Room At The Table!

 Like many people I am  looking forward to a family Christmas celebration.  The grandsons are sure to make it a lively occasion and it will be a blessing to meet up again with Amanda and Patrick, the in-laws, who will putting together the Christmas feast.  Most of us will be there, Mark and Mara will be coming through from London with Mara’s sister Chantelle.  Unfortunately Richard, Mary’s brother, and Jessie, his wife will not be there due to work commitments.  And our Paul will be maintaining law and order on the mean streets of Partick.  But through the wonders of this technological age they will be keeping in touch through the day.

Here’s a thing: what must it be like to be told that you are no longer welcome at your family’s Christmas celebration?  Yes I am talking about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.  There was a time when the unsavoury revelations were percolating down on a daily basis but just when you think it’s all over another smudge appears on an already damaged reputation.  He continues to plead that he has done nothing wrong but the stories keep coming with the possibility of more on the horizon.

The consequences of the allegations have been devastating.  Charities he supported want nothing to do with him; he has been stripped of his titles; and now the Royal Navy is considering his position as a Vice-Admiral.  Everything that he valued in life has evaporated.  And few people are denying that he deserves his loss.  But whenever something like this happens to someone, when they become a pariah, beyond the pale, the epitome of disgrace, someone for whom no excuse can be made - I have to ask myself, as a minister of the Gospel, where I stand in relation to a person like this. If Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was a member of my congregation,  if he was resident in my parish, if he was even just an acquaintance, would I avoid all contact, sneak down the other passage at Tesco to avoid him?  

This is not to minimise the scarred lives of those who were caught up in the the scandalous lifestyle of which Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is alleged to have been a part.  And we must hope that they are receiving the best of support as they navigate the rest of their lives.   But we are also left with this man whose future prospect of hope seems minimal.  In the rest of his life will he  be excluded from the mainstream of society?

There are things to be said.  

Kris Kristofferson has a song called ‘Jesus was a Carpricorn’.  The chorus says: ‘Everybody’s got to have somebody to look down on/Prove they can feel better than any time they choose/ Someone doing something dirty decent folks can frown on . . .’     Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been a focus for much indignation and vilification.  Personally, I have tried to learn that when someone is held up in public to be the worst of the worst, and when my own knee-jerk distaste has passed, I should look look at myself.  Yes they may have committed crimes for which they will deserve the consequences of the law but Jesus taught that what is wrong is not always on the surface.  

I may never have murdered someone or even committed any act of violence but Jesus taught there is such a thing as murderous thought and violent words.  I may not ever have committed adultery but Jesus taught there is such a thing as adulterous thought.    We may be on the right side of the law and accepted moral standards because we have never followed through on any of this but how do we look from the perspective of eternity?  Jesus' pronunciations of judgement are hair-raising: (Matthew 5:21-30.) Jesus goes deep, friends.  Something to be remembered this Advent when our souls are in danger of being overwhelmed with sentimentality.  

We could go on with this. It would leave me little to be said for my self except that I trust in the Gospel which assures my that no matter how great are my sins the love of God is greater.  And He has provided a way out of my dark self into the light of His presence through the powerful sacrifice of His Son Jesus.  What were the words of the angel to Joseph when passing on  the name of the baby: ‘You are to give him the name ‘Jesus’ because he will save his people from their sins.’

Are Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and people like him excluded from this hope?  My pal Albert Bogle has written a new Christmas song entitle ‘Room At The Table.’  The refrain is:

There’s room at the table 

For all who’ve been bruised

A seat at the table 

For those who’ve been used

There’s food at the table 

For the hungry and lost

And a place at the table 

for those who’ve been crossed

Room at the table for all?  Whatever our circumstances, our failure, our loss, we have a place at the table of the One who said only the the sick have need of a physician. 

No More Heroes?

They say you should never meet your heroes.  I caught the wisdom of that early in my life.  Aged about ten and living in walking distance from a certain football stadium, myself and some pals would stand outside waiting for our heroes to appear hoping for autographs.  They were mostly accommodating and might even engage in some chat.  Others, however, couldn’t get past you quick enough muttering stuff that was best not to hear.  Needless to say the next time you saw them on the field of play your estimation of them was somewhat tarnished.  It’s true to say, there is only one way off a pedestal.

