{"id":858,"date":"2014-03-16T11:00:14","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T16:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=858"},"modified":"2021-02-23T11:33:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T16:33:18","slug":"calvin-for-lent-letters-of-recommendation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2014\/03\/16\/calvin-for-lent-letters-of-recommendation\/","title":{"rendered":"Calvin for Lent: Letters of Recommendation"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 3: 1-17<\/a><\/p>\n

2 Cor. 3: 10<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the full service.<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the sermon only.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation, to you or from you?\u00a0 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all.\u2019 (2 Cor. 3: 1)<\/i><\/p>\n

Freedom and Melancholy<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

In July of 2003 my dear best friend and family doctor drove us to a nearby book sale, an annual event, in a converted barn, along a country road, nearby to–nothing.\u00a0 We go every summer.\u00a0 He is an historian by temperament and some significant private reading, largely English history of the 17th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 We browsed among the mildewed racks of lost tomes, lost to their original readers and lost on a generation growing impatient to reading.\u00a0\u00a0 For 25 cents one could buy the 1200 pages of Marcel Proust\u2019s The Remembrance of Things Past<\/i>, volume 1.\u00a0\u00a0 For eleven years, now, 2014, and now into the second volume, about page 230, this strange, difficult work has provided me some occasional early morning company.\u00a0 You can see that progress has been slow.\u00a0 Some months go by without a page being read.\u00a0 In fact, after some real difficulty with sentences a page long, a whole year went by.<\/p>\n

On page 233 of volume 2, Proust pauses mid remembrance to remark that with the onset of real adulthood, with the arrival of the experience of genuine freedom, with the sudden realization that one\u2019s own life is in one\u2019s own hands\u2014an experience not unknown in college life\u2014there comes melancholy.\u00a0 Melancholy, for students for parents for retirees for all, melancholy comes in part from a full feeling, full thought of freedom, of the responsibility, the unique and unrecoverable responsibility of life, of living one\u2019s own life.\u00a0 Melancholy is a whole lot more than homesickness.\u00a0 We sometimes presume that young adult ennui comes from homesickness.\u00a0 Not so.\u00a0 The real root is spiritual melancholy.\u00a0 Though we respect Frederick Beuchner\u2019s astute meditation, years ago, on the resemblance of homesickness to faith, a real rehabilitation for homesickness if ever there was one, what gives one pause in coming of age, at whatever age, is more\u2014it is Proust\u2019s melancholy.\u00a0 Proust\u2019s own voice this morning is carried on that of Marsh Associate Robert Lucchesi:<\/p>\n

But by these very words which left it to myself to decide my own happiness, my mother had plunged me in that state of doubt in which I had been plunged long ago when my father, having allowed me to go to PHEDRE and, what was more, to take to writing, I had suddenly felt myself burdened with too great a responsibility, the fear of distressing him, and the melancholy which we feel when we cease to obey orders which, from one day to another, keep the future hidden, and realize that we have at last begun to live in earnest, as a grown up person, the life, the only life, that any of us has at his disposal.<\/i><\/p>\n

Dear friend.\u00a0 Your melancholy has a good in it.\u00a0\u00a0 Your avoidance of others, reluctance to engage, willingness to self medicate, endless sleeping, absence from worship, repetition of the verbal sign of the age, \u2018whatever\u2019\u2014your melancholy\u2014comes in part from a deep, perhaps pre-conscious awareness of life, of freedom, of responsibility, of the chance and necessity and dangerous challenge of really living.\u00a0 Take heart if you are down.\u00a0 Down is the marrow of up.<\/p>\n

Calvin and Nicodemus<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

At least, that is what Nicodemus found.\u00a0 Melancholy kept Nicodemus up at night, too, and one night he found, or was found by, Spirit.<\/p>\n

This Lent we engage as our conversation partner in preaching, the great Geneva Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564).\u00a0\u00a0 We have found it helpful, in this season, to link our preaching here at Marsh Chapel, an historically Methodist pulpit, with voices from the related but distinct Reformed tradition, which has been so important over 400 years in New England.\u00a0\u00a0 The Methodist tradition has emphasized human freedom, the Reformed divine freedom.\u00a0 In Lent each year we have brought the two into some interaction, both harmonious and dissonant. \u00a0It is fitting to hear of Nicodemus at night, this morning, as we consider Calvin, this Lent. (With Calvin we encounter the chief resource for others we have engaged other years\u2014voices like those of Robinson (2013), Ellul (2012), Bonhoeffer (a Lutheran cousin)(2011), and themes like Atonement (2009) and Decision (2008).)<\/p>\n

Calvin\u2019s own voice this morning is carried on that of Marsh Associate Robert Lucchesi: Christ mans that the movement and operation of God\u2019s Spirit is no less perceptible in the renewal of (the human being) than the movement of the air in this earthly and outward life, but its mode is hidden.\u00a0 And we, therefore, are ungrateful and (miserly) if we do not adore the incomprehensible power of God in the heavenly life, of which (God) shows us so outstanding an example in this world, and if we asbribe to Him less in restoring the salvation of our souls than in preserving the estate of our bodies:\u00a0 Such is the power and efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the renewed (person). (vol. 4, p, 68, NT Commentaries).<\/i><\/p>\n

