Still Quarrying 119 - Blows On A Bruise.

Saturday afternoon and I was watching the telly.  It was the 1943 version of Jane Eyre with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles.  I was completely lost in it.  Hardly moved a muscle in two hours.  I was reminded of something my now deceased brother used to say that the only decent films ever made were in black and white!  I wouldn’t go that far but certainly this old movie was essentially faithful to the darkness at the heart of the original novel.  Cruelty, neglect, madness, deception all feature before in the end we see the triumph of love.  

Jane is one of those people to whom bad things happen.  Orphaned at an early age, taken into the home of an uncaring aunt, sent to a school where the rod was never spared, eventually finding her way in the world but deceived by the man she loved.  It is just one blow after another falling on a vulnerable life.  And yet probably not untypical of the nineteenth century - or maybe any century with not always the happy ending Jane was granted.

Think about Job and how he was stripped of everything that gave him status and satisfaction in the world.  He loses property, family and finally his health.   Every blow falling on a bruise.  He comes to mind when I think of some people I have known.  At one level you accept that we are all prone to suffering but why so much for some?  I remember being struck dumb when I heard that Joni Eareckson had been diagnosed with cancer.  I really did say in my heart: ‘Lord, isn’t quadriplegia enough without this?‘   But then I see Joni’s attitude, sharing her confidence that she is still in the hands of a God who loves her, who considers her worth the death of His Son.   

These were the truths that in the end resonated in the heart of Job.  He realised he would never have all the answers but he received an assurance that God is sovereign, that He is in control, that He is working in and through suffering according to His good and loving purpose.  That is the assurance we find in the sufferings of Jesus.  With Him it was one thing after another.  Blows falling on a bruise.  The inner torment of Gethsemene, the abandonment of friends, the mockery and the whip and then the horrendous torture of Calvary.   Nothing of God there would be an understandable response.  And yet God was present and working out His purpose for the good of us all.

It is faith in this God which sustains those we might judge as having had more than their ‘fair share’ of misfortune.  The Iolaire tragedy in 1919 had far reaching effects on the people of Lewis and Harris.  At least 201 men returning from war service on New Year’s day lost their lives as the vessel Iolaire struck rocks known as ‘the Beasts of Holm’ just yards from shore.  The writer Ian Crichton Smith, a native of Lewis and an atheist, marveled that an event like this should have been the death of faith on the island.  Instead it grew stronger.  The reason lies in the nature of the God who calls for faith, the God who has spoken to the world of His love in the death of His Son.  

Still Quarrying 118 - Working Together.

I recently expressed my appreciation of the NHS and the care and expertise that has seen me through my recent treatment.  It has since occurred to me that there are others who are helping to keep the nation together who deserve our thanks and support and should be continually in our prayers.  My local Pharmacy, for instance, has been an integral part of my life over the past year not only in the dispensing but in the advice given whenever needed.  It continues to tick over in difficult circumstances.  And there are others who are working through these days sometimes at risk to themselves.  The police have new duties which they could never have envisaged  and unfortunately they are still having to deal with the usual criminal activity.  Then there are social workers, postmen, bin men, engineers, transport operatives, shop workers, dentists.  You make a list like that and realise that there must be so many you have left out.  

Perhaps we are being given a new appreciation of the various roles taken on by individuals which all come together to ensure the smooth running of our society.   This kind of corporate working is prominent in the Bible.   In the Old Testament, when the Tabernacle was being constructed craftsmen called Bezalel and Oholiab were called upon not only to make their own contribution but to teach others so that a variety of  people could come together to complete the project.  (Exodus 35: 30 - 36: 7).  It’s also worth mentioning that when the people of Israel in general were asked to make free-will offerings the craftsmen had to call a halt.  They said to Moses: ‘The people are bringing more than enough!’  

The importance of working together arose very early in the life of the Church.  Paul made much of the Church as the Body of Christ.  This was brought to the Church at Corinth which was divided along many lines.  Paul pointed them to the human body where it was necessary that each part contributed to the welfare of the whole.  It needs to be the same in the Church.  There are different gifts and their exercise contributes to the building up of the Church’s witness.  (I Corinthians 12: 12-31)

We hear from our political leaders and medical experts that each of us has a contribution to make in the present crisis.  It might seem passive and unexciting.   We need to stay at home, wash our hands, keep two metres distance.   We hear it all the time but it does no harm to be reminded of our responsibility to one another.  It will be  blessing if we come out of this time with a new realisation of how  dependent we are on others.  

Still Quarrying 117 - This Present Stillness.

Words from a poem by Edwin Morgan came to me this morning as Gabrielle and I were on our one permitted walk: ‘ . . . and the land lay still.’  Deserted roads, empty flight path, church bells silent.  There was an eeriness about it and yet the poem - The Summons - ends with a sense of expectation, that the stillness is a prelude to something significant happening.  

