One of my current research interests is kenosis, the theological term for the self-emptying love of Christ as, from all eternity, pardigmatic of the love of God. (Phil 2.1-11) It is sometimes the poet who for me, has articulated best the consequences of God's keonitc love. Theology at times places too much weight on doctrinal definition and philosophical precision – mystery more usually evokes wonder, adoration and the surrender of will that is the response of worship. Charles Wesley distilled essential elements of atonement theology in the famous double couplet that was preceded by the instruction, 'let angel minds enquire no more':
So free so infinite his grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
and bled, for Adam's helpless race.
One of R S Thomas' poems contrasts the ego centred, clinging of the self even in prayer, with the self-giving love of God. It is a de profundis, a poem that recognises that in the love affair God has with a broken and fallen creation, deep calls to deep, and love demonstrates it will never give up on the redeemability of creation, even if it means love giving itself up.
pointed, the eyes
closed, the lips move
as though manipulating
soul's spittle. At bedsides,
in churches, the ego
renews its claim
to attention. The air
sighs. This is
the long siege, the deafness
of space. Distant stars
are no more, but their light
nags us. At times
in the silence between
prayers, after the Amens
fade, at the world's
centre, it is as though
love stands, renouncing itself.
(R S Thomas, The Echoes Return Slow,(London: Papermac, 1988), page 117)
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