The more I immerse myself in the universal language of myth and legend the more alive Scripture becomes, the more mystically transformative the sacraments and the Liturgy become, and the more clear the speaking of the Holy Spirit becomes.
There are aspects of truth that can only be perceived, received, and celebrated in epic stories of myth and legend.
The more I immerse myself in the universal language of myth and legend the more alive Scripture becomes, the more mystically transformative the sacraments and the Liturgy become, and the more clear the speaking of the Holy Spirit becomes.
For years––and I mean for about twenty-four years––I’ve fallen frustratingly short in my attempts to communicate the feel I have for the biblical idea of secret counsel. Yes, it’s true that “secret counsel” is an English rendering of the Hebrew word sode, the idea of which is expressed in the New Testament by the Greek word mysterion, which shows up in the mouth of Jesus in the phrase, “the mystery of the kingdom.” The equivalent of sode and mysterion in Latin is sacramentum from which we get our word “sacrament.” There. Are you inspired now?
But in the last couple of years, I’ve discovered in myth and legend a power of language, thought, and perception that liberates the wonder of secret counsel, the mystery of the kingdom, and the sacraments of the Church to operate as portals of transfiguration.
The Music of the Ainur
The Ainur are beings of awesome glory and power, created by Ilúvatar (God) in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, the collection of epic myths and legends at the foundation of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Ainur are essentially what Scripture calls “thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” (Col. 1:16).
In The Silmarillion’s account of creation, Ilúvatar says to the Ainur,
Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will. But I will sit and hearken, and be glad that through you great beauty has been awakened into song.
The essence of secret counsel and the mystery of the Kingdom is that God’s will (“the theme”) is not as fixed and restrictive of a thing as the Enemy would deceive us into believing. God wills that in making a Great Music together we participate in shaping the divine theme that shapes your destiny and mine, no less the destiny of all things.
And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will.
In the place of secret counsel, God kindles us with the Flame Imperishable (the Holy Spirit) to have a say in what His will shall be. The mystery of the Kingdom is that God has given each of us a unique voice, perspective, gifts, and abilities (“powers”) to shape the very will of God, “adorning this theme” before it’s worked out in the world.
“God Does Nothing Without…”
“For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret counsel [sode] to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
An uninspiring, boring, and theologically erroneous way of understanding Amos 3:7 is that God announces His will to prophets who in turn announce His will to the rest of us. This unimaginative view kills the joy and wonder of perceiving, receiving and celebrating what God truly reveals through sacraments, Scripture and the Spirit––His secret counsel.
God’s secret counsel is like music theory, which He wants us to use to shape a Great Music. To shift metaphors, God stocks the pantry and then gives us the go ahead to create recipes to serve up something divine to the world.
Sacraments, Scripture, and the Spirit reveal the will of God in the form of the secret counsel of God, not in the form of formulas. Formulas are for babies. Secret counsel is for “thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,” which is what we are. We are those who at the Lord’s Supper eat bread and drink wine “in harmony together...adorning the theme.” In the sacrament of communion, Jesus says, “I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones ruling…” (Luke 22:29-30).
God’s rulers don’t rule according to formulas but sing a Great Music in accord with the theme God declares through sacraments, in Scripture, and by the Spirit. What’s the will of God? The will of God is that we “make in harmony together a Great Music.”
God did not instruct Moses to build the Tabernacle according to a formula, but "according to the pattern" (i.e., the "theme") shown him on the Mountain (Ex. 25:40). Then the Lord filled others in Israel "with the Spirit of God," giving them the "ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs" to adorn the Tabernacle (Ex. 31:3-4). The Tabernacle was not a rigid institutional structure, but a Great Music.
Likewise, king Ahasuerus did not rule by formula, but called together his friends to draft laws "according to the law" (i.e., the "theme") of the kingdom (Esther 1:15). Constitutional law is a theme while legislated laws are a Great Music created according to the theme.
Thus, Ilúvatar was glad as the Ainur sang.
And the music and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.
The Will of Evil
And the music and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.
But what happens if some knucklehead (including the one who stares back at us in the mirror) decides not to sing in accord with the theme of God’s secret counsel? Such a happening is a thing called evil. Yes, evil is a power that ruins worlds, lives, and hopes, but not permanently. As Gandalf said to Frodo in the Mines of Moria, “There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil.”
I believe that a good dose of epic myth and legend is just what the doctor ordered to cure us of our fallen tendency to feel that the will of evil can overrule our destiny. Evil is not that powerful.
The will of evil makes its debut in The Silmarillion as follows:
But as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Ilúvatar; for he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself.
Melkor, one of the Ainur, goes off the rails, just like Satan did before his visit to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. The first words out of Satan’s mouth introduce disharmony into the music “not in accord with the theme” of God’s secret counsel.
But because evil is good twisted, what evil intends, God repurposes for good. As Ilúvatar puts it,
And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.
And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite.
It’s the nature of Great Music to overcome evil with good. Great Music repurposes what evil twists into things more wonderful than we can imagine.
Conclusion
A famous evangelistic tract came out some years ago declaring, “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” What’s mind blowing is that God’s plan is for you to participate in writing this plan for yourself, others, and the world in accord with “the theme that I have declared to you.” Feeling a bit ill-equipped to script something like this?
Don’t worry, you can’t permanently mess up your destiny or that of anyone else, no less the world's. While temporary messes happen, through these messes “things more wonderful” than we have dared to imagine emerge as new elements of myth and legend in a Great Music.
Boyd+
Seventeenth Week after Pentecost, 2015
Boyd writes a new Secret Counsel blog every couple weeks. Click here to see the whole collection.