Some voices have have said that this time we are going through will work for our good.  When it is behind us we will return to a cleaner, fresher world and better communities where people are more focussed on the welfare of others.  

Even now people are detecting a change in the air we breathe.   My son living in Brixton London says you can taste the difference.  The journalist John Macleod writing from Morningside in Edinburgh says of the air: ‘it is clean, clear, positively Hebridean.‘   Add to this the many stories of people reaching out to the elderly and vulnerable and there is indeed much that we would want to carry forward from these days of Covid-19.

This is not to say that it will be easy getting there.  You can take so much of quietness and isolation.  Medical experts fear that there will come a point where people can’t take much more and will become reckless in their behaviour.  Some reports suggest this is happening even now.  

In my days at Glasgow Cathedral I became friendly with some of the priests at St Mungo’s Church.  They belonged to the Passionist order and were required at various times to make silent retreats.  I remember speaking to one about this and expected him to tell me what a relief it was to get away from the pressures of ministry.  I was much mistaken.  ‘It’s awful,’ he said. ‘You’ve no idea what it’s like to be in utter silence.’

I was listening to The Moral Maze last night on Radio 4.  Giles Fraser was one of the panel.  He is an Anglican minister who writes regularly for the Guardian and is a well-known voice on radio and television.  He is known as ‘the Loose Canon.‘   The panel were discussing some of the possible outcomes of the lockdown and it was put to him that he should be able to cope better than most because he is used to retreats.  He disagreed.  He confessed to hating retreats, often breaking out to go to the pub.  

The problem is that when you are spending more time with less to do and more conscious of your inner life you can become more uncomfortable with yourself.  The idea of being still can be attractive but you have to take yourself into the stillness.  That’s when memories of past failure can unsettle you rising like muddy bubbles from a swamp.  I heard someone on the wireless this morning saying that this is a good time to feel more happy in your own skin.  Easier said than experienced.  Even practitioners of Mindfulness which does  not necessarily accommodate God are warning of the possible hazards in exploring the inner life.

Maybe you have switched off by now.  We’re getting into gloomy territory that we don’t need at present.  But is it not the case that facing the dark shadows in our lives is the way to living more in the light?  Leonard Cohen sang:

‘Ring the bells that still can ring

 Forget your perfect offering

 There is a crack in everything

 That’s how the light gets in.’

Turning to the Scriptures we find there encouragement to face the reality of who we are with all the cracks in our depths and to believe that the Light that is Christ can  get through with the forgiveness and renewal only He can give.   Remember Psalm 130:

‘If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.  I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.’  (verses 3-5)

And the Psalmist did not have the assurance that comes from the sacrifice of Jesus and is expressed so powerfully by the Apostle John:

‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’  (1 John 1: 8-9)

Another Apostle took this so much to his heart that he declared himself ‘a new creation.’  (2 Corinthians 5: 17)  

So I can go forward in this present stillness in agreement with those who say that this could be the beginning of new attitudes and priorities.  If this gives us the opportunity to face the reality of who we are and to realise where can find forgiveness and renewal then we will emerge closer to the new humanity we see modelled in Jesus Christ.   

I’ll finish with a a verse from a Psalm which has become something of a personal mantra for me:

‘Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

 do not fret . . . ‘  (Psalm 37: 7)

It is in being still in His presence that He can go to work to shape our lives according to His good and loving purpose.

Still Quarrying 116 - Thwarted Praise, Enduring Hope.

In the first months of my ministry in Stevenston: Ardeer I was told by a lady that she had received a postcard from a friend who was on holiday.  Among other things she wrote that she was missing Church and looking forward to getting back.  That was an encouragement to someone still finding his feet in parish ministry.

Later I came to know someone who had been a regular attender but severe emotional problems meant that this was no longer possible.   It was a source of regret and the Lord’s Day always came around with a deep sense of longing.  

It is this appreciation of the gathering for worship that we find in Psalms 42 and 43.  The Psalmist has powerful memories of the worship of God’s people and what a blessing this was:

‘ . . . I used to go with the multitude,

 leading the procession to the house of God,

 with shouts of thanksgiving

 among the festive throng.’  (42: 4)

But circumstances have now prevented this.  He is ‘oppressed by the enemy’, taunted by those who say “Where is your God?”   This results in great inner turmoil which comes through in both psalms as a refrain: 

‘Why are you downcast, O my soul?

 Why so disturbed within me?’  (42: 5; 43: 5)

Light and dark, sweet and sour, up and down jostle for possession of the Psalmist’s inner life.   And in many ways we stand with him in this unique moment in human history.  Circumstances are preventing us from gathering on the Lord’s Day, one of the vital sources of our spiritual health.  Many years ago, in a book about preaching James S. Stewart shared a vision of worship that he longed for all preachers to grasp:

‎'Every Sunday morning when it comes ought to find you awed and thrilled by the reflection - "God is to be in action today, through me, for these people; this day may be crucial, this service decisive, for someone now ripe for the vision of Jesus.”