So now to Georges Simenon.  I enjoy crime crime novels and there are few better than those that involve Paris based Commissaire Jules Maigret.  I first discovered the Maigret novels in my local library when I qualified for an adult ticket and they very soon became a favourite choice.  They were short, easy to read and you didn’t have to reach for the dictionary every two pages.  

Reading a biography of Simenon recently I have discovered that this was deliberate.  Like any writer Simenon wanted people to hear his message so why make it difficult for them?  That was his style even when he wrote what he called his more ‘serious’ work.  Not the usual crime fiction but novels which explored human psychology with some emphasis on the dark side. These met with much acclaim in the literary community with many placing Simenon among the best writers of the twentieth century.

The biography, however, does not hold back in opening up Simenon’s personal life.  As great as his literary achievement undoubtedly is, it apparently came from a broken and disordered life.  Alcohol, promiscuity, greed all feature prominently.  Not that this puts me off his work.  It’s a familiar story with many writers.  Often the greatest work emerges from less than attractive lives.  I regard this as evidence of the grace of God in operation.  

The Bible begins with God as a Creator of immense power bringing the whole Universe into being. He remains the source of all creative achievement in music, art, writing, architecture and science.  Even those artists, musicians and writers who have no personal faith in God testify to something working beyond themselves in their creations.  The poet Edwin Morgan was an atheist and yet he once said in an interview that he never completed a poem without feeling that it was in some way ‘given’.  God can be at work in lives that are not consciously open to Him in order to enrich the lives of all humankind.  This is what John Calvin called ‘common grace.’  

We may balk at the lifestyle of some of our cultural heroes but this need not negate our admiration of their achievements.  What we are seeing is more evidence of the grace of God working in broken lives.   

Strangers On A Bus.

 The bus was packed and I found myself sitting next to a woman I didn’t know.  ‘Busy bus,’ I said.  She nodded agreement and that I thought would be that.  But then we passed an incident on the pavement.  Two police officers were dealing with two kids who looked to be around twelve years of age.  The woman muttered something about too many kids these days being out of control, and somehow that seemed to open a door for her to tell me something of her own troubles.

I couldn’t make out everything she was saying.  The bus was noisy.  Kids again!  Bur I caught her drift.  She was looking after an elderly relative who was quite demanding and needed constant attention. She received some help from carers but it was off and on and not enough to make a real difference.  Today she had managed to get a few hours to herself and had done some shopping in Paisley.  

This was all unloaded on a complete stranger but it was obvious she needed someone to listen.  It made we wonder how many people we come up against in the course of a day who are carrying burdens and have difficulty coping.  A great Christian theologian wrote about the gospels having ‘the ring of truth.’  And they chime a familiar note in Jesus’ encounters with troubled men and women and His response to them.  The centurion caring for a sick servant,  Jairus and his critically ill daughter, the Canaanite woman and her demon-possessed daughter. These are just a few examples.  And Jesus’ response is always the same.  When he saw a woman mourning the loss of her son we are told that ‘his heart went out to her.’  (Luke 7: 14).  There is no reason to believe that His response would be any different to any burdened people.  

The conversation on the bus lasted less than ten minutes which is not much time too be with someone so dispirited.   What is left is to pray that being present, listening and offering some words of encouragement will make a difference and perhaps move her to find some more continuous support.  

But I go back to the thought that there are so many like my stranger on the bus to whom the words of Jesus might bring the ultimate assurance:

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’  (Matthew 11: 28)

Still Quarrying: Substantial Hope.

 I was in a lift with another patient in the Beatson Cancer Centre.  He looked to be in his early twenties and the cancer was wringing him out.  His gaunt face had a yellowish tinge, he was losing his hair, he was obviously struggling against fatigue.  And he was attached to a mobile drip.  

‘Is this you for the rest of the day,’ I asked.  

‘For the rest the week,’ he replied, eyes fixed on the metal doors.

‘I hope it all works out well for you,’ I said.

He nodded a thanks as the doors opened.

