"Circle me, Lord." The First Adam didn’t pray this way nor invite his wife to join him in such a prayer. However, the Second Adam does pray this way and invites his bride, the Church, to join Him in praying this way too.
“Visualize World Peace” was a popular bumper sticker some years ago. Then some comedian did what we love comedians to do and came up with a good one: “Visualize Whirled Peas.”
Here’s another: “Visualize World Judgment.”
How do you visualize world judgment? What images come to your mind? Noah’s Flood? Locusts? Mushroom clouds? Signs in the heavens? The Second Coming?
The ancient Celts visualized world judgment through an interesting form of prayer called a caim or encircling prayer. You stand with your arm outstretched, then point with your index finger and draw a circle as you turn in place, praying things like,
- Circle me, Lord. Keep protection near and danger afar.
- Circle me, Lord. Keep light near and darkness afar.
- Circle me, Lord. Keep peace within; keep evil out.
The idea is to draw a circle around yourself and then ask the Lord to put outside the circle all that is evil while keeping all that is good within. The circle represents the world. The twofold action of putting “evil out” and keeping “peace within” is world judgment, Secret Counsel style. Visualize that.
Jesus did. He visualized world judgment this way:
“‘Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die” (John 12:31-33).
Note the twofold action here. Jesus, as the Second Adam, redraws the world. He casts out the devil beyond the circle while at the same time drawing all people to be near Him within the circle.
The First Adam and his wife, Eve, did not visualize world judgment when the serpent came into the Garden. The Lord commanded Adam to “keep” the Garden (Gen. 2:15). “Keep” in Hebrew is shamar, sometimes also translated as “guard,” “watch” or “observe.” Adam and Eve had the authority to keep the world by praying,
- Circle us, Lord. Keep this world according to Your word as we do Your will within and keep the Evil One out.
The First Adam didn’t pray this way nor invite his wife to join him in such a prayer. However, the Second Adam does pray this way and invites His bride, the Church, to join Him in praying this way too. He says, “do this” (Lk. 22:19).
I’m writing this blog on the morning of Maundy Thursday. This day is the day of days in the Church Year when we celebrate and remember Jesus giving His bride, the Church, the invitation to join Him at a meal in visualizing world judgment. We often call this the “Lord’s Supper,” but do we really fathom what this meal is about?
When we participate in the Lord’s Supper, this is what Jesus says it’s about:
“You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and 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 judging…” (Lk 22:29-31).
The Lord’s Supper is where the Secret Counsel for “judging” the world is discussed, hammered out and enacted. “Judging” here doesn’t have to do with mushroom clouds, but with making good decisions, i.e., judgments.
Visualize world judgment now. What do you see? I see a table, bread and wine, the Lord with us and us with Him having a conversation about ruling the universe.
- Circle Colorado Springs, Lord. Keep protection near and danger afar.
- Circle the persecuted Church in Syria and Iraq, Lord. Keep light near and darkness afar.
- Circle those who persecute the Church in Syria and Iraq, Lord. Cast out the prince of the world and draw these persecutors to yourself.
As a priest of the Church, when I officiate at the Lord’s Supper, I do what priests the world over do and have done for millennia, ever since Jesus instituted this meal. I lift up the bread and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The people respond, “Lord, have mercy.” Then, while continuing to hold up the bread, I tear it in two from top to bottom. Rending the bread in this manner signifies the kind of death Jesus died––the death by which He cast out the prince of the world and now draws all to Himself.
Every time I lift up the bread, I recall Jesus' words from John 12, “when I am lifted up.”
At the end of our services we stand to visualize world judgment. We redraw the circle of the world with our index fingers as a Deacon pronounces this blessing in the form of an encircling (“compassing”) prayer:
The compassing of God be upon you,
the compassing of God, of the God of life.
The compassing of Christ be upon you,
the compassing of the Christ of love.
The compassing of the Spirit be upon you,
the compassing of the Spirit of grace.
The compassing of the Sacred Three be upon you,
the compassing of the Sacred Three protect you,
the compassing of the Sacred Three preserve you.
Now that’s visualizing world judgment.
May the Lord circle you this day.
Boyd+
Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, 2015
Boyd writes a new Secret Counsel blog every couple weeks. Click here to see the whole collection.