Well, our gathering for worship may have been affected but I cannot accept that God cannot still work through the resources we have to bring people to faith and strengthen the faith of believers.  It may not be the same but again the Psalmist is our companion when he continues his internal dialogue and looks forward to a day of restoration and renewal:

‘Put your hope in God,

 for I will yet praise him,

 my Saviour and my God.‘   (42: 5)

‘Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.’  (43: 4-5)

This time will end and once again we will rejoice to be together as the family of God rejoicing in all that He has done for us in Jesus.  

Still Quarrying 115 - NHS Blue.

I suppose I should have known this but I have just found out that the official colour of the NHS is blue.  As well as the 8pm appreciation clap for the NHS some public buildings like Lincoln Cathedral on the left were lit up in blue.   This is more appropriate than many people will realise.  We often speak of people having the ‘blues’, being down in spirit.  But in the tradition of the Church blue has always symbolised health and hope.  So from now on whenever I see the NHS logo that will be an opportunity to give thanks for the work of all medical staff as they bring healing and hope to the nation.  

I am personally much in their debt.  The sensitivity and expertise of the Beatson Myeloma Team over the last ten years has been exceptional.   I have also benefited from the work of the Stem Cell Transplant Unit  at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in recent days.   In my two weeks as a patient the dedication and personal attention of doctors, nurses, auxiliary staff, dieticians, physiotherapists and cleaning staff all came together to make bearable a demanding experience.  I continue to be under the care of the Myeloma Team who have been keeping in touch since in the present climate I am considered to be in a vulnerable group.

Mention also has to be made of the Kersland House Surgery just minutes walking distance away from our home.  Doctors, nurses and receptionists have given me the best of attention in the past and even now with the demands of this unprecedented time.   

I was clapping for them all last night but even better than that holding them in prayer trusting that they will be kept strong and safe.  

Still Quarrying 114 - From Loneliness To Solitude.

I have said jokingly to family and friends that I should launch an online tutorial on ‘self isolation.’  (Mates rates, of course).  When I was discharged from hospital on the second week of January it was with the strict instruction that I should practice some measure  of self isolation particularly as there was flu about.  Little did we know  that something worse was on the way.  So I am used to self isolation.  Not that I like it you understand but it has j become the pattern of my life.  It is just something that has had to be.  Certainly in the last two weeks or so I have become even more restricted.  At one time visitors were permitted as long as they were bug-free and willing to use hand sanitizer before entering into the presence.  That has now had to stop.

As with most things that challenge the human condition you will find isolation in the Scriptures.  In Psalm 38  David is in the throes of some dreadful illness.  It involves weakness, open wounds, back pain, palpitations, trouble with his eyes.  As a result of this friends and neighbours draw back from him.  (verse 11)  This may be because of his appearance or because of the association of sickness with sin.  David himself believes he is under the judgement of God.  Whatever the reason, he is very much on his own, isolated, lonely.  But he believes he will find relief in his God:

‘LORD, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God.  Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.’  (verses 21-22)

Here we all find the way forward when isolation leads to the nagging emptiness of loneliness.  Years ago I came across a book by the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen called Reaching Out.  In this he traces what he calls ‘The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life’.  The first of these is ‘From Loneliness to Solitude.’  Loneliness is painful and hard to bear.  In solitude we may be on our own but we are aware of God and the fulfilment and contentment that flows from Him.  Is this not what Paul refers to in Philippians 4: 12-13 when he speaks of the contentment he has found in God whatever his circumstances and how: ‘I can do everything through him who gives me strength.‘   This is a life that is constantly oriented to God and may well be solitary but will never be completely lonely.  

As with so many things, however, it’s good to get down to practicalities.  It’s good to aspire to the blessings of solitude but how do we get there?  How do we move from loneliness to solitude?   In one of his novels F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of ‘the fine quiet of the scholar which is the nearest thing to heavenly peace.’  He was describing someone who had taken so much from study and at least for a time knew a deep satisfaction and contentment.   I believe this is possible with the spiritual resources we have to hand.  To lose yourself in a passage of Scripture or a prayer or evocative music or art is to open the way for God to touch us in the depths.  A Presence that leads us out of painful loneliness to the ‘heavenly peace’ of solitude.  

Still Quarrying 113 - Visitation.

I have enjoyed reading Peter Stanford’s book Martin Luther Catholic Dissident.  Standford describes himself as ‘a cradle Catholic’ yet he finds much to admire in Luther and is comfortable with many of his teachings and practice.  He is particularly impressed that often Luther worked through immense pressures which included periods of ill-health.  In 1517 it is possible that Luther caught a virus that was sweeping through Germany.  Luther was living in Wittenberg at the time and conditions became so bad that people were leaving the town in droves.   Luther stayed.  Standford writes: ‘Luther refused to leave the town.  He was willing, in this as in other matters, to trust to God.’  

