Extreme Devotion
All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy [God], are to be encouraged. Not always, of course, but at this period [of time]. Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep. Other ages, of which the present is one, are unbalanced and prone to faction, and it is our business to inflame them.
– The Screwtape Letters | C.S. Lewis
In this latest letter to Wormwood, Screwtape notes the cultural moment and encourages Wormwood to exploit it. At times, the cultural moment is one wherein society is lulled to sleep by a variety of methods. Wealth is often a contributing factor to a society being lulled to sleep. The other side of the spectrum is extreme devotion, primarily to some cause or faction. As one becomes more entrenched in their own ideals, they become more skeptical and outspoken against the “other.” Thus a rift is created, an ever-widening chasm into which the entire world, it might seem, will thrust itself headlong. Yet, as Lewis often has Screwtape do, he places his finger on the one thing that Satan despises, which is the one thing the Church is to take up: extreme devotion to [God].
I am not that big of a fan of our cultural moment wherein heightened emphasis is placed on being extreme. This is applied to all aspects of life and depicted on social media. (Of course, we only see one side of a person’s life on social media and thus we are not given the whole picture.) Living from extreme to extreme burns a person out and burns them up. You can only sustain that level of intensity for so long. The glory of a mountain-top, and a mountain-top experience, is only seen because it stands in stark contrast the (beautiful) normalcy of most of life. If everything is a mountain-top experience, then nothing is. And we are only driven from emotion to emotion.
So, if we were to take up extreme devotion to God, this is how I would envision it. Let your extreme devotion be like the simplicity of Mary who replied to the angel Gabriel: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38) And let the simplicity of your extreme devotion take up her song, the Magnificat, which the Church sings each evening in Evening Prayer. Let your extreme devotion to God be simple like that of Simeon and Anna, who faithful and prayerfully awaited the consolation of Israel, the redemption of Jerusalem in the promised Messiah. (Lk 2:25ff). Let your extreme devotion to God be simple as you take up the teachings of Jesus in the Beautitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God... (Mt 5:2ff) Let your extreme devotion to God be simple as your life is marked by the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience… (Gal 5:22-23).
Such ways of living may certainly seem extreme in a manner of speaking, for they are not of earth; they are of God and as such they are divine in origin. And so they may appear to be extreme in the eyes of the world, maybe even in the eyes of the Church. But let not the extremity be due to the intensity by which you perform such things. Rather, may your “extreme” devotion to God be seen in the simple, faithful, daily act of dying to yourself and living unto the Lord.