Calvin and Corinthians<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Likewise, John Calvin emphasizes, rightly, in 2 Corinthians, Paul\u2019s own stress upon the \u2018fragrance\u2019 or the \u2018scent\u2019 of the gospel.\u00a0 Of course, Calvin means this both happily for the graced and sadly for the reprobate, both of whom are known in response to the preaching of the good news.\u00a0 His ease in naming the \u2018reprobate\u2019 is hard for us, I expect, and makes sense only, and only in part, underneath his overarching celebration of the glory of God, God\u2019s glory, known in all things ordained by God, both gain and loss, found and lost.\u00a0 \u201cThe power of the Gospel is so great that it either quickens or kills, not only by its taste, but by its very (fragrance).\u2019 (vol. 10, p. 35).<\/p>\n

Calvin carefully follows Paul\u2019s thought:\u00a0 Continuing with the same metaphor, he says that the epistle was written by Christ, because the faith of the Corinthians was His work.\u00a0 He says that it was ministered by himself, likening himself as it were to the ink and the pen.\u00a0 In other words, he makes Christ the author and himself the instrument\u2026(and later) For by the letter he means an external preaching which does not reach the heart, and, by the Spirit, life giving teaching, which is, through the grace of the Spirit, given effective operation in (our) souls. (p. 42)<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2018You yourselves are my letter of recommendation\u2019. (2 Cor. 3:1). Such a marvelous, supreme, beautiful commendation to you, hear at Marsh Chapel, to you, listening by radio signals, to you the community of Christ, near and far, old and young, visible and virtual.\u00a0 You are a letter of recommendation!<\/p>\n

So the Apostle Paul addresses his beloved Corinthians, and replies to those who seek a more formal epistle of reference.\u00a0 You are<\/i>\u2026 the recommendation.<\/p>\n

Letters of recommendation\u2014their solicitation, composition, delivery, reception and perusal\u2014litter the academic landscape.\u00a0 Graciously to request one is a delicate art.\u00a0 Honestly to compose one is a delicate art.\u00a0\u00a0 Critically to assess one is a delicate art.\u00a0 Over many years, having benefitted from the kindness of others who wrote them, I now, as writer, much more fully appreciate the effort therein invested.\u00a0 Long before cyber files, e files, and electronic mail.\u00a0 Each letter written, typed, enveloped, stamped and sent, over a kindly personal signature!\u00a0\u00a0 Letters of recommendation.\u00a0 A pause:\u00a0 may those this week composing such receive a personal blessing for a quiet labor, a thankless gift, a generous portion.<\/p>\n

We may wonder about recommendation.\u00a0 What do you and I commend, by our living?\u00a0 What does our living, our mode of thinking, our manner of working, our habit of being, what does our living speechlessly recommend.\u00a0 \u2018None preaches better than the ant, and he says nothing\u2019 (B Franklin).\u00a0 What happy shadow, what felicitous echo, what alluring existential fragrance do you cast about yourself as you sally forth on the trail of life?\u00a0 So that heads turn.\u00a0 Are you\u2014how are you?\u2014a spiritual head turner?\u00a0 We may wonder about recommendation.<\/p>\n

Let us head off one misapprehension.\u00a0 The gospel probes what you recommend, not just what you represent.\u00a0 You represent\u2014this or that.\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 Well and good.\u00a0 But do you truly recommend what you represent?\u00a0 Recommendation is spirit, representation is flesh, a distinction the Apostle most strongly asserts in Galatians 3, and again here in 2 Cor. 3: 1ff.\u00a0\u00a0 Here in Corinthians, Paul says, \u2018you are my letter of recommendation\u2019, not merely of representation.\u00a0 Does your life sparkle, shimmer, quiver, shake, rattle and roll, outflowing in recommendation of what you represent?\u00a0 In living, do you truly recommend what you dutifully represent?<\/p>\n

You are a banker.\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 As such you represent savings, thrift, delayed gratification, the long view.\u00a0 You represent what others can bank on, what others can count on.\u00a0 As a banker you represent solid investment.\u00a0 Does your own life recommend solid investment?\u00a0 Do you save?\u00a0 Do waste not, want not?\u00a0 Do you prepare in visible ways for a rainy day?\u00a0 Does your life shine with a soundness, a reliability, a trustworthy confidence, which others credit, and which others bank on, and which others can count on?\u00a0 You are a banker.\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 But are you a banker I can count on?\u00a0 Does your life really recommend what your living represents?<\/p>\n

You are a teacher. Good.\u00a0 As such you represent curiosity, inquiry, learning, discipline, the converted and convertible life, as Emerson might have put it.\u00a0 You represent what can be taught and learned.\u00a0 As a teacher you represent the value of learning.\u00a0 Do you?\u00a0 Learn, I mean.\u00a0 Do you learn something new, every day, and thrill to do so?\u00a0 Do you seek out new vistas\u2014another language, another land, another literature, another logarithm? Do you like to learn?\u00a0 If not, what are doing teaching?\u00a0 Does your conversation simmer in new sauces of tasty, salty apprehension?\u00a0 Do you know how to ask questions that travel between the Scylla of banality and the Charibdis of the nonsensical?<\/p>\n

You are a professor, an educator, an instructor.\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 You represent learning.\u00a0 But do you recommend it in a life that exudes the happiness of understanding, the thrill of discovery, the contentment of mastery?\u00a0 Are you a decent docent?\u00a0 Does your life really recommend what your living represents?<\/p>\n

C.S.Lewis said \u2018wake up\u2019.\u00a0 Sigmund Freud said \u2018grow up\u2019.\u00a0 Paul of Tarsus said \u2018show up\u2019.\u00a0 We ask you today\u2014\u2018what up?\u2019\u00a0 What does your life joyfully recommend to others?<\/p>\n

You are an American.\u00a0 Looking at you, would and do others long to be one too?\u00a0 You are an athlete.\u00a0 Watching, do others desire to be one too?\u00a0 You are an academic.\u00a0 Living next door to you, do others decide to go after a PhD?\u00a0 You are a political activist.\u00a0 Does your dentist see and do likewise?\u00a0 You are an atheist.\u00a0 Knowing that, do others smile and drop belief?<\/p>\n

You are minister.\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 As such you represent good news.\u00a0 GOOD news.\u00a0 You represent the gospel of freedom, grace and love.\u00a0 You are a part of the representative<\/i> ministry.\u00a0 Congratulations.\u00a0 You represent the unity and continuity of the church through the ages (J Wesley).\u00a0 You represent love divine, all loves excelling.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t be happier for you and for all you represent.\u00a0 Just one small question.\u00a0 Does your life at all recommend what you ostensibly represent, what your ordination represents?\u00a0 In your living, day by day, as you walk the streets where others live too, as you pass by, is there a hint of freedom in your gait, is there a scent\u2014a fragrance– of grace in your cadence, is there a glimpse of love in your stride?\u00a0 Is freedom something just to talk about on Sunday, or is it something you live out, on Thursday?\u00a0 So too, grace and love.\u00a0 You preach liberty, laughter and love.\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 Do you ever take a vacation?\u00a0 Do you keep your friendships in good repair?\u00a0 Do you give with a happy generosity, a carefree (not careless) abandon?\u00a0 Ministry is ministry with people.\u00a0 Do you spend any time with people?\u00a0 Ministry is with hurting people.\u00a0 Do you spend any time with hurting people?\u00a0 Or is it just another day in front of the computer screen?\u00a0 Does your life really recommend what your living represents?\u00a0 How will others hear the gospel of freedom, grace, and love if they never see ministers of the gospel who exemplify freedom, grace and love?<\/p>\n

You are a Christian.\u00a0 I am glad.\u00a0 But.\u00a0 Can others bear witness that you would give them the shirt off your back, go with them a second full mile, offer coat and cloak as well, and love those who make it frightfully hard to love them?\u00a0 Does your life recommend or merely represent Jesus Christ, and him crucified? Do you set out in the morning to love, to live as a love letter, to live out the knowledge and love of God with mercifully spirited existential letters, sent in multiple copies, and laden with grace, prayer and presence?<\/p>\n

Is the print legible in the letter of recommendation, which is your (pl.) life?\u00a0 Can people read it, read you, read, and reading, there, read gospel?<\/p>\n

At least we may take the intensity and zeal of Walt Whitman going forward. Whitman\u2019s own voice this morning is carried on that of Marsh Associate Robert Lucchesi:<\/p>\n

I celebrate myself<\/i><\/p>\n

This is what you shall do<\/i><\/p>\n

Love the earth and the sun and the animals<\/i><\/p>\n

Despise riches<\/i><\/p>\n

Give alms to every one who asks<\/i><\/p>\n

Read these leaves in the open air<\/i><\/p>\n

In every season of every year in your life<\/i><\/p>\n

Dismiss whatever insults your own soul<\/i><\/p>\n

And your very flesh shall be a great poem<\/i><\/p>\n

Well beloved!\u00a0 Lift up your hearts!\u00a0 Let us this season live what we love, behave as we believe, recommend what we reference, be born of the spirit!\u00a0 Hear the good news:<\/p>\n

\u2018Do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation, to you or from you?\u00a0 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all.\u2019 (2 Cor. 3: 1)<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0~The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 3: 1-17 2 Cor. 3: 10 Click here to hear the full service. Click here to hear the sermon only. \u2018Do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation, to you or from you?\u00a0 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all.\u2019 (2 Cor. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2987,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/2987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}