There is a similar story in the life of the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli.  In 1519 he took a break from his ministry in Zurich.  That was disturbed when he heard that the plague was rampant in Zurich killing, it is estimated, one in three people.  Zwingli returned to minister to the sick and the dying until he was stricken down himself.  In time he recovered and wrote a hymn part of which explored his personal plague experience:

‘Will you, however, that death take me in the midst of my days, so let it be.

Do what you will, nothing shall be too much for me.

Your vessel am I, to make or break altogether.’

We can think too of Father Damian, the Belgian priest, who for sixteen years was pastor to the lepers quarantined on the Hawaiian peninsula of Molokai.  In the course of time he contracted the disease but continued to share the consolations of the Gospel until his death in 1889.

It may have been examples like the above which led Pope Francis when addressing  the present crisis to say:

‘May priests have the courage to to get out, going to the sick to being the comfort of God.’  

Bearing in mind the restrictions the Italian government and others were bringing in to combat the virus this brought criticism from many quarters.   Whatever you might think,  his comments highlight a struggle that many involved in the pastoral work of the Church are experiencing at this time.  And not just the ‘clergy’.  The hearts of many Church members are going out to the sick and vulnerable at this time but are frustrated in their desire to draw near to them.  Over the last year I have known that frustration.  I’ve heard of people sick and bereaved and been unable to engage with them at a level to which I have been accustomed.   

I’m tempted to say that in the end it is up to individuals to make up their own minds how they should show their care for others at this time.  But more and more this freedom is being curtailed.  Care Homes are in lockdown, crematoriums are admitting only five people for services, churches are closed even for private prayer.  What we have to remember is that this is not just for our good but the good of others.  The point I was making yesterday about faith involving our responsibility to others is relevant here.  Everything within us wants to be with those who are suffering but what may be the consequences  of those visits for others?  Might the visitor become a carrier?  And we have seen in so many public information broadcasts how quickly the virus spreads.  

Thinking of ministers and priests in particular, we may not be able to visit but we should have some confidence in the teaching we have provided for God’s people in the past.  We have preached the living Word that speaks of a God who has drawn near to suffering humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.  He has promised to be working out His good purpose for all His people in every circumstance.  He has shown in the sacrifice of Jesus that His love never fails even in the face of death.   He has assured His people of a place in His Eternal Kingdom through the Resurrection of Jesus.   We have preached this message.  Do we have the faith that it has taken root in the hearts of men and women and is their consolation and inspiration in these challenging days whether we are able to visit them or not? 

W.B. Yeats has a poem about an old priest called Father Gilligan.  He is under great pressure: ‘For half his flock were in their beds,/Or under green sods lay.’  It sounds as if the community was in the grips of some epidemic.   He receives a call to visit yet another of his people who is dying.  As he wearily prays in his chair before the visit he falls asleep.  Eventually he awakes in a panic.  What if the poor man has died?  When he arrives at the home he is greeted by the wife who is surprised to see him.  Hasn’t Father Gilligan already called and eased her husbands passage into Eternity through his ministry?   Father Gilligan is led to believe that some heavenly visitation has occurred:

'He Who hath made the night of stars

For souls who tire and bleed,

Sent one of His great angels down

To help me in my need.

'He Who is wrapped in purple robes,

With planets in His care,

Had pity on the least of things

Asleep upon a chair.'

I’ve often thought of that poem.  Those we are unable to visit can still know the presence of ‘He who hath made the night of stars/For souls who tire and bleed’ and know the peace that only He can bring. And of great reassurance to those of us called to care but frustrated by our limitations:

'He Who is wrapped in purple robes,

With planets in His care,

Had pity on the least of things

Asleep upon a chair.'

Still Quarrying 112 - Greatest Generation.

It has been called ‘the greatest generation’, those who were born in the first quarter of the twentieth century, came through the Great Depression, endured the Second World War and then became the foundation of the rebuilding of the nations.   It was my parents’ generation and in many ways I was shaped by their values that placed family, Church, care for others and personal aspiration at the centre of life.   As time went on I came to know something of their early lives and some of the personal struggles which drew on their courage and faith.

It has been said that the challenges that face us now are similar to those of that generation but in some ways they are unique.  During times of economic hardship and war there is always the possibility of a physical coming together and therefore the flame of community spirit burns brightly.  That has become difficult now with the more stringent restrictions that were announced last night by the Prime Minister.  Certainly we have all the possibilities of social media and the constant stream of broadcast news.  But it is not community as we have come to know and appreciate it.   Not being able to visit elderly parents in Care Homes, keeping close friends at a distance, thinking twice before we venture out - arguably we are facing a bigger challenge even than war.   

