The power of popular piety

The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose words the events seemed to hang, were as little voluntary as the actions of any soldier who was drawn into the campaign by lot or by conscription. This could not be otherwise, for in order that the will of Napoleon and Alexander (on whom the event seemed to depend) should be carried out, the concurrence of innumerable circumstances was needed without any one o which the event could not have taken place. It was necessary that millions of men in whose hands lay the real power -- the soldiers who fired, or transported provisions and guns --should consent to carry out the will of these weak individuals, and should have been induced to do so by an infinite number o diverse and complex causes (342).

Tolstoy penned these words when weighing the causes of the Napolianic wars. In War and Peace he asserts that there was an inevitability to the mechanism of war, it was in the breast of the masses and not concentrated in those deemed leaders.

The most important aspects Holt brings out in his treatment of modern Church history in his book Thirsty for God is the movement of the people in pietism. Between the days of reformation and enlightenment there was a resurgence of personal piety. This apparently resonated with Holt. Many of the spiritualities he explores are expressions of personal piety and devotion. This is evident in the modern resurgence of centering prayer and contemplation, a renewed interest in Spiritual Disciplines, even devotion to Mary.

...The Marian doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church is a prime example of spirituality leading theology, not vise-versa, for it has been popular devotion that has run ahead of official dogma and led the popes eventually to make pronouncements about the Blessed Mother, notably about her immaculate conception, in 1854, and her assumption to heaven, in 1950 (160).

It is the power of personal piety that led the way for doctrinal changes in the church. How much was Luther, Zwingli, Huss and other reformers indebted to their personal piety and the popular piety of the cultures that produced them?

To me this reinforces the idea that if we want to impact church history in the future, the place for us to turn is to the fire of our own personal devotion. If we want revival we must turn our own lives resolutely and fearlessly to God!

veneration of saints

I can’t get my head around the doctrines concerning Mary: her immaculate conception, her ascension, her various appearances, her intercessory roll… But, I am starting to see the place of devotion as love.

Today I was walking around the cemetery imagining I was Paul looking at the shrines in Athens. When I came to the head stone of Rev. John and Sister Ora Rosetta Dearing, I stopped. I knelt beside it and thanked God for saints, and the courage to stand in their place as a pastor and follow in their footsteps.

Pastor Dearing served my church for ten years. That is quite an accomplishment especially in light of the church having an average pastoral stay being about six months. He was much beloved. He died suddenly while away for General Council in 96. His wife was a dear saint. She sent us encouragements regularly. She saw in Elaine and I a mirror of her life with her husband in their early years. She profoundly impacted me with her notes, her visits and ultimately her death. Her funeral was the third in my pastorate here.

As I left the cemetery I did something very much resembling a devotion to Mary. I blew a kiss to their tomb stone. The connection suddenly came to me. For those who respect and love a saint (and Mary is at the top of the list to be loved and respected), such acts should be the acts of lovers. If we leave aside the pedantics concerning her veneration perhaps we can simply love her.