Still Quarrying 100 - Here We Go!

Tomorrow I’ll have a Hickman line fitted in preparation for the stem cell transplant which will begin on Sunday.   This is a catheter which will enable the chemotherapy, the stem cells and whatever else may be required to flow more easily into my system.  I’ll be in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for roughly three weeks.  I’m not sure how this will affect the blog.  My laptop gave up the ghost a long time ago but there may still be a way to keep it up.  Whatever, I’ll still be writing when I feel up to it so it might be a case of after the famine the feast.  

As I have mentioned in previous blogs it will be a demanding experience.  Nausea, fatigue, weight loss and hair loss are guaranteed and care needs to be taken with regard to infection.   I had my hair cropped last Saturday and much appreciated the kindness of all the staff at Taylor Ferguson’s.  I didn’t fancy coming out of the shower one morning looking like the Wolf Man so it’s practically all gone.   I got a bit of a boost when my pal Norman Stone told me I looked a bit like Elvis after his pre-army haircut.   Now that’s the kind of thing you like to hear.  

It has been strange standing outside Christmas but perhaps that has meant more time for reflection.  That has been helped by a novel I have mentioned in a previous blog: God’s Pauper by Nikos Kazantzakis.  It’s an imaginative take on the life of Francis of Assisi and follows his life of discipleship from the moment he felt called to give up his privileged life and serve God by serving those on the margins of society.  This involved following the example of Jesus in His compassion for the poor and outcast.  

Many before and after Francis have been touched by this strong imperative but it has to be remembered that Jesus did not hear this call to sacrificial living at some point in His life on earth.  Philippians 2: 5-11 takes us into the realm of Eternity where the Son of God came to a realisation of what was demanded to be Saviour of the world, that He should become a human being and give His life for the salvation of humankind.   Towards this end He ‘did not consider equality with God something to be grasped’, He did not hold on to His divine privileges but emptied Himself of everything that set Him apart from us, except His sinlessness, so that He would be the One to pay the price of the world’s sin.   

It is such a rich passage of Scripture.  So much could be said about it.  What is weighing most heavily with me at this moment is the thought that ‘loss’ need not be the tragedy we are conditioned to believe it is.  Jesus’ loss was His and the world’s gain.  Many Christian people will tell you that it was in times of loss - bereavement, sickness, unemployment - that they felt most powerfully drawn to Christ and went on to live lives that stand as an inspiration and an encouragement.  We admire people like that who have responded so positively to life’s challenges.  We sometimes forget that followers of Jesus are all called to live through the worst in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and to trust that God’s plan for our lives is not being denied even by the deepest darkness that may fall upon mind, body or soul.

That is a message that we need to keep firmly in our grasp as we approach another turning of a year.  We have no control over the passage of time but we have the assurance of the One who promises: ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’  

Still Quarrying 99 - Light In The Darkness.

Last Christmas one of my sons presented me with a book entitled Hark! The Herald Angels Scream.  It has a rather lurid cover as you can see on the left which is a guide to the contents, a collection of short horror stories all set in or around Christmas.  They all tend to follow a similar path.  The peace, joy and family cosiness that we all aspire to at this time of the year are all disturbed by some ghastly event which usually has a dark supernatural source.  

I can understand why you might want to turn up your nose at this and declare it unnecessarily cynical, mean spirited, even cheap.  But when you read  Jesus’ birth stories as they are written by Matthew and Luke they have a dark side which cannot be denied.  Think about Mary falling pregnant during a period of betrothal when sexual intercourse would not normally take place.  A challenging time for her but also for Joseph who has  to decide if the betrothal will continue.  Then there is the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the later stage of Mary’s pregnancy, a distance of approximately 90 miles - and no little donkey is mentioned.  When they arrive in Bethlehem there is so much pressure on accommodation that the birth of the baby takes place in an outhouse or stable and he is wrapped in rags and laid in an animal’s feeding trough.  

It is some months later that the real horror breaks in when the Magi come on the scene.  Their contact with King Herod and their news that the Messiah has been born results in the deaths of all the baby boys in Bethlehem under the age of two years old.  

