Pastors

Inadequate, Conflicted, and Content

George Herbert’s constant companions were personal inadequacy, melancholy, and frustration at his perceived uselessness for God. “A blunted knife was of more use than I,” he wrote in one of five poems he titled “Affliction.” Yet, his contribution in his poetry, as in his life in the tiny country parish, is his transparency.

Holy Mr. Herbert was wholly honest about his struggles with his calling, but by the time of his death, he was content. On his deathbed, he bequeathed his poems to a friend, calling them “a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have past betwixt God and my Soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master, in whose service I have now found perfect freedom.”

How he found this “perfect freedom” remains a mystery. The poems are not chronology; there is no “eureka” moment. His mood swings from rebellious to resigned.

In “The Collar,” he shouts: “I struck the board, and cried, No more.” Herbert rages for several stanzas, then suddenly is quiet in God’s presence:

But as I rav’d and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Me thoughts I heard one calling, Child:
And I replied, Lord.

Herbert’s verses often begin with affliction, but end in trust. The country parson regularly meets grace:

    Who could have thought my shrivel’d heart
Could have recover’d greeness? It was gone
    Quite underground; as flowers depart
To see their mother-root when they have blown
. . . . . . . . . . . . 
    And now in age I bud again
After so many deaths I live and write;
    I once more smell the dew and rain,
And relish versing: Oh my only light
    It cannot be
    That I am he
On whom thy tempests fell all night.

Today at the Bemerton church where he served only 36 months, there is over the entrance a stained-glass window of Herbert with his favorite lute tucked under his arm. Light passes through the panes and spills in pools at the altar. The image is appropriate. Herbert seemed aware that his life was the model for his congregation.

Lord, how can a man preach thy eternal word?
He is a brittle crazy glass …
Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford
    This glorious and transcendent place,
    To be a window, through thy grace.
. …. … …
    Making thy life to shine within
The holy Preacher’s; then the light and glory
    More rev’rend grows, and more doth win:
    Which else shows wat’rish, bleak and thin.

Richard P. Hansen First Presbyterian Church Visalia, California

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.

Our Latest

Public Theology Project

What Horror Stories Can (and Cannot) Tell Us About the World

We want meaning and resolution—and the kind of monster we can defeat.

The Russell Moore Show

Paul Kingsnorth on the Dark Powers Behind AI

Are we summoning demons through our machines?

Welcome to Youth Ministry! Time to Talk about Anime.

Japanese animation has become a media mainstay among Gen Z. You may not “get” it, but the zoomers at your church sure do.

Review

‘One Battle After Another’ Is No Way to Live

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the new film from Paul Thomas Anderson plays out the dangers of extremism.

Review

Tyler Perry Takes on ‘Ruth and Boaz’

In his new Netflix movie, Ruth is a singer, Boaz has an MBA, and the Tennessee wine flows freely.

To Black Worship Leaders, Gospel vs. Contemporary Worship Is a False Dichotomy

The discussion around Maverick City Music highlights how commercial success and congregational value are two different things.

Review

Needing Help Is Normal

Leah Libresco Sargeant’s doggedly pro-life feminist manifesto argues that dependence is inevitable.

Review

Don’t Give Dan Brown the Final Word on the Council of Nicaea

Bryan Litfin rescues popular audiences from common myths about the origins of Trinitarian doctrine.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube