Give over thine own willing
John Anderson reflects on silence, ego and restraint in worship
‘Give over thine own willing, give over thine own running, give over thine own desiring to know or be anything, and sink down to the seed which God sows in thy heart and let that be in thee, and grow in thee, and breathe in thee, and act in thee.’ This morning Michael read from Isaac Penington – this bit about ‘giving over thy willing’ and ‘sinking down to the seed’ and, as usual, the words summoned up in me an uncomfortably ambivalent response. For I, like some others perhaps, have difficulty in imagining what it might mean to be in an egoless place. So, the passage always leaves me feeling somewhat slumped.
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