Jesus was born in a world where there was significant personal stress, where a nation was under the control of an invading power, where babies were born in squalor, where the slaughter of innocent children was ordered and carried out.   This is a long way from Christmas as we like to think of it but a light shines in the darkness bringing a hope that brings true meaning to our celebrations.   The Christmas hymn reminds us of the love that motivated the Incarnation:

‘Sacred Infant, all Divine,

what a tender love was thine,

thus to come from highest bliss

down to such a world as this.‘  

The world in which Jesus was born was broken and in need of redemption.  It is still the same.  Relationships are put under strain, people are homeless, political oppression causes untold distress, children are born in the worst of circumstances with little hope for the future.  It has been the same in every age but the Gospel tells us that in the midst of the darkness God shone a light with the birth of Jesus.  Here is the assurance of His love for humankind.  He calls us to embrace that love, to show it to those in need and to bring the Kingdom of God closer.   The hymn lampooned by last years Christmas book speaks of the purpose of Jesus’ coming:

‘born to raise the sons of earth,

born to give them second birth.’

It is as we experience the renewal that only His Spirit can bring that we as a people can being hope to our community, our nation and the world.  The angels did not scream on the night that Jesus was born.  They sang a song of hope and assurance:

‘Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men

on whom his favour rests.  (Luke 2: 14)

In a quiet moment this Christmas focus on these words.  What they tells me is that God believes in us, that His Spirit can dwell within us, that we can live our lives in communion with Him, that we can be the light in a dark world as Jesus envisioned we could be.  He said: ‘You are the light of the world.‘  (Matthew 5: 14)

Still Quarrying 98 - Hear The Baby Cry!

Years ago someone recommended a book called God’s Pauper by the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis.  It is based on the life of Francis of Assisi and possibly owes much to the author’s imagination but the picture of Francis which emerges is very much in tune with what we know about him.  At one point Francis is engaged in a discussion as to which is superior the mind or the heart and he recalls an incident from his childhood:

‘When I was a young student a learned theologian came to Assisi at Christmas time.  He mounted the pulpit at San Ruffino’s and began an oration that lasted for hours and hours, all about the birth of Christ and the salvation of the world and the terrible mystery of the Incarnation.  My mind grew muddy; my head began to reel.  Unable to stand it any longer, I shouted, ‘Master, be still so that we can hear Christ crying in His cradle!‘   When we got back home, my father spanked me, but my mother took me aside secretly and gave me her blessing . . .‘    

The point being that there was much of the preacher’s mind involved in the ‘oration’ and too little of the heart.  Perhaps it could be said that he obviously knew much about Christ but gave no evidence that he actually knew Him.  His words did not convey His presence and the  blessings that flow from His birth, death and resurrection.  

For the first time in the 37 years I have been an ordained minister of the Gospel I will not be preaching this Christmas.  But I will be remembering all my colleagues in many different traditions who will be seeking to unpack in their preaching what the birth of Jesus means for us today.  Far to often in the past I have been carried away with the thought that I need to find some new way of presenting this.  It’s then I remember the advice I received from a retired minister when I was just a baby minister:  ‘Just tell them the story.‘   We forget the power of the story and the monumental truths that are contained therein.  

So all you preachers out there, as someone who will be listening this Christmas,  tell me the story and pray for me and others that we will have a sense of Emmanuel, ‘God With Us’, that we will hear Christ crying in His cradle.

Still Quarrying 97 - Together.

One of the persistent side effects of the treatment I have been receiving has been fatigue.   For some reason it is at its worst at the weekend so attendance at worship has been limited.  That’s why it was so good to have members of the St Paul’s Choir gather in the Manse the other night to sing some favourite Christmas Carols.   The singing was lovely but just as important  was seeing friends again and enjoying a time of fellowship.   One of the problems of being ill over a period of time is that you can get used to being on your own and there can be a drift towards an unhealthy isolation.  You need opportunities to look beyond yourself and engage with others.  But even in days of health and strength we are only fully ourselves when we are in community.

Think of the vision of God that is set before us in Scripture.  The concept of the Trinity is baffling to many but there is little doubt that the earliest Christians experienced God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  So within the Godhead there is community, dynamic relationships that together express the Divine to humankind.   It is in those relationships that God is fully Himself.  Created as we are in the image of God we are fully ourselves when we live and work and recreate in relationship to others.

A favourite passage for preachers is Acts 2: 42-47 which deals with the quality of life experienced by the first followers of Jesus:

‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’

The key words are: ‘All the believers were together.’  And thereafter the word ‘together’ is repeated twice.   Everything else that marked the Church, the miracles, the powerful preaching, all flowed from this experience of community, the heart of Christian living created by the Holy Spirit.  This  is why it was so important to the Apostle Paul  that anything that threatened the unity of the Church had to be dealt with.  Whether it was conflict over the the Gospel  or a breakdown in personal relationships there had to be a call to reconcile.  This is why the letters were written.  

