Scott Fillmer » world

Sunday with The World State by G K Chesterton :: Poem

Scott Fillmer — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:22:34 +0000

I think it has literally taken me a few years to adjust to Sunday being a work day, and I have grown to absolutely love late Sunday afternoons after all the services and meetings are over. It’s one of those few times during the week I get (usually) a few quiet uninterrupted hours to spend with Deborah watching a game or to read. A while back on the recommendation from Piper on the Role of Poetry in the Christian Life I picked up the book A Sacrifice of Praise, An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century (yes, I seem to just find books with long titles). I came across this poem by Chesterton, with a short title, called The World State I thought I would share below.

The World State

Oh, how I love Humanity,
With love so pure and pringlish,
And how I hate the horrid French,
Who never will be English!

The International Idea,
The largest and the clearest,
Is welding all the nations now,
Except the one that’s nearest.

The compromise has long been known,
This scheme of partial pardons,
In ethical societies
And small suburban gardens—

The villas and the chapels where
I learned with little labour
The way to love my fellow-man
And hate my next-door neighbour.

I love the subtle in your face presentation of the “second greatest commandment” here found in Matthew 22. There is just something about the Brits and the French that make me laugh and I can hear this poem being read aloud in a British pub somewhere like The Eagle and the Child in that awesome British accent. Chesterton was a poet, writer, and literary critic in the very early 1900′s and was friends with H.G. Wells, Bernard Shaw, and others. He also wrote, among many other things, Saint Francis of Assisi.

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The Dying Faith of the Youth of Our Country

Scott's Misc — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:58:49 +0000

I came across an article today called Faith No More, by Relevant Magazine, which talks about the dying faith of the twentysomething’s or the college age crowd.

After reading the article I was amazed at how similar the discussion was to a book I just started reading called The Integrity of the Church, A Study of New Testament Concepts Interpreted Through Christian History into our Era of Rapid Social Change (yes, that’s a mouthful), by E. Glenn Hinson. Although the title is a mouthful it is a fascinating read, so far.

At first glance, this book, published in 1978, would seem from the title to be one to rail about the evils of rock-n-roll or something like that. But as I went through the first chapter I was quite interested to find that the church at that time was dealing with large groups of people leaving the faith, much like the article written by Relevant in June 2008. I love reading books from a specific time period. It really gives you insight into what was going on at the time, especially with the church body. A section in the first chapter titled Growing Individualism had this to say:

Consciousness III is affecting the churches in several ways. First, as in the era of the Renaissance, it is adding to the moral confusion of the times, for it undermines established norms and systems for making moral judgments. Each person does what is right in his or her own eyes, his or her own thing.

[second] … the individual decides about his or her own beliefs. He/she does not submit them to peers within the church. If the group tries to to dictate, the individual simply drops out…

[third] …raises questions about how we go about forming congregations and communities, and indeed even whether we sould try to form them.

Of how far we have come from the mid-70′s…. right? This change that Hinson is talking about has long since occurred and we are a society of individuals now. He partially blames technology in the first chapter but probably couldn’t have imagined its impact as we know it today. I think we are now coming around to where we can connect, as individuals, through technology, but the church needs to be a part of that. The conclusion at the end of this chapter was very interesting and talks about the need for the church to be flexible.

…the church should not change merely for the sake of changing, but neither should it lock itself into outmoded patterns of the past. At one and the same time it should stive to conserve its identity while engaging in its missions in and to the world with adaptability or flexibility.

This can be done if we will keep our point of reference who we are and what we are to do as the church… Christianity seems particularly well suited to mett the challenge of rapid social change… but God is directing what is only a mixed and incomplete version of his purpose toward some ultimate goal.

Things always do seem to come back around, but I find many churches today unwilling to change much like in the mid 1970′s. The twentysomething’s want to connect, with people they understand. People like they know in college, not a service, of a set routine developed in the 50′s that they don’t understand. It was very interesting to me how relevant a book written in the 1970′s was to an article written a few days ago. We always try to think our issues in our day are “new”. The issues are the same, how do we connect with the people of today for Christ. The date that has changed, not God or his message.

If you have time, go and read the article by Relevant Magazine linked at the top and come back here and share some of your thoughts. A continuation of this post will be made in the coming weeks or months.

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Lord, Make Me Pure, But Not Yet Says Robbie Williams

Scott's Misc — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:47:56 +0000

I love this line below in the Robbie Williams song, Make Me Pure, from the Intensive Care album. It really speaks to me sometimes. We all want to live pure lives for our Lord, right? So I ask myself if I do, or do I really just listen to the chorus of this song and know this is how I feel sometimes?

The song goes through various “un-pure” ways and always ends with the line, Lord, please make me pure, but not yet. As Believers, I don’t know if we walk through life trying to keep one foot firmly planted in the world and the other asking for purity. Scripture tells us to separate ourselves from the world and live pure lives, pleasing to the Lord.

I got a ton of selfish genes and lazy bones
beneath this skin
Oh Lord, make me pure, but not yet

After reading some of Williams biography it looks like he struggled with this throughout his life, but I don’t think he has a corner on the market, I think we all ask this question from time to time. I think we try to hang on to those things we want from this world. These can be personality traits or objects, anything that blocks our relationship with our Lord and keeps us firmly planted in the world. This is not a call to become a Puritan, but as a group in history, they are an interesting study.

Our walk is not one in which we can mark the finish line here on earth. It is a constant ebb and flow of our commitment, relationship with our Lord, and our continued repentance and effort to live as scripture teaches us to live. Interesting that this lyric is by an artist that doesn’t make any claim to be a Believer at all.Â Doesn’t mean that he isn’t still searching for the Truth, as many are.

This could go just about anywhere, so how about it? Chime in below and let me know what you think.