G.K. Chesterton, A Magical Universe
This selection from Chesterton’s Orthodoxy starts with tackling a false presupposition from modern materialists – that anything that repeats itself over and over is dead and not worthy of consideration (333). In fact, the opposite is true – novelty brings death (333). Chesterton goes on to give a number of examples, mostly from a cosmological point of view. The sun rises, and the sun sets; the Earth goes around the sun. If something new were introduced into this pattern, the only result would be death and destruction (334).
I had to stop on that and meditate on it for a while. Repetition is life, facts are miracles (334), and miracles are willful – repeated exercises of a will (334). Understanding the concept of repetition, Chesterton concludes that “life is not only a pleasure, but a kind of eccentric privilege” (335). He concludes that this is all a sense of the supernatural (what he calls magic) (336). Supernaturality must have some meaning if there is a will behind it. If something has meaning, someone must have meant it (336).
As I look out from my back porch and stare at the pond in the background and listen to the birds, nothing here is new. Yes, the scene changes slightly from day to day, from season to season. The leaves and the trees fall, some birds leave for warmer climates, and some stay. The pond freezes over and then melts – but all with repetition – life. There is meaning behind my backyard, a small microcosm of the entire creation. Someone, God, meant it.
So even in the most common things, such as bread and wine, I can see the supernatural, Christ’s body and blood. Even in a tub of water, I can see the miraculous – person submerged in death and risen into new life. Repetition is life, and it is a miracle.
All references with page numbers are from Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith, Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups, Revised and expanded (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2005).
The Wandering Wesleyan 