There has sometimes been a tendency to look at the life of the first followers of Jesus, to recognise that there were disagreements and to take comfort from that.  Why get too upset about fractures in the Church when they have been with us since the beginning?  But it should never be forgotten that Paul and other apostles worked hard to hold the line  with regard to the cardinal truths of the Gospel and also to reconcile those who found themselves at odds with other Christians.   In his letter to the Philippians Paul makes an appeal to two women, Euodia and Syntyche, to resolve their differences. (Philippians 4: 2)   If Christians were faithfully to reflect the being of God to the society in which they bore their witness then there had be be a strong commitment to be ‘together’. 

The story of the shepherds in Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus can take us further along this road.  The angels came to them as a community.  It was as a community that they decided to go to Bethlehem.   They discovered Jesus as a community and as a consequence ‘they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.’  (Luke 2: 17)   Whatever else you pray for this Christmas find some room for every congregation in the land that they will know a deeper sense of being together and  more surely committed to spreading the Word and drawing others into that togetherness that only the Spirit can create.  The night before His crucifixion Jesus prayed for the Church:

‘I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.‘   (John 17: 22-23)

Still Quarrying 96 - Searchers For Truth.

I heard on Classic FM - so it must be true - that a role you undertake in a Nativity Play can shape the rest of your life.  How that places you if you were a donkey or a tree I am not sure but those who had more distinguished roles are given pause for thought.  As I shared on my Facebook page recently my grandson Busby’s acclaimed performance as a Wise Man was actually following in my footsteps.  The only time I was given a part in a Nativity Play was as one of those mysterious men who came from a far country to worship the King who had been born in Bethlehem.  

First off, let’s get one thing clear.  I don’t mind too much that they are called Wise Men  as in the Authorized Version of the Bible but the NIV translation is better: Magi.  This is more or less a direct translation from the original Greek and refers to a specific group of people. They are sometimes described as a tribe of Persian priests who were the intellectual movers and shakers of their day.  They were well versed in the science, medicine, philosophy and religion of their day and although some of them dabbled in the dark side of spirituality, the occult, by and large they were in the words of William Barclay ‘honest seekers after truth.’

We can only speculate as to how they knew about Jesus and how they connected him to the cosmic disturbance they observed.  But with their knowledge of religion it is not inconceivable that they possessed at least fragments of the Hebrew Bible.  From this source they became acquainted with the hope of the Jewish people that one day someone would arise out of their nation who would hold the key to understanding all the mysteries of life.  So it was with anticipation of an encounter with him that they set out on their long journey.  We don’t know how many there were only that they brought three gifts.  And they are not named by Matthew who tells their story.  But his original readers would understand why men like these would be interested in Jesus.  They were ‘honest seekers after truth.’  

This is where I would hope to connect with them.   The idea that being a Wise Man fifty-nine years ago has had any impact on my life is probably highly amusing to those who know me best.  But I can say that the search for truth has been important to me for as long as I can remember.  I believe it’s important for everyone although it might be expressed in different ways.  And that search is as important  now than it has ever been.   We constantly hear about ‘fake news’.  Politicians are persistently called liars.  We are told that there is no truth only what the individual recognises as truth.  The only absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth.  

It is in this cultural atmosphere that Christians are called to proclaim the message that the Word became flesh and lived among us.  He claimed to be ‘the Way and the Truth and the Life.’  Even more startlingly he said: ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’  (John 14: 6)  The Magi were not aware of this when they came to the place where Jesus was but their response to him was entirely appropriate: ‘they bowed down and worshipped him.’  (Matthew 2: 11)  This is where the search for truth ends, acknowledging the One who embodies the truth about God and humankind and who has made it possible for the Spirit of God to live in us.  

25 December didn’t always belong to Christians.  The Roman Saturnalia and other pagan festivals were celebrated around this time.  So people should be free to celebrate Christmas as they see fit.  But at this time of the year I always cherish the hope that the cards, the carols, the services aye and the Nativity Plays will touch hearts with the truth that can only be found in Jesus.  

Still Quarrying 95 - Losers?

It’s almost two weeks since we had an appointment at the stem cell transplant unit in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.   The ‘bad stuff’ in my blood although stubborn has diminished and it looks as if the green light for the transplant will be seen in the not too distant future.  As always I was impressed by the warmth and sensitivity of the staff particularly as they were outlining a procedure which will be challenging for the patient.  They can never guarantee the outcome but what is certain is that along the way there will be hair loss, weight loss, nausea and fatigue.   I’ve been aware of this from the beginning but at this stage I just want to get through it, take all the side effects on the chin and begin to put my life and ministry back together.  When I read that back I can see that it might come over in a superficially defiant way.   It could be another story when I’m in the midst of it all but this is where I am at the moment.   Praying that I will get a date soon, that I will be sustained infection free during the treatment, that it will be successful, that I will get back to myself before too long.  

