If we think of Dr Spock and his inter-galactic acquaintances, we rapidly move beyond our imagination. We pay special people to bring into being special creatures never before seen or contemplated. This is nothing new. In his day the historian Herodotus told his readers of the ibis and its habit of dealing with the unwelcome flying snakes that plagued Egypt.
But the revelation Paul is hinting at in 1 Corinthians 2.9 is different. Try as we may, we cannot get our heads round the idea of glory, of the ultimate destiny beyond words, beyond graphic inspiration. If we could imagine it, we could well be discontented with our threescore years and ten on a pale imitation of the real thing. Perhaps this is the message at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. To see God is to have a transformation of our thinking, the beginning of an understanding that has to be kept for a later time.
This is not Paul, the precise administrator, the travelling supervisor, who likes everything in its place, everything pinned down. This is not the fastidious campaigner who could meet the Athenian élite on their own ground and give a good account of himself and his new faith. This is Paul agape, working at the limits of language in an endeavour to give shape to the inexpressible.
We have to remember out limitations when we peer into the spiritual realm. As is the case with the past, they do things differently there. It is an aspect of the human condition that shows itself when it confronts mystery. It is also a reminder that when we use words like ‘faith’ and ‘glory’ we are using a register of language that is suited to other things than our sublunary routine. Hymns work with this kind of language; so do prayers. That is what makes a hymn like a great church building; it is a tool waiting to be used. It has taken up balance, harmony and imagination and made them into a launching-pad for words that matter.
Comprehension is one function of the human system. Religion and science cannot do without it. Imagination is another function that both find essential. As Paul is suggesting in this passage, so far and no further is the pattern.
UNCOVER
All Saints church, North Ferriby in the East Riding is presenting what it describes as an eye-witness investigation of Jesus of Nazareth for parishioners and others. It is entitled ‘Uncover’. Vicar of this parish with a Pearson church is Matthew Brailsford. Remnants of Bronze age boats have been discovered in the area; they are said to be the earliest known boats found in Europe.
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