Come Down, O Love Divine

Come Down, O Love Divine is a favourite of mine.  This great hymn to the Holy Spirit was sung at Sarah's and my wedding, my confirmation and ordination.  It was also sung at a Service of Holy Communion at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, the culmination of a two-day seminar on the Holy Spirit.  I decided that one way to draw together some of what I learned was to write a new verse to the hymn of invocation Come Down, O Love Divine which would be suitable for a communion service.

New Appreciation of the Hymn

Come down, O love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine, 
And visit it with Thine own ardor glowing. 
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear, 
And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn, til earthly passions turn 
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming; 
And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight, 
And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

Let holy charity mine outward vesture be, 
And lowliness become mine inner clothing; 
True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part, 
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long, 
Shall far outpass the power of human telling; 
For none can guess its grace, till he become the place 
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.

Rev Prof Frances Young

Rev. Prof. Frances Young, from the University of Birmingham, claimed that prayer to the Holy Spirit, specifically invocation, goes back to very early church practice.  The hymn begins with a prayer addressed to ‘O love divine’ which is an Augustinian understanding of the Holy Spirit as the bond of love between the Father and the Son.  Rev. Dr Graham Tomlin, Dean of St Mellitus College, discussed the nature of parental love as the purest, least conditional love, which even in its human expression permits a dim appreciation of God’s own love. 

Rev Dr Graham Tomlin

The Spirit is invoked in this hymn in regard to a number of actions attributed to the Second Person of the Trinity.  The metaphor of fire is used in connection with the process of sanctification, burning away ‘earthly passions’ and causing a sense of conviction and repentance over sinfulness. 

Furthermore, the hymn alludes to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  This is a prayer for the Spirit to descend upon and convey grace to a human person.  The spiritual and the natural come together.  The Creator meets the creature.

A New Verse for Sacramental Worship

Rev Dr Richard Clutterbuck

In keeping with these themes, I decided to crystallize my thinking in the form of a fifth verse for a Eucharistic setting.  There is no theological or stylistic reason for the traditional language used, other than to stay in keeping with the hymn as translated for the Ralph Vaughan Williams setting in our Church Hymnal today.

O Holy Bond of Love

‘Twixt Christ and God above

Descend, we pray, upon these lowly emblems.

Make ordin’ry bread and wine

Channels of grace divine,

Ourselves with Christ in God’s own love enfolding.

The Holy Spirit is addressed in line one as the ‘Bond of Love’, again echoing Augustinian understanding of the Spirit’s role.  This could be construed as an undermining of the full personhood of the Spirit, something which the Eastern Church has accused the Latin Church of.  However, I consider that Elizabeth Johnson’s treatment of the Trinity as non-monarchic, perichoretic and inter-penetrating is convincing counter-argument.  The understanding of the Spirit as the Bond of Love between the Father and Son was explored further by Graham.  He explored the missional role of the Spirit, sent into the world to bring people into the very heart of God, to participate in Christ and thus be incorporated into the Paternal-Filial love of God. 

Graham also spoke about the Spirit’s agency in the world, both direct and indirect.  Indirect work of the Spirit, he claimed, is seen most clearly through the church.  However, he challenged us to consider the agency of the Spirit in and through all of creation.  Just as the Spirit hovered over the primordial watery matter at creation, so He also works on creation today to bring it to perfection, a doubly important task in light of the fallenness of the created world.  He does this through ordinary means: work, human flourishing etc.

At this point, I expected Graham to mention ordinary things like bread and wine, water and oil.  Although he did not, the way was laid for the next day and Rev. Dr Richard Clutterbuck’s workshop on the Holy Spirit and the sacraments (he was at the time Principal of Edgehill College in Belfast).  In fact, the timetable dictated that I set up the table for communion during the third workshop session.  I hope I provided a meaningful visual aid for the others as I prepared the table and laid out the elements!  Hearing part of that sacraments workshop for a second time as I did so was a very meaningful experience for me.

Interestingly, Richard had just realized that the invocatory prayer in the Church of Ireland liturgy is much less strongly worded compared to the Methodist rite.  Even so, he explained a sacramental theology that I found very useful.  The Holy Spirit is called on to be especially present with us, through material substance like bread and wine.  Thus, these become channels of grace, since the Holy Spirit’s presence is there as bond of love to draw us into the love of the Father for the Son.  The tokens become efficacious channels of grace because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Later that day, as I considered healing and noticed the presence of oil in chapel, I attempted a further verse on healing (but with which I am less happy!):

Comfort the suffering

With the first flowers of spring

While yet creation groans for its renewal;

Through chrism oil impart

Healing of flesh and heart,

First-fruits as we await creation’s perfection.

This verse alludes to spring and first-fruits.  Writing it helped me reflect theologically on healing, and in particular why it seems that some are healed instantly while most are not.  The Holy Spirit is working to recreate everything, to effect renewal and perfection of God’s creation.  We see first fruits of healing that are both present reality and pointers towards a fuller outworking of the renewed creation we read of in the closing chapters of Revelation.  Thus, it is appropriate to use chrism oil as a material substance for a setting where the Holy Spirit is at work, be it miraculously and instantaneously or through medicine, surgery and talking therapy. 

Veni, Sancte Spiritus!