George Herbert on Prayer (3)

“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” Matthew 22.30

Prayer the church’s banquet, angel’s age,
     God’s breath in man returning to his birth,
     The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth
Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tow’r,
     Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
     The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
     Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
     Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
     Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,
     The land of spices; something understood.
                                                   - George Herbert 

David looked forward to the day when he would see the face of God, when, awakening from death he would finally be delivered from every earthly care and trial, safe and welcome in the presence of His heavenly Father (Ps. 17.15). He knew this would be completely satisfying, the fullness of joy and pleasure forever more (Ps. 16.11), because this is what we have been created for – intimate, personal, joyous, continuous knowledge of and communion with our God and Father.

To see the face of God is the final estate for all who believe in Jesus and follow Him in this life. A day is coming when all believers will behold the face of our heavenly Father in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, face-to-face and without interruption, forever (1 Jn. 3.2). The faithful look forward to and prepare themselves for that day, pursuing holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7.1).

But the angels know this great pleasure now, as Jesus explained (Matt. 18.10). They always behold the face of the Father, and this leads them, even in the midst of whatever else their duties in heaven may be, to give Him abundant, adoring, unending praise and thanks (Rev. 5.11). Angels are creatures of time, but not in the same way that we are. Angels do not age, they do not die, and they are not distracted from other duties by such mundane concerns as families, making a living, and keeping up a home. They are filled with joy and eager to obey the Lord, whatever He may require, because being in His presence and before His face is a banquet to enthrall and energize them according to all the purposes of the Lord.

Prayer takes us into this “age of the angels.” Here below we live in the “High Tech Age” or the “Postmodern Age” or the “Age of Aquarius” or whatever other clever denominator finite human beings might employ to distinguish the times in which they exist from previous “ages” of history.

But in prayer we enter the “angels’ age,” George Herbert insisted. In prayer we are lifted out of our merely mundane experience into the very presence of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – in a way that somehow goes beyond His being with us always in the daily activities of our lives. In prayer we are actually seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2.6); we experience time in a totally different way, as we tabernacle in the glory of Christ and God, and commune there with Him among departed saints and heavenly messengers, busy about their duties and tasks (Rev. 4, 5). Like Peter, on the Mount of Transfiguration, we are overwhelmed with fear and joy and want to tarry in this environment, putting all other worldly cares on hold.

Prayer brings us a foretaste of what we will know forever in the new heavens and new earth. In prayer, especially extended prayer coupled with meditation, we are able, as was said of St. Brigid, to practice the life of heaven on earth, to live in the “then and there” of our blessed hope, “here and now.” Prayer leads us into seasons of ecstasy, when we seem to be standing outside ourselves, seeing ourselves where we are, suspended in some different compartment of time, living outside the here and now in ways that revive and renew our souls and stretch our vision of how much fuller and satisfying life here and now can be.

The angels, in their “age”, pray without ceasing, even as they attend to their assigned duties on our behalf. We can learn to pray this way as well, so that, no matter what we’re doing at any moment, we are able to maintain communion with the Lord, staying mindful of His presence, listening for the prompts of His Spirit, whispering our praises and thanks, and pausing from our activities from time to time to retire for more focused conversation with our God.

This, at least, is how God has constructed prayer to work for us. Whether we engage the discipline of prayer as an entering of the “angels’ age” will depend on how willing we are to work at this discipline, how much our souls are fed and nourished by our prayers, and how important it is to us – as it should supremely be – to behold the face of God in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A conversation starter: Share this aspect of prayer with a friend – prayer as a kind of entering into the “angels’ age.” Talk about how you can know more of this aspect of prayer, and how you might encourage one another in all your prayers.

T. M.’s books on prayer include God’s Prayer Program, a guide to learning how to pray the psalms; The Psalms for Prayer, in which all the psalms are set up to guide you in how to pray them; and If Men Will Pray, a serious attempt to call men of faith to greater diligence in prayer. Follow the links provided here to purchase these from our online store.