It is heartening to hear the consistent message of our politicians that we have within us the personal resources to see this crisis through.  And despite the thoughtlessness, the greed, the profiteering that has been reported people are looking beyond themselves to the needs of  elderly and vulnerable people, making sure that they have everything they need to keep body and mind together.  This is something that is uniting people of all faiths and political persuasions and stands as a welcome respite to the divisions that have soured our national life in recent days.  

But with all our human resources there is still a great need for us to be in touch with all that the God revealed in Jesus Christ can provide in this dark and demanding time.  The Psalmist writes:  ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord . . .’  (Psalm 33: 12)  That was something King George VI understood.   In 1940 in what Churchill described as the nation’s ‘darkest hour’ with tens of thousands of British troops stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk the King called for a National Day of Prayer in which the nation could turn back to God and plead for His help.  Nothing is more vital now and may result in this being remembered as the greatest of all generations.  

Still Quarrying 111 - Others

When I was training for the ministry I was required to attend regular conferences.  On one occasion a senior minister spoke to us about worship and in particular the Lord’s Supper.  He very strongly advocated the use of the common cup as being closest to the tradition  established by Christ and as a powerful symbol of the unity of God’s people.  He dismissed reservations about hygiene saying: ‘It’s a sad indictment on us when we don’t trust one another.’  

That made a big impression on me and through the years was grateful for ‘evidence’ that there should be no fear in using the common cup.  The coronavirus crisis has shot all of this down in flames.  Before the cessation of services Churches of all traditions were moved to lay down strict guidelines with regard to the celebration of the Sacrament to prevent the spread of the virus.   This included the handling of bread and the sharing of a common cup

The message is that while we bring faith to the Lord’s Table that must include a sense of responsibility to one another.  This is relevant also with regard to the use of alcoholic wine in the Lord’s Supper.  I have known people with alcohol problems who have been anxious that this might set them back on the road to addiction.  A colleague once said to me that surely this can be overcome in an attitude of faith: ‘This will not happen.’  

I’ve never been convinced by that.  We bring faith to the Lord’s Table but that must include a sense of responsibility to one another.   Surely it is not too much to expect that provision can be made for any who have anxieties about the wine or indeed the bread in the Lord’s Supper.

Thinking about the other person is very much in the forefront of all public pronouncements at present.  A weekend of large gatherings at beaches and in parks and supermarkets has provoked strong statements from the Westminster and Holyrood governments.  The message is that this it is not just about ourselves, we have to be mindful of what we might be doing to others.  

This is never the easiest of things.  I have to confess that my head has been full of dark scenarios that might overtake me and mine.  What helps to lift me out of this is prayer for others.  Just yesterday an elder in St Paul’s mentioned his daughter in an email.  She is a London doctor under huge pressures at present.  To hear about that and other stories helps to shift the self-centredness which is spiritually ruinous.  Remember all those lists of people at the end of Paul’s letters?  People who had been a blessing to him, people who were sharing in his work for the Gospel, people who were struggling with their own personal challenges.  Paul was bringing them to mind even while he was dealing with severe pressures in his own life.  In essence he was living out his own repeated direction to his brothers and sisters in Christ that we should live to place the needs of others before our own.  (Philippians 2: 3-4) 

Still Quarrying 110 - Light Shining.

I’ve had to get used to not being in Church on the Lord’s Day more particularly since the stem cell transplant when my immunity has been low.  It hasn’t been easy especially when I hear Church bells ringing out in the community.  Now we are all in these strange and, frankly, disturbing circumstances.  We are so restricted that we cannot even go to Church.  I was speaking on the phone recently to someone who lived through the London Blitz. ‘It was terrible,’ she said, ‘But at least we could go to Church.’

It’s a big miss.  How many times has the experience of being with other believers been a strength and a comfort during times of personal challenge.  I’m sure this is what was in the mind of the writer of Hebrews when he wrote: ‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another . . .’ (Hebrews 10: 25)  My father died on a Saturday but I led the worship in St Paul’s on the next day.  There were many reasons why I thought I should but  a minister friend from Northern Ireland summed it up perfectly: ‘There are times when you just feel you need to be with God’s people.‘  

But even above the comfort and strength of God’s people there is the opportunity worship gives to proclaim our great priority in life.  The word comes from the old English word which literally means ‘worth-ship’, the act of proclaiming what is of ultimate worth or value in your life.  This is worship not just as self-help but as an act of witness.   When we step outside our doors on a Sunday it is with a definite purpose in view.  If anyone were to ask where we were going there would be a simple and clear response.  

From this Sunday we are unsure when we will be able to gather again.  It may be quite a while.  But as I was saying in yesterday’s blog we still have the resources that will keep us close to God, especially in this age of high technology.  The stories are legion of Christians imprisoned for their faith, confined in the most brutal conditions, and yet emerged as great examples of faith.  Whatever else had been taken from them they prayed and remembered the eternal promises of God.

