Providence
24/02/19 04:20
For a decade our son worked for Providence Health, a system of 50 hospitals and over 800 clinics. It is a huge organization where he started out as the director of the library in a single hospital and eventually became the director of libraries and health information systems for the organization. The name comes from an order of Roman Catholic Sisters who dedicated their lives to caring for the sick and providing healing. It is an ancient theological concept and one that has been used both seriously and lightly over the years.
The term comes from Latin through Old French. Pro means advance or future; vid refers to sight. It literally means foresight. Theologically, it is used to refer to God’s spiritual care. Sometimes it is also used to mean preparation for future eventualities. At times, however, most notably during the height of the Protestant Reformation, some theologians and church leaders put the emphasis on the power of the divine to predict the future. Providence became predestination, the concept that God already knows the future and therefore human action isn’t truly free will, but rather acting out that which has already been predetermined.
Calvinist theologians asserted God’s control over all of human enterprise and developed the concept of “equal ultimacy.” The concept is that God works equally to keep the elect in heaven and the reprobate out of heaven. The concept was somewhat watered down in popular usage and is sometimes referred to as “double” predestination. The interesting thing about the concept is that one might think that if you taught people that all was predetermined by God they would simply go on with their lives without attempting to change their behavior. However, at least in some communities, people worked doubly hard to behave to community standards to prove that they were among the elect and not predestined to be excluded from heaven.
The concept, however, has been misunderstood by some religious leaders. It seems to be better understood when it is presented with less emphasis on foresight. We know that we cannot predict the future. There are things that are yet to occur that are beyond our ability to know. But providence is not exclusively reserved to God. Created in God’s image, humans do possess a certain ability to make timely preparations for future eventualities. We don’t know the details of next winter’s weather, but we know enough to understand that having a supply of food and fuel on hand is a good choice. We don’t know which illnesses will strike us or when, but we do know that we will suffer illness in our lives. We don’t know the timing, but we know that we are all mortal. Having the knowledge of certain things that are likely to occur in the future can give us perspective that helps us exercise caution and reasonable judgment. We can share in providence.
We are not totally controlled by instinct or automatic reactions. We can apply reason, think things through and gain enough perspective to take a bigger picture of life events. This ability is critical in human relationships. If we operated only out of a sense of anger, response and revenge, the cycles of violence would accelerate to the point where everyone would be killed. But, in fact, we have the ability to forgive and to work to the larger benefit. We can refrain from violence and seek other solutions to problems. Communities can develop systems of justice and work together for the common good. It is all a part of providence.
What God does possess, and we can attain to a lesser degree, is the ability to see the big picture - to understand that the human story is not just a single generation. There is more to humanity than what is happening to me. Sometimes sacrifice for a bigger cause is a noble investment of a life. When we begin to see this bigger picture, we are capable to acting in ways that extend our influence and contributions to the human enterprise. It is a theme of many of the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures. Abraham and Sarah receive a promise from God and believe that it is personal and will apply to them quickly. They set out to find their promised land only to discover that the promise is a multiple-generational process. They are surprised to discover that their role is to produce a new generation and that it will take several generations for their people to fully receive the promise. Along the way, other family members gain a narrow view of the process. Joseph focuses on his own survival when he is sold into slavery by his brothers, but somehow he captures a vision of a bigger reality that allows him to forgive them and not simply destroy them in a fit of vengeance, thus assuring the continuation of the lineage into a new generation. But Joseph’s role does not bring about the fulfillment of the promise. Generations later Moses leads the people out of Egypt. He, too, does not live to lead the people into the promised land. Again and again in the stories of our people, we have had to discover that the enterprise of God and the relationship of our people with god is bigger than any individual and bigger than a single generation.
In this sense, the Calvinist image of providence reminds us that when we act for our own personal well-being without considering others, we fail to participate in God’s bigger picture. Providence is that ability to discern that life is more than our own personal story and that the life and health of the community is a higher value than the success of a single individual.
