Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heav’n-descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
By: George Croly, 1780-1860
Listen as you read. This is a very simple flute and harp version.
This final stanza calls the Holy Spirit to teach us two more images, equally powerful and compelling, and beyond our grasp. Today we will consider the holy passion of the angels who ever circle the throne praising God. Thursday we will think about a very powerful image of God’s love as a fire. We need the Spirit to understand and practice each of them so let’s ask Him to teach us this week. Let’s tune our hearts.
As Angels Love
Now there is a tall order. We will definitely need the Holy Spirit to teach us this one for it is eternal and other-worldly. To love as angels love requires us to consider who they are and how they love.
Angels are God’s messengers. They represent Him some times and speak for Him at other times. Scripture tells us a lot about them and yet there is a great deal of mystery regarding these heavenly beings.
One of the powerful passages illustrating angels and their relationship to God is the beginning of Isaiah 6, particularly 6:1-3. Their adoration is
- relational
- continual, and
- hallowed
Relational
They are together somehow standing “above” God. Not sure exactly what that means, but I imagine they are circling the throne. I love how Isaiah records that they call one to another. They all know He is holy, but they keep declaring it to each other. There is some communal dimension to their affection.
Continual
They never stop. Over and over again. I have said for years of our worship that we should not grow so easily weary of declaring to one another things that are true of God, particularly because we need to be reminded, unlike the seraphim who are ever in His presence.
Hallowed
I wanted to use an unusual word for this last one to represent just how different the love of angel’s is from ours. Our love can be relational, expressed in the company of others. It is not continual, in some measure because we have to stop to sleep, but even still our waking moments are commandiered by other intentions. These least of these by far is this last one though. Their worship is hallowed or sacred, regarded as holy because it is an all-consuming passion.
Holiness at its core means integrated, or the opposite of disintegrated or undone, which Isaiah confessed was his state in the presence of the integrated, whole, or holy One. The love of the seraphim reflects the holiness of the One they adore. Only the Holy Spirit can give un insight into this reality, and any hope at all of approximating it, even at our best moments.
One Holy Passion
It is this kind of integration that is our aspiration.
The seraphim could use all six wings to fly, but they do not. I have heard different explanations but I like this the best. Two cover their eyes acknowledging they can not look directly at God. Two cover their feet acknowledging they are not worthy to be fully seen by God. Two are used for their assumed purpose, flight, moving them to love.
Might we learn something from them? We must use all of our capacities to express love to God, but maybe not as we might think. One-third used to make less of us and more of Him. One-third used to acknowledge our unworthiness and extol His worth. One-third used according to their assumed purpose. These thirds working together in seamless tandem as an integrated, sacred compelling desire. One holy passion filling all my frame.
The seraphim seem consumed. Look at the image. All wings? All bent to one purpose.
Integrated Tuning!
Spirit of God, teach me to love as the seraphim love. One holy passion filling all my frame. When parts of me get out of sync with it, help me to identify it and adjust accordingly so I can maintain that consuming desire. Thank You for the imagery of the angelic adoration. Help me reflect it today. In Jesus name. Amen.
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Video 6.5 Transcript
Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heav’n-descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
This stanza uses some beautiful imagery. Oh, to love God as His heavenly messengers do. And how is that? Continually. They never stop their “Holy, holy, holy”, constantly offering praise to God. Consider the example of those who are ever circling His throne.
A singular, holy and intense desire and enthusiasm for our Lord. An all-consuming fire that burns within our entire souls. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with such a passion.
In this imagery, the material that burns is the very presence of the Holy Spirit, the heaven-descended Dove. He is the kindling that gets that fire burning. Welcome Him to come and be that quickening fire-starter in you.
Our hearts are the place where fire burns. God’s love is the flame. My heart the altar, the Holy Spirit the kindling, the love of God the flame. Oh Spirit light that fire within me and teach me how to care for it.
Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.
Sing
Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond. Until next time, be Resonant.
Image Attributions
Angels love – Image by Karin Henseler from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/illustrations/heart-angel-wing-love-mourning-669552/
Isaiah 6 – https://lindasbiblestudy.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/seraphim/
Seraphim – https://revivenations.org/blog/2015/04/15/worshiping-god-like-the-seraphim/
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