in the middle of WW11, and is a contemplation on the gift of silence and stillness. It also imagines how God touches us – through the Incarnation, through discipline and prayer, but also at unexpected times. In our own war-ravaged times this poem reminds us of God’s richer, fuller, timeless plan for his creation, and of his reaching into the world in ways that are not always obvious, dramatic or visible. from “The Dry Salvages” from Part IV
Men’s curiosity searches past and future
And clings to that dimension.
But to apprehend The point of intersection of the timeless With time, is an occupation for the saint No occupation either, but something given And taken, in a lifetime’s death in love, Ardour and selflessness and self-surrender. For most of us, there is only the unattended Moment, the moment in and out of time, The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight, The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply That it is not heard at all, but you are the music While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses, Hints followed by guesses; and the rest Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action. The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation. Here the impossible union Of spheres of existence is actual, Here the past and future
Are conquered, and reconciled…
March 1st, 2007 at 9:14 am
There’s nothing I can add to this. perfect, beautiful and exact. The moments are of God, in fact are God Himself, giving Himself to us through the the medium of this world, His world, His creation. he groping, unfocused response that lets go even as our fingers brush against it, is all ourselves .. To grow in godliness is to be more present to, more aware of,
the god Who is always present and breaking through.
Hmm, Eliot, as always said it better ..