It has been suggested by Church leaders throughout the UK that we light a candle in a window at 7 pm tonight as a symbol of God’s presence with us.  Whether you manage to do this or not the message is one we would surely wish to be in the hearts of all our communities: ‘The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has never overcome it.’  (John 1: 5)

Still Quarrying 109 - Inner Space.

I feel blessed in being just a few minutes away from beautiful countryside.   Yesterday Gabrielle and I drove to Killearn and had a walk in the Spring sunshine.  It was good to see others with the same idea breaking out of the ‘self isolation’ that is now an important part of our lives.  We also noticed more cyclists on the road than usual.  My guess is that some would be home workers having a break.

The experience of being hemmed in was familiar to David.  We read time and again in the Psalms of pressure brought to bear on him by enemies, sometimes quite literally restricting his movement.  Psalm 18 speaks of a time like this but God intervened on his behalf and: 

‘He brought me out into a spacious place;

 he rescued me because he delighted in me.’  (v. 19)

Again in Psalm 31 he speaks of a similar experience and he praises God: 

‘You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.’  (v. 8)

We can speak of this in physical terms.  David is once again able to move freely, to break out of the restrictions place on him by those who meant him harm.  But you cannot escape the sense of inner release.  Spiritually he is able to breathe again.  He has been released from the oppression of anxiety and fear.  His inner life has become a ‘spacious place.’  

That kind of inner space will become important for us all in the months ahead.  Every day seems to bring more restrictions on our lives.   Freedoms that we took for granted are having to be given up as the crisis deepens.  That can affect our inner lives.  We will need to create space to breathe in the reality of God.  

People have sometimes spoken of their souls ‘expanding’ as they take in the beauty of creation, listen to sublime music or drawn into a great book or work of art.  Christians have described worship in this way.  As we gather with other believers to pray, listen to the Word and share the Lord’s Supper it seems as if a door is being opened to a deeper reality in Christ.  We are now having to set this aside for the time being but that inner expansion is possible with the resources we still have.  In one of his songs Bob Dylan speaks of feeding his soul with thought.  We can still feed our souls with the Written Word, with prayer, with the voices of faith arising from the world wide Christian community.  All of this is proof against a spiritual shrinkage that could lead to frustration, anxiety and depression.  

This morning I was reading Mark’s account of the Resurrection of Jesus.  It’s not hard to imagine the heaviness of heart experienced by the women as they went to the tomb even apart from the the practical problem of who would roll away the stone.  But then they encountered God’s messenger in the tomb, an experience that took them beyond their sadness and anxiety.  The Word of God breaking in which would later expand their souls:

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”  (Mark 16: 6-7)

It didn’t all come together for them immediately.  Mark describes them in the aftermath of their experience as trembling, bewildered and afraid.   But this would later give way to an assurance that they were now forever in God’s ‘spacious place’ where they could breathe in the reality of His love and power revealed in the Resurrection.  Something they would later  experience  in whatever circumstances threatened to hem them in.  

That can be our experience if we stay close to the promises of God.  I wish for you all ever expanding souls through the Word, prayer and community.

Still Quarrying 108 - National Day Of Prayer And Action

It’s good to see that Church leaders throughout the UK have come together to call for a National Day Of Prayer And Action this coming Sunday.  I was writing yesterday of David’s Godward instinct in the midst of  his troubles.  You can hear the urgency in his words: ‘My heart says of you, “Seek his face”. (Psalm 27: 8)   We can see his face in Jesus who reached out to the sick, comforted the bereaved and in the end gave hope even in the face of death.  It is to this God that we turn in this present crisis, a God who has connected with humankind and who is seeking to redeem the universe from every dark influence.  I am continually drawn to Paul’s vision of Jesus at the end of all things cleansing the universe of every dark influence and handing it over perfect to His Father.  (1 Corinthians 15: 24)   So when we pray for the sick and the bereaved and those who are in the forefront of care we are uniting our hearts with His purpose.

To this end it is also appropriate that the National Day of Prayer And Action should be a time of self-examination.  When Jesus heard about ‘Galileans’ whose slaughter Pilate ordered as they were sacrificing in the Temple he refused to follow the popular notion that the dead were worse sinners than anyone else.  (Luke 13: 2)  But he saw this atrocity as an opportunity for men and women to consider the fragility of their own lives and where they stood with God: ‘. . . unless you repent, you too will all perish.’  (Luke 3: 3)   He sees a recent tragedy in the same way.  Eighteen people died when a tower in Siloam fell on them: 

‘ . . . do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  (Luke 13: 4-5)

That word ‘repent’ is often regarded in a negative way, thundered by near psychotic preachers to terrorize sensitive souls.  But really it’s essential meaning is simply a wholehearted turning to God from ways that are harmful to others and to ourselves.  Jesus uses two catastrophic events to remind people of the end of all human life, that we are all destined to stand before God and what then will be the condition of our inner lives?  Wholeheartedly turned towards Him?  Or otherwise?