It is a big idea - one that has taken generations to be developed and will take generations to become understood. For now, it is of value to remind ourselves that ours is not the last generation in God’s enterprise with humans and that we are called to invest in the future. How we treat God’s creation and our neighbors can have a big impact on the future. And God, in God’s providence always has an eye to the future.
The term comes from Latin through Old French. Pro means advance or future; vid refers to sight. It literally means foresight. Theologically, it is used to refer to God’s spiritual care. Sometimes it is also used to mean preparation for future eventualities. At times, however, most notably during the height of the Protestant Reformation, some theologians and church leaders put the emphasis on the power of the divine to predict the future. Providence became predestination, the concept that God already knows the future and therefore human action isn’t truly free will, but rather acting out that which has already been predetermined.
Calvinist theologians asserted God’s control over all of human enterprise and developed the concept of “equal ultimacy.” The concept is that God works equally to keep the elect in heaven and the reprobate out of heaven. The concept was somewhat watered down in popular usage and is sometimes referred to as “double” predestination. The interesting thing about the concept is that one might think that if you taught people that all was predetermined by God they would simply go on with their lives without attempting to change their behavior. However, at least in some communities, people worked doubly hard to behave to community standards to prove that they were among the elect and not predestined to be excluded from heaven.
The concept, however, has been misunderstood by some religious leaders. It seems to be better understood when it is presented with less emphasis on foresight. We know that we cannot predict the future. There are things that are yet to occur that are beyond our ability to know. But providence is not exclusively reserved to God. Created in God’s image, humans do possess a certain ability to make timely preparations for future eventualities. We don’t know the details of next winter’s weather, but we know enough to understand that having a supply of food and fuel on hand is a good choice. We don’t know which illnesses will strike us or when, but we do know that we will suffer illness in our lives. We don’t know the timing, but we know that we are all mortal. Having the knowledge of certain things that are likely to occur in the future can give us perspective that helps us exercise caution and reasonable judgment. We can share in providence.
We are not totally controlled by instinct or automatic reactions. We can apply reason, think things through and gain enough perspective to take a bigger picture of life events. This ability is critical in human relationships. If we operated only out of a sense of anger, response and revenge, the cycles of violence would accelerate to the point where everyone would be killed. But, in fact, we have the ability to forgive and to work to the larger benefit. We can refrain from violence and seek other solutions to problems. Communities can develop systems of justice and work together for the common good. It is all a part of providence.
What God does possess, and we can attain to a lesser degree, is the ability to see the big picture - to understand that the human story is not just a single generation. There is more to humanity than what is happening to me. Sometimes sacrifice for a bigger cause is a noble investment of a life. When we begin to see this bigger picture, we are capable to acting in ways that extend our influence and contributions to the human enterprise. It is a theme of many of the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures. Abraham and Sarah receive a promise from God and believe that it is personal and will apply to them quickly. They set out to find their promised land only to discover that the promise is a multiple-generational process. They are surprised to discover that their role is to produce a new generation and that it will take several generations for their people to fully receive the promise. Along the way, other family members gain a narrow view of the process. Joseph focuses on his own survival when he is sold into slavery by his brothers, but somehow he captures a vision of a bigger reality that allows him to forgive them and not simply destroy them in a fit of vengeance, thus assuring the continuation of the lineage into a new generation. But Joseph’s role does not bring about the fulfillment of the promise. Generations later Moses leads the people out of Egypt. He, too, does not live to lead the people into the promised land. Again and again in the stories of our people, we have had to discover that the enterprise of God and the relationship of our people with god is bigger than any individual and bigger than a single generation.
In this sense, the Calvinist image of providence reminds us that when we act for our own personal well-being without considering others, we fail to participate in God’s bigger picture. Providence is that ability to discern that life is more than our own personal story and that the life and health of the community is a higher value than the success of a single individual.
It is a big idea - one that has taken generations to be developed and will take generations to become understood. For now, it is of value to remind ourselves that ours is not the last generation in God’s enterprise with humans and that we are called to invest in the future. How we treat God’s creation and our neighbors can have a big impact on the future. And God, in God’s providence always has an eye to the future.