It was one of those moments you get from time to time as a patient in the Beatson.  A few words, never meet again, and yet souls touch.  Maybe it’s the sharing of one of the deepest experiences in life, the stripping away of all the resources you have depended on in the past, your life in other people’s hands, the reality of your basic fragility.  We are faced with this in the Bible.  It begins by telling us we are ‘dust’, a ‘breath’, insubstantial, and now that painful awareness has found a place deep within your psyche.    But even in the fleeting glances and smalltalk and quiet anxiety of a cancer hospital there is always Someone to think of whose presence fills the universe. He was fragile to the point of death and Has gone before us through that darkness to prepare a place for those whose souls He has touched.  

Dust, a breath we may be but He will always be our substantial hope.  

Still Quarrying: The New Normal.

 There have been a number of celebrities who have been willing to speak publicly about their personal experience of cancer, how they coped with the diagnosis and how they are coping with continuing treatment.  It can be helpful, indeed inspiring, to hear people who have the attention of the media speaking about their experience.  None more so than the Princess of Wales.  

Unfortunately, anything to do with the ‘royals’ is apt to get people’s backs up, even to the extent of hostility.  But this is an example of a 43-year-old married women with three children willing to step out of her perceived privileges and to speak honestly about her personal experience, not to mention that of her family.

Not long ago, the Princess sent out a press release thanking those of the public who had sent messages of encouragement to her which had also been appreciated by her family.  She also made other comments about her cancer experience which connect with many other suffers.  She described the ‘ups and downs’ of chemotherapy and the importance of making the most of the ‘good days. (One of my good days is enabling me to write this blog!).  She also spoke of ‘learning to be patient, ‘especially with uncertainly’ and allowing herself ‘to take time to heal.’

All of this rang a bell with so many of us who have experienced the ‘unwelcome diagnosis’ and continue to live through the cancer experience.  

Recently, the Princess visited a cancer well-being centre in Colchester when she spoke about the ‘new normal’ she and her family are having to live with.  She may be in remission but that doesn’t mean all is well:

‘There is a whole phase when you finish your treatment, everybody expects you to be better – go!  But that’s not the case at all.  You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment.  Treatment’s done, then it like, “I can crack on, get back to normal” but actually the phase afterwards is really difficult . . . you have to find your new normal and that takes time . . . and it’s a rollercoaster . . .’

It is difficult and it does take time, especially when remission comes to an end and you have to adapt not only to changes in your condition but more intense treatment.  That’s when it is a blessing to be in good medical hands in a place like the Beatson. Cancer Centre.   And to know the prayerful support of family and friends.  

I find the ‘new normal’ difficult.  From living what I considered a full life in parish ministry it’s is now about clinical appointments and debilitating treatment.  The exercise, study, and active social life are now to an extent the ‘old normal’.  But I am kept going by Gabrielle, the kindness of friends, our new Church fellowship in Renfrew Trinity, and the opportunity to lead worship in various churches – my preaching ‘gigs’ as I call them!  All of this gives me a spiritual boost and helps me to be content with what is and not fretting for what was.  Paul once wrote:

“ . . . one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining to what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.’  (Philippians 3:13-24.)

Still Quarrying: Light Never Overcome.

 It was 24 December 1988 and my first Watchnight Service as minister of St Paul’s.  It was something I had looked forward to.  A guaranteed pack out in the church and the opportunity to preach the greatest event in human history: the birth of the Son of God as one of us and the hope of all humankind.  This year, though, a shadow had fallen on the whole Christmas season.  On 21 December Pan Am Flight 103 had exploded over Lockerbie as the result of a terrorist bomb.  All 243 passengers were immediately killed along with 16 crew, and it would be revealed later that lives had been lost in
Lockerbie itself.  The events were powerfully dramatized in a recent BBC mini-series.  

As I prepared for the Watchnight Service, I was conscious that this would be in the minds of all those who would gather for worship.  I was conscious, too, that families in St Paul’s had been affected.  We had several police officers in the congregation.  All police leave was cancelled, so no Christmas celebrations with the family.  Not to mention the harrowing experience of duties related to the aftermath of the bombing. 