I was on the phone yesterday to one of the busiest men I know.  His wife is one of the busiest women I know.  They both agree that this time of cancelled meetings, appointments and journeys has slowed the pace of their lives and enabled them to take stock in a way not possible for many years.  A new sense of appreciation of what really matters has come to them.  

I could say the same about the cancer experience from diagnosis through treatment and now recovery.  You have to slow down, live with yourself, perhaps discovering things that were obscured in the busy-ness of life and need to be changed.  And it doesn’t do any harm to be stripped back spiritually, to feel fragile and exposed,  because that’s when you come to the place where the words of the old song sum up everything within you: ‘Where could I go but to the Lord?‘   And with Him there is forgiveness, renewal, hope and strength to love those who are lovingly caring for you.  

I hope all of this will come together in the National Day Of Prayer And Action.  It will be good to hold others in prayer but also to lay open our lives before God and to seek those changes within ourselves that will make us more consistent citizens of the Kingdom.

Still Quarrying 107 - 'I've got confidence . . .'

I’m back with David this morning in Psalm 27 and again he is up to his ears in trouble.   Things are threatening to get on top of him.  He speaks about ‘evil men’ seeking to devour his flesh, enemies attacking him, armies besieging him.   Circumstances where it would be understandable if he became paralyzed with fear.   But because of his closeness to God David has reason not to fear and to have confidence for the future:

‘Though an army besieged me, my heart will not fear;

  though war break out against me , even then will I be confident.’  (verse 3) 

It’s really all about the strength of his inner life, arising from his relationship with the living God.  It is astonishing that in the midst of life-threatening troubles his one great desire is to keep company with the God he knows and loves.  In Him is the source of David’s security and strength:

‘One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:

 that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

 to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

 he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.‘   (verses 4-5)

This is the great imperative of David’s life summed up in v. 8:

‘My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”

 Your face, Lord, I will seek.‘  

With this in mind the final affirmation of Psalm 27 is understandable:

‘I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.’  (vv. 13-14)  

There is an old Gospel song which has the refrain:

‘I’ve got confidence 

 God is gonna see me through,

 No matter what the case may be

 I know He’s gonna fix it for me.’

It’s very simply put but it’s not that far from the faith of David or indeed that of the Apostle Paul.  Men whose hearts said “Seek His face” and knew a strength beyond their own strength and a peace that passed all human understanding.  Paul was convinced that the love of the God who did not spare His only Son for the good of us all would never be extinguished.  He expected shadows to fall on human experience  but never on God’s love for humankind.  This is the heart of faith.  Knowing this God and trusting Him ‘no matter what the case may be.’  

Still Quarrying 107 - Strength In God.

Much has been written about the Psalms and how they often reflect raw human experience and yet bring a deep sense of assurance in the midst of the worst.  That came home to me afresh this morning as I was reading Psalm 25.  We can’t be sure what exactly David was going through at this time but he is certainly under great pressure.  You get an idea of his inner pain in vv. 16-21:

‘Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.  Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.  See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!  Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.  May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.’

And yet the Psalm is not just about David sharing his pain with us.  He is opening himself up to his God in whom he trusts.  He begins by saying:

‘To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.’  (vv. 1-2)

Despite his troubles he has confidence in the God he knows and has experienced working in  his life.  The God who has revealed His truth, who has guided, who has shown mercy and forgiven, who has given hope and assurance.  

It’s a lesson to me in these bewildering days in which we find ourselves never to allow the weight of trouble to become so heavy that I cannot lift my eyes to the God who has revealed Himself in Jesus.  This morning the radio news was all about issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic, how it is affecting people’s lives at so many levels, how things seem set to become worse.  This is when we need to stay close to the ancient voices of faith like that of David who never denied the reality of God whatever his troubles.  At certain times in David’s story we read that he ‘found strength in the Lord his God.’  (1 Samuel 30: 6)  Whatever personal challenges these times have brought us and whatever priorities we are moved to set nothing is more imperative for God’s people than to follow in David’s way.  

Still Quarrying 106 - 'I know . . .'

I thought by now I would have gathered sufficient strength to be at least planning my return to ministry.  But now there is the Coronavirus which has turned all our lives upside down.  I’m regarded as being in a vulnerable group, one of those with ‘underlying health issues.’  Despite the progress made since the stem cell transplant my immune system is still compromised, all my childhood vaccinations have been wiped out, and therefore in the present circumstances the advice is that I practice some degree of self isolation.  Of course this has an effect on the whole family and I am grateful for everyone’s understanding and patience.  Not least my son Paul whose work as a police officer involves constant engagement with the community and will possibly bring him into contact with some who have been infected.  He has found alternative accommodation for the time being.

We are just one story among so many who will be finding this time to be the most challenging of their lives.  Work threatened, studies disrupted, social contacts lost, finances strained.  All of this apart from the effects on health and life itself.   And in face of this the Christian community is called to preach a message of hope.  

