Once & Future King: Not Arthur

I haven't posted in two weeks, but it's only half my fault. I've spent most of the last nine days up north, again. In the meantime, I have read two excellent books, T.H. White's The Once and Future King and the ever uplifting Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer. (Which Ellie lists as one of her favorites. I enjoyed both, and I'll work both in, if you're patient with me.

The Once and Future King is well written, but it has probably one ot the most difficult trio of main characters for a believer to deal with. Arthur, is the same noble child king turned wise ruler we know from the legend, Guinevere, the adulterous queen, and Lancelot, his best knight, best friend, and the one his queen is sleeping with. As I said, a hard trio to deal with. Each are noble and heroic in their own way, and each have a monstrous fault. Lancelot and Guinevere for the obvious reasons, and Arthur for his premarital affair with his half-sister (no, he didn't know at the time, and yes, she did) Anyway, he probably should have not tried to kill his son/nephew.

Arthur is troubled, both in the beginning and end of the book by the pervasiveness of Might throughout his realm, and his knights equation of it with Right. He begins the Round Table as a response, to channel Might to work for Right. This is successful, initially, but as problems in England, and further abroad in Europe are resolved, the arm of Might gets bored. Arthur turns his knights onto a spiritual quest, the quest for the Holy Grail. (No, not Monty Python and the Holy Grail) Although it's Lancelot's son, Galahad, who can find the Grail, Lancelot is denied only because of his affair with Guinevere.

Of course he can't tell Arthur this, but as the Quest is concluded, Arthur is left with a worse problem than before. His knights that were only interested in Might were essentially rejected at the beginning of the quest. The knights that believed in Right either died along the quest, or succeeded, and were taken to heaven as a result. So Arthur is met with more Might than ever, and less Right. Near the end of the book, he starts to think about other options to achieve Right. His primary thought moves toward either national socialism or communism, I can't tell. In any case, he theorizes that the removal of property, of ownership, would remove jealousy, and thus, eliminate war.

We know that didn't work, but Tozer points out in his second chapter that as believers, we need to move toward that ideal. When I hold onto a possession, I play keep away with God. Abraham was not allowed to keep his only son closer to God. Of course I make excuses, "I'm not Abraham, I don't have his faith." Perhaps not, but why? Is it because I won't let go? Perhaps the real difference is that Abraham believed God, and I didn't quite trust him with everything. White would have us believe that the eradication of boundaries could produce a perfect society. White underestimates the sinfulness of the human heart. He quotes Jeremiah 17, but misses the real meaning. The perfect society won't come until the Prince of Peace reigns perfectly in ever heart, but also physically, over the whole world. Until then, we must be satisfied to uphold him as the current King in our hearts and minds and families and churches.

One of the fascinating things about White's story is that he really tries to make Lancelot a sypathetic figure. He is torn between his love for guinevere, and his loyalty to his hero and king. It doesn't seem to matter too much, until Lancelot goes on the Quest for the Grail. At some point we learn that the real hang up in Lancelot's life was not his illicit affair with his best friends wife, also known as the queen of England, but the fact that he thought of God as a Person rather than a force. Yes, I can see how that would be a problem. In actuality, the problem is not viewing God as personable and knowable, the problem is not reconciling your life to that view. I'm miserable when I try to push God away, because it is my ultimate purpose to glorify Him, and one of the best ways to glorify Him is to know Him.

As Tozer puts it, we must pursue Him. Tonight, it is striking me just how difficult it is to truly pursue God. One would think that warding off big sins would be enough, but there a thousand small thought patterns, a hundred attitudes we engage in which alienate us from God. Among evangelicals, and most notably myself, it seems to be pride. Pride at what I know, pride that I'm not "like that sinner there." And these thought patterns cannot be defeated once, it is not jumping from the temple mount. It is a walk, and a step here, a step there, these are the battles in which we must doggedly chase after our only Hope.