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Tis’ the gift to be simple
tis’ the gift to be free
tis’ the gift to come down where you ought to be
and when we find ourselves in the place just right
will be in the valley of love and delight.
You may find it a bit weird that whenever I hear John the Baptist yelling, “You brood of vipers,” I think of this 19th century Shaker tune. It may have to do with the word turn. We’ll get to that later. Or maybe it’s the image of a peaceable world painted by the prophet Isaiah and captured by the words from this song –the valley of love and delight.
The song is titled, “Simple Gifts” and was penned by Joseph Brackett. His claim was that simplicity was a necessity if one was to live in the valley of love and delight; which sounds like a pretty nice place to live particularly during this hectic time of year. So, I thought we’d spend some time today looking at simplicity and how we turn toward the valley of love and delight. How does that sound?
So, I am sitting at my desk thinking about all of you and the run up to Christmas that can be so busy; and to my right there on the desk are two checklists, an Epiphany checklist, and the Conn family checklist… old school; written on paper with a mechanical pencil. And on the family list is a series of things I need to buy for Christmas…so, I flip on the computer, and bam, bam, bam, I knock them out without even needing to know my credit card number…heck, I don’t even need wrapping paper, just check the box.
I am like an Olympic athlete of buying stuff. All done. Super-efficient. Super simple. Old Joseph Brackett would have been so proud…and yet, somehow the exercise of buying that stuff didn’t seem to land me in the valley of love and delight; at best, I get to make a check next to the thing on the list and move on…
Joseph Brackett would probably tell me to sing on… so I will:
When true simplicity is gained
to bow and to bend we shant be ashamed
to turn, turn
will be our delight
til by turning, turning we come ’round right.
Here I am reminded that simplicity has something to do with bowing and bending, which it turns out, is not a requirement for buying stuff over the Internet. Most people don’t bow and bend much. You have to be pretty intentional around finding occasions to do so…but, if you’re like me and Joseph Brackett, and agree with us that bowing and bending is necessary for entering into the valley of love and delight, then some intentionality is required.
For me it happens every morning. I get up, drink a glass of water, and then I bend my legs up under me there on the sofa, and bow my head in prayer for about thirty minutes. It is here where things get super simple…that is the beauty of prayer, it is super simple; and not in how you sit, or how long you pray, or if you bow your head… The bowing and bending are metaphors for disciplines that invite us into the valley of love and delight.
Lately I’ve been praying using a mantra that was developed by the Deserts Fathers in the 3rd century. Seven words, that is all, that are said to encompass the gestalt of the whole Bible. They are: “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.”
Here is how these words fit into the body of scripture: The Hebrew books anticipate Jesus, the Messiah, as Lord of all. Jesus, himself, is our teacher as illuminated in the Gospels. Christ is known through the resurrection, as spelled out in the Epistles. And mercy is what God bestows upon you and me.“Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.”
Here is the interesting thing about this simple prayer, called the Jesus Prayer; it finds its potency when grafted onto our hearts in a way that becomes unceasing, tied to the very beating of our heart itself.
There is nothing simpler than the beating of our hearts. There it is, the same, a constant in all of our lives; from the moment God thought us into being, to the moment we move to eternity…Beat, beat, beat goes our hearts.
Here is how it works in relationship to the Jesus Prayer: lay your fingers upon a pulse point, your neck or your wrist, and then say each word to one beat of your heart…
Lord, beat, Jesus, beat, Christ, beat, have, beat, mercy, beat, upon, beat, me, beat.
Do it with me. Find a pulse point. Now: Lord, beat, Jesus, beat, Christ, beat, have, beat, mercy, beat, upon, beat, me, beat.
With time, the Desert Fathers came to see that the words, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me,” washed through the very blood in their veins so with every heartbeat the prayer was said unceasingly.
I have experienced this to be true. With practice you will soon be able to just hear the beating of your own heart, and when you attend to it, intentionally, you will also hear the words: Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.” Powerful. Simple. Perfectly designed to turn you to the valley of love and delight.
Some people say the Jesus Prayer should be attached to your breathing. (Probably not a controversy you are so familiar with.) And while I see the value of breath prayer with mantra during silent meditation, I believe that it is only when pray and it is wound around your heart that it, ultimately, can be said without ceasing…even when you are pounding out those on-line Christmas purchases you can remain through the beating of your heart in the valley of love and delight.
And so how does this all tie back to that brood of vipers? Let’s turn back and take a look. The key word, as I said earlier, is turn, but we’ll get to that in a second. First, the brood of vipers John was addressing… they were the Scribes and Pharisees. You see the problem the people of Israel were confronting was the occupation of Israel by Rome. The logic, as they understood it, was that the Roman occupation was permitted by God because the Jewish people had turned away from God.
And it was the Scribes and Pharisees fault, at least in part, because they had not been adequately teaching the people how to be faithful to God. So, John lashes out at them as a brood of vipers. Probably not very nice, but no one ever accused John the Baptist of being a nice guy. But where he lacked compassion, he made up for it with insight… He says: “I baptize you with water, but one is coming after me who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire!”
Here we are introduced to two new baptisms that will be unveiled by Jesus: baptism with the spirit, and baptism with fire. Or another way to think of it is as: baptism of the mind and baptism of the heart.
So, now we have with the presence of Jesus a trinity of baptisms: Baptism with water to wash the body. Baptism with the spirit to enlighten the mind. Baptism with fire to inspire the heart. One baptism for actions; one baptism for knowledge; one baptism for love. It is all pretty simple and the core design of every single human being. Body, mind, heart. Action, knowledge, love.
John the Baptist’ role is to baptize with water. He knows it and says it: “I baptize you with water, but there is one coming after me that ranks ahead of me because he was before me. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (John 1:31-34 para, Matt 3:11b)
John’s is a baptism toward action, physical, concrete action. He calls the people to repent, which mean to turn around…to actually turn towards God, which means, in this material world, to turn towards the one who that baptizes with spirit and fire. Turn that way, Johns says; turn toward that guy, John points. Move your feet. Walk. Follow Jesus.
It is all pretty simple; Following Jesus is how we turn toward God; following Jesus is how we come ‘round right; which is why I always think of this Shaker hymn when I hear John the Baptist shout: “You brood of vipers.” Maybe you will now as well.
Sing it with me.
Tis’ the gift to be simple
tis’ the gift to be free
tis’ the gift to come down where you ought to be
and when we find ourselves in the place just right
will be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
to bow and to bend we shant be ashamed
to turn, turn
will be our delight
til by turning, turning we come ’round right.
In this busy time of year; I invite you to turn toward simplicity, to bow and to bend. Maybe that means memorizing the song Joseph Brackett gave to us, or maybe even setting aside time to let the words Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me flow through your beating heart. But whatever it is, I invite you to seek simplicity, and if you do here is my guarantee; that you will find yourself in the valley of love and delight.