Anglican author
G. K. Chesterton
Was a member of the “Inklings”
That group
Which included
C. S. Lewis
And J.R.R. Tolkien
Chesterton was a
Lay theologian
Philosopher
Poet
And author
In his poem entitled
“The Ballad of the White Horse”
He begins book IV
(Of this 2,684 line poem)
with these words:
“And well may God with the serving-folk
Cast in His dreadful lot;
Is not He too a servant,
And is He not forgot?”
The poem is about King
Alfred
who comes
To a fireside
Where a servant woman
Is cooking
She thinks he is a
Beggar
She takes pity on him
And says
He can stay
And eat
In
exchange for
watching her fire
It is in this light
that king Alfred
begins his reflections
(And, I am persuaded
by the teaching of
Poet Malcolm Guite here)
The king
As he watches
Realizes
He has
Come low
And is now
Minding the fire
For the least
Servant of his household
He
Himself
Has become
The least of the least
Of servants
It is here the king has a
revelation
That this is God’s
Great act
To be born a human
And be a servant to humankind
The poet
Chesterton plays
On this theological truth
throughout this portion
Of the poem
Suggesting
That God is like the servant
God is the anonymous
Unseen
Invisible
Unthanked God
God who gives all that
we have
The God who provides for us
The God who also
Comes among us
And serves us
First in the very act
Of becoming human
Born in the least royal
Of halls
A manger
Then to live
As a wondering
Homeless preacher
Begging for food
When in a town
Serving
Giving dignity to the unseen
and healing the sick
Raising the dead
And finally to take
Up the cross
For our own sake
Chesterton is reminding
us
Of the great kenosis of life
The Gospel paradox
That God
has come low
The renunciation of god-likeness
become human
Born of a woman
The great
Incarnation event
Christmas
We
Hopefully
As Christians
Embody
(In our gift giving
Our preparing of our homes
our cooking)
in a physical way
God’s
service
By doing these uniquely Christmas
tasks
we are
Connecting
The spiritual
Reality of God
With the physical world around us
It is all too easy
To allow the spirit of God
And our theology
To become
An experience of emotion
Or meaning
That lives within us
Or dwells
In our minds
But the incarnation
Rejects such spiritualizations
Of the Gospel
The Incarnation
Is a unifying
Act
Whereby God
Becomes human
In the unique
Form of
A very real person
Christ Jesus.
Our Advent time
And Christmas preparations
Are one where we
Remember
This kenotic theology
Of servanthood
We practice
Bending
the spiritual
into
the physical world
This is a time
Of intentional
Connection
Between
What we believe
And
who we think we are
With
How we act with others
How we interact in relationships
How we serve others
And how we give
For Christians
Such work
Is not a once a year
Invention
Around the holidays
But
Rather
The holidays
Are a unique
Opportunity
To sharpen our skills
Of love
Service
And
Gratitude
You see
It is not only
That the king in the poem
Understands
The lowliness of God
In Christ Jesus
Or
the lengths
To which God
Has gone to serve
But
Through this different light
The king also
Sees those who serve
There is a deep truth
here
Chesterton writes a bit more
“For God is a great servant,
And rose before the day,
From some primordial slumber torn;
But all we living later born
Sleep on, and rise after the morn…”
Here Chesterton is
referring
To all the labor
By servants
That goes unseen
That is never told
Work
And industry
That is never given thanks for
Effort
Time
And production
On our behalf
that goes invisible
To our waking eye
It would indeed be a
good thing
If in this season of advent
And Christmas
We understood the great
Notion of God’s
Action of coming low
And becoming one of us
But God
And Chesterton alike
Are after a bit more…I think
And
That is
To see with different eyes
God,
the world,
and people around us
The higher work
The profound work
Is for us as Christians
To come to see the hidden
Work that goes on all around us
- The invisible work
For in doing so
We see
As did
King Alfred in
Chesterton’s poem
The work of the servant
At the fire
And the baking of cakes
And preparation of ale
All undertaken
While he slept
And with
Hardly a thought
In our world today
We do not live in some
Downton Abbey, Georgian home, or Queen’s palace
With servants
Scurrying behind closed doors
food prepared out of sight
fires
started while we sleep
Or beds made
while we go down
For breakfast
For us
Today
There is a different
and wholly invisible world
That goes on around us
And serves us
And makes the manner of life
We live possible
This is the world
Where the groceries are delivered
By night
And unpacked and stocked
By cold glove worn hands
This is the world
Where people
Operate and run the 24 hour stores
Who drive all night
On trains, trucks and boats
So that we might find the things
We want
When
we need them
These are the people
Who operate the largest
And mostly invisible
Infrastructure of the Texas ship channel
All night
Or
watch
While oil, gas, and
electricity
Are ready for your
use
This is the world of
The unnamed server at your table
The name we
Quickly forget while ordering
Or cooks behind the
hidden restaurant
Kitchen wall
The bussers who clean our table
Before
or after we eat
The wholly
Invisible ones
Who clean restrooms
And mop the endlessly
Dirty floors
Our trash collectors and
mail carriers
All
who
Mostly
Remain
Faceless
Nameless
Many of whom work
two jobs
To make ends meet
While we live
Lives without sight
These are the night people
As Ray Wylie Hubbard sings
Or the people
in the children’s book
The
Night Kitchen
by Maurice Sendak
Laboring to prepare the next days’ food
We might think differently
Of the Starbucks scone
or muffin
Handed to us by
the invisibly named
Barista
These are the people of Laura
Cowan’s
The Usborne Book of Night Time
That reveals a world
That never sleeps
The doctors and nurses
The police and firemen
Who keep watch dear lord
As Ralph Ellison
Wrote in his 1952
Masterpiece on race
Entitled The
Invisible Man
(a book that changed the face
Of American literature)
“I am invisible,
understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you
see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by
mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my
surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything
and anything except me.”
We have an opportunity
In Advent and Christmas
To connect
(as God does)
The world of Spirit
With the world of the physical
It is a time
Not only to serve our
Brothers and sisters
Our family
Our friends
… it is a time to serve others too
And, more than that
It is a time to see the unseen
The invisible people of our world
Who spend their every day
In service to us
And others
And with gratitude to
give
Them thanks
For in doing so
We show
A deep understanding
Of a visible God
who comes to serve
and serves us still
as Chesterton reminds us
“And well may God with the serving-folk
Cast in His dreadful lot;
Is not He too a servant,
And is He not forgot?”
Sermon "Invisible God" Preached on Advent 2A at Christ Church South Campus, Tyler.
The selection of the poem, the history, and the theological background for the poem is taken from Malcolm Guite's excellent Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany book entitled: Waiting on the Word. You can purchase the book here.
