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.
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.
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 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.
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!
