Surpassing Understanding

Peace, All Things Beautiful, & Becoming an Anglican

Hillhaven is tucked in the Williamson County gold, crimson, and burnt-to-a-crisp orange hills that remind people from California that Tennessee is God’s country. Man, I love living here. It reminds me so much of my home back in Indiana; the roaming hills, the autumnal hues, the smell of firewood.

It is hard to believe that we’re already reaching the end of the year; a year I devoted to my word of the year, peace. Every year I do this, the last couple months of end up being the most insightful as far as learning the deep meanings of these words I choose to dwell upon for 365 days.

When I started my sojourn into the word, “peace”, I was working on what an internal meaning of the word but working through an external meaning. I have learned that the peace we all long for has nothing to do with world affairs, Nobel prizes, or summits. I think I even wrote about that in the beginning part of the year but I still treated it as the same thing. It can take a year for something that floats around my head to sink down and cement itself into my heart.

Guarding Hearts

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is in Philippians, chapter four. St Paul has reached the end of his letter to the Philippians and he’s signing off with a last push of encouragement. He goes on to remind his readers to stay gentle and to let that gentleness be evident to everyone. He reminds them to not be anxious but to bathe everything in prayer and to let every request be known to God. Now, here is where I usually skip to my favorite verse in this passage. Verse eight says:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”¹

I meditate on this verse often and have for many years now. I even use it as a bit of a litmus test to see if something is worth doing or worth consuming. If I am asked to produce an album or to collaborate with something, I ask myself, “Is this true, noble right, pure, lovely, and admirable?” If it is, I will consider collaborating. If it’s not, no matter the amount of money it will make me or “cool factor” it has, I will not do it. It gives me peace of mind and heart.

Funny enough, the peace that I feel in the moment of saying no is the kind of peace that I have been ruminating on for the last eleven months. It is the kind of peace that I skip over in verse seven. I have started with verse six for context.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”²

Oh! So that thing I have been meditating on? Yeah, it actually transcends or surpasses all understanding. How fun! This drives my intellectual side crazy. However, as I mentioned earlier, the trick is to let it take root in my heart. Allowing those small blooms on this tiny plant to grow is hard. I usually am fighting the urge to uproot the whole thing and place it under the incubator of my mind. Surely it needs more studying! It doesn’t and that is sort of the whole point.

The World of Anglicanism

I have written of my fondness and fascination of the Anglican Church for a long time. If you know me at all, you will know my deep admiration for the long standing tradition and the church’s willingness to sit in certain periods of uncertainty. Anna and I have fallen in love with the aforementioned traditions and we joined our local parish this month. It was a beautiful ceremony with lots of prayer, laying of hands, and anointing with oil. My short time in the Anglican Church has taught me about this peace that surpasses understanding and (probably) more importantly, has taught me to sit with the uncomfortable feeling of not understanding. I ain’t that good at it yet but I will spend a lifetime trying to be.

The week following proved difficult for the global Anglican community with a few different scandals and events that have left the church in a schism. Turns out, none of us have the answers. I think God was gracious in reminding me so quickly that the Anglican Church, like any other church, has these pesky fallible humans inside of it. I am happy to be one of them passing the peace.

I pray that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding with guard your hearts as we come to a close on the year. Try to not be anxious and continue to dwell on all things true, beautiful, admirable, pure, and lovely. It will be worth it.

Peace,

Caleb Christopher Edwards

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Currently Listening

1. Philippians 4:8 NRSV

2. Philippians 4:6-7 NRSV emphasis added