What strikes me most of all is that I need to be prepared for a time of loss: hair, weight, strength, general well-being.  None of that is welcome but as I consider the event we seek to keep at the centre of this Season it is essentially a story of loss.  I once heard Donald Macleod say that Philippians 2: 5-11 is the Incarnation as seen from the perspective of the angels.  They had known the Son of God from all eternity and now they see him making himself ‘nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross.’  

This is the Son emptying himself of all his diving privileges for the sake of humankind.  In a sense suffering loss that he and others might gain.   So at a basic level Jesus is on the side of ‘losers’, those who once had and now have to let go.  That’s a focal point for us all during Advent.  Called to lose those things in our lives that stand against God’s purpose for us, however painful that might be, that we might gain in Christ.   

Still Quarrying 94 - A Haunted Christmas!

It has been said that Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is as much part of Christmas as holly and plum pudding.   I know for sure that at some point The Muppet Christmas Carol will be dug out in our house and enjoyed as much as it was last year and the year before.  That’s just one of the many versions that have appeared on stage and screen since the story first appeared in 1843.  So great an impression has it made that Ebenezer Scrooge has become a bye-word for everything that stands opposed to what is understood to be the spirit of Christmas.   Mrs Cratchit describes him as ‘an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man.’  That is backing for the narrator’s judgement early in in the story when he describes Scrooge as ‘Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire.’  

Carol isn’t Dickens’ only Christmas story.   It’s success paved the way for four others all published in the weeks before Christmas.   None of them really hit the heights of Carol but they all have one thing in common.  They deal with people who have experienced shadows falling on their lives and find in the Christmas season the resources to make a new start.  

The Haunted Man is about a disturbed academic named Redlaw who is visited by a ‘ghost’ at Christmas.  This is really a dark projection of himself but Redlaw is told that it is possible to have all his painful memories of the past erased so that they will no longer trouble him.  He is hesitant at first but eventually is persuaded that this is the way to go.  In the process, however, he destroys any compassion he might ever have had for anyone in any kind of need.  Furthermore, he spreads that indifference to anyone with whom he has to do.  The depth of this tragedy is revealed when the ghost informs Redlaw that having chosen this state of being it cannot be reversed.  

Hope comes in the form of a woman named Milly.  She is daily aware of painful experiences in her past but has found that they are the source of a strong empathy with those who suffer.  Because she has been in dark and difficult places she is able to help those who are struggling with life’s challenges.  It is in coming into contact with Milly that Redlaw finds the ghost’s decree overruled and he is changed along with all those who have been affected by his inner darkness.  

In the end The Haunted Man faces us with the reality of the past.  It cannot be changed.  Nor should it be.  There are experiences that may embitter us but they can also shape us in a more positive way.  Even the things that are hurtful when brought to mind can work a better person in us.   Discussion of where Dickens stood in relation to the Christian faith will go on as long as he is regarded as one of our major writers but Redlaw’s response to Milly’s experiences is surely significant.  He recalls ‘Christ upon the cross, and . . . all the good who perished in His cause . . .’  Redlaw realises that it was in suffering that the greatest good ever was released into the experience of humankind, a good that is transformative.   The final challenge of the story is not to despise the dark experiences of the past or to seek their annihilation but to ‘keep the memory green’ and allow them to shape our response to the suffering of the present.  

This is what nowadays might be described as ‘a Big Ask’ but the life of faith is full of them.  How we respond affects the depth of our discipleship.  It is often missed that Advent is a Season like Lent  when we are called to self-examination and to aspire to changes within ourselves that will bring us more fully in line with God’s will for our lives.  Dickens’ Christmas stories  are a reminder that we all carry our inner darkness which affects others as well as ourselves.  But there is a Light which a regretful Jacob Marley was to discover too late.  As a ghost he reviews his life and laments: 

‘At this time of the rolling year I suffer most.  Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes  turned down, and never raise them to the blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode!   Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me.’  

If Advent and Christmas are to be meaningful then we need to raise our eyes to the Star that will lead us more surely into the presence of Christ, to stay in that presence, and to seek the transformations that only He can bring.