On Sunday I read an article by the historian Simon Heffer who describes himself as ‘overtly godless’ and yet is critical of the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby for his lack of spiritual leadership during the present crisis.  He writes:

‘As deaths rose and coronavirus cases multiplied last week, the Primate of All England, spiritual leader of the Established Church, was notably silent.  Given we were being warned of a possible death toll that would remove a higher proportion of our population than at any time since the Great War, did the Almighty’s Anglican vicar on earth have something to say?  He did not.’  

Whether in response to this or because it was in preparation Justin Welby has joined with John Sentamu, Archbishop of York to produce an article printed in today’s Daily Mail.  In this they call upon the nation to embrace the example of the Good Samaritan and to take every opportunity to care for the most vulnerable.  But they go beyond this and stress the importance of prayer and to remember the hope at the heart of the Gospel that speaks of a Saviour who has known the sorrows of this world, even bereavement and death itself, and has triumphed over them:

‘Where someone is ill, encourage them. Where someone dies, remember that, as the foundation of our faith for over 2,000 years, we have believed that God shared the pains and fears of our lives in Jesus Christ, that He faced death, but overcame it. And He is with the bereaved.’

This is close to the message the apostle Paul preached in the midst of personal suffering and the immanence of death.  He wrote to his friend Timothy:

‘I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.’  (2 Timothy 1: 13)

Paul could face his own personal challenges because of his faith in the God he knew, the God who had revealed Himself in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  To know this God and His love for humankind is to be aware of a hope that can sustain us through the worst of times.  

Still Quarrying 105 - He Reached Out!

Do you remember Hill Street Blues?  It was a popular television series about a police precinct in an unnamed American city.  At the end of morning roll call when Sargent Phil Esterhaus was handing out the day’s duties he would wind up by saying: ‘Let’s be careful out there!‘   It became a catch phrase for anyone working in a community and might be facing challenges.  A friend  of mine who drove a taxi often had it in mind when he set out on a night shift.

It came to my mind when listening to a special television programme on the coronavirus.   It would seem that wherever there are people we have to be careful.  Concerts and sports events are under threat.  In parts of Italy Church services have been cancelled.  At a personal level we are being warned about personal hygiene.  Hands have to washed to two verses of ‘Happy Birthday’; alcohol based hand gel is a must; and we should be wary of touching other people.

There are certain groups that are deemed especially vulnerable not least the elderly and those with underlying health problems.  I suppose that means me - at least in the latter category!  The transplant I underwent has wiped out all my childhood vaccinations.  I’ll have it all done  again eventually but for the time being I’m vulnerable to all kinds of things.  Chickenpox, shingles and flu cold be especially nasty.  And now there is the coronavirus.  

So what do you do?  Well, follow all the advice of course but the worst thing could be the need for isolation.  In the past the message we received from all quarters was that community was something to be desired.  At the moment the message is that we should be wary of it.   Who knows who is behind us in the supermarket queue, beside us at the football match, shaking hands with us in Church.  A few days ago and feeling a bit of cabin fever I thought about going into town to buy a new pair of Doc Martens.  Not a good idea, I was told.  A shoe shop is not a good place to go for a immunodeficient person.   It’s at times like that that you feel the sharpness of restriction.  

I knew a bit about isolation during the transplant and a couple of weeks after discharge.  Confinement is not easy when you are used to being out and about.   There comes a point when the things that usually bring you comfort like books and music and dvds just don’t work.  But as with so many things there is comfort in the Gospels.  

Jesus often reached out to people who were isolated due to ill-health.  There was the woman who had been ‘subject to bleeding for twelve years’.  Because of her condition she was in a constant state of ritual impurity and anyone who touched her would be similarly regarded as impure.  In the community to which she belonged she was not a good person to know.  In touching Jesus, even his clothes, she was taking an enormous risk but Jesus dealt with her kindly and declared her healed.  (Mark 5: 24-34)

Then there were lepers who in many ways were the living dead, cast out from the community, unable to be close to people even in the gatherings for worship in the synagogue.  But Jesus reached out to them, touched them and healed them.  (Mark 1: 40-45)

This is something we should remember about Jesus as He comes to us through the Holy Spirit.  He still has a heart for the isolated and hears our prayers for anyone affected by illness that has placed restrictions on their lives and keeps them enjoying human contact to the full.   We can go deeper with this.  On the cross He knew an isolation that can never be fully appreciated by our finite imagination.  That experience has been taken into the Godhead and those who for any reason feel isolated can be confident of a Companion who sustains and delivers.  

At the end of his life Paul wrote to his friend Timothy about an experience that left him feeling painfully isolated: ‘ . . . everyone deserted me.’  But there was another Presence who endured: ‘But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength . . .’  (2 Timothy 4: 17)  He still reaches out!