So, preparation was challenging.  Writing of another tragedy, the Dunblane massacre, a journalist wrote that preachers had become ‘theologically disarmed’.  That could have been applied to Lockerbie.  The persisting argument against the existence of a God of love had gained new momentum in face of this senseless loss of life and the horrified grief experience by those close to the victims.  But people would be there at the Watchnight Service, and I had 20 minutes or so to grapple with this and, by the grace of God, bring some reassurance from the Word of God.  

It's 37 years ago.  I can’t remember all that was preached.  And I’m not one of those who carefully files away all his sermons so no archives into which I can plunge .  But I do remember focussing on the name that arose from the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Messiah: ‘Immanuel’ which means ‘God with us.’   God with us in every circumstance of life, and the fragile baby honoured in the Christmas season is the ultimate assurance of that.   He would become ‘the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.’  (Isaiah 53: 3).  The apostle Paul absorbed this and was convinced that there is nothing in heaven or on earth that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God.  

So many people had been saying that this was just the worst time of year for something like this to happen.  I preached that this time of year was the best time for this to happen.  Forced to face the evil in the world we are called to focus on the One whose birth, life, death and resurrection provides an assurance that there is a hope that no darkness will ever overcome.  Not even that which arises from a terrorist’s bomb.

‘The best time for this to happen.’  As I set this down, I can see that I was asking a lot of those who gathered on that Christmas Eve 1988.  Words are powerful to convince but the same words can also be taken in various ways.  Not to mention the politicians get out, ‘taken out of context.’  But in the end, we are not called to be theologically disarmed but to face the darkness generated by broken humanity and proclaim the light that the darkness has never, nor will ever, overcome.  (John 1: 5)

Still Quarrying: Ghostly Presence?

 Detective Inspector John Rebus is days away from retirement after more than thirty years as a police officer.  But rather than just seeing out his time he is under pressure to draw a line under a double murder.  It’s the run up to Christmas and as he walks through the centre of Edinburgh, his adopted city, lights are shining, the funfair is under construction, music is coming from the open–air ice rink and the inevitable shoppers are walking with purposeful tread.  What caches his eye more than anything else is the groups of young people ‘weaving their way past the shopfronts, paying him not the slightest heed.’

‘When did I become the invisible man? Rebus asked himself.  Catching his reflection in a window he saw heft and bulk.  Yet these kids teemed past as if he had no place in their version of the world. 

‘Is this how ghosts feel? He wondered.’

This is from Exit Music, Ian Rankin’s eighteenth Rebus novel.  As usual he not only weaves an intricate plot superbly but also opens the complex mind of his main character.  Along the way perhaps touching the psychology of his readers.  It’s not uncommon for us to be in a crowded room or a bustling city and to feel detached or even ignored.  Like Rebus we might wonder if this is how ghosts feel.  

Paul once found himself in one of the foremost cities of his time, Athens.  Not only a centre for government and law but known for its vast and varied cultural life.  It was where people would gather in the marketplace to debate all the latest philosophical and religious ideas. As Paul drifted through the city centre he would not be recognised but his surroundings had a strong effect on him.  We are told that ‘he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.’  (Acts 17: 16). This was obviously a religious people but wildly off the mark in Paul’s mind. 

But Paul was not content to drift through the city like a ghost.  He wangled an invitation to preach in the local synagogue and to share the revelation he had received concerning Jesus.  He also gathered a crowd in the marketplace and as a result of this he was brought to address a meeting of the Areopagus, the political and legal hub of Athens.  Paul worked hard to connect with this audience and, although he received a mixed response, some were drawn to the message.

It's a truly remarkable story when you consider not only the cultural heft of Athens but also its spiritual complexity.  It was said: ‘All the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.’ (Acts 17: 21). But Paul, the wandering preacher, probably bedraggled and not particularly prepossessing, was not intimidated.  He had a message which even the sophisticated Athenians needed to hear.  And how did he get going?  By simply sharing what he was convinced was true concerning the God who created the Universe, who had revealed Himself in Jesus, and was seeking to draw all humankind to Himself through His Holy Spirit.     

Christians may feel detached even ignored because of our faith but no matter how great the challenge we can never be satisfied being like ghosts in our communities.  Jesus has called His disciples to engage with men and women, telling the story of Jesus.  This was never meant to be an option among many, something for the Athenians among us merely to kick around in debate, but a call to face the reality of Christ who is the way, the truth and the life.