Still Quarrying 131 - Emmaus.

Maybe you saw Hylton Murray-Philipson being given a clapping guard of honour by NHS staff as he left Leicester Royal Hospital just over a week ago.  He had spent 12 days in the hospital, 5 of them in intensive care after being diagnosed with Covid-19, and in his own words ‘reduced to the state of a baby.’  

On Good Friday he was interviewed by Nick Robinson on Radio 4’s Today programme.  Because it was Good Friday and because he was following ‘Thought For The Day’ Hylton thought it was appropriate to mention that when he was at his lowest in intensive care he had a powerful image of Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee.  He said: ‘I like to think that was Jesus Christ coming to me and helping me in my time of need.’  

Nick was obviously a bit wrong footed by this and suggested that in all likelihood this was because of the heavy drugs he had been given.  ‘(It) plays tricks with the mind, doesn’t it really?’ he said.  Nick himself is something of an inspirational figure having come through oesophageal cancer but unfortunately is no stranger to this kind of careless comment.  Whatever his own personal views and whatever sustained him in his time of need more respect could have been shown to another’s experience.  

That experience is what I would call an Emmaus encounter. (Luke 24: 13-35)  It has been pointed out that nobody quite knows where Emmaus was but so what?  It could be anywhere around Jerusalem and the experience could be anywhere in the world.  Two followers of Jesus were coming from Jerusalem disappointed by Jesus’ death and bewildered by reports of the empty tomb.  They are joined by a mysterious stranger who turns their minds to Scripture and shows them that everything that happened was according to God’s purpose.  Later when they realised the stranger was Jesus they spoke of what it was like listening to Him:

‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened up the Scriptures to us?’  (Luke 24: 32)

Perhaps none of us can expect an Emmaus encounter exactly like this but Christians like Hylton do know what it’s like to feel their hearts warmed with the assurance of Christ’s presence with them.  Mary Magdalene knew it in the midst of her grief outside the tomb; Jesus disciples knew it in a locked room in Jerusalem;  the disciples knew it later as they worked unsuccessfully at their nets; Peter knew it as the Risen Lord probed his inner being and was given assurance for the future.

I prickle a bit when I hear Christians speak about ‘thin places’, locations where the presence of Christ can be especially experienced.  He is risen in the noisiest place as well as the quietest, in the hospital ward as well as the cathedral, in the high rise flat as well as the highest mountain.  When Auschwitz was liberated an image of Christ was found on the wall of one of the cells.  Later it was discovered that one of the prisoners had gouged it out with his fingernails.  It is painful to think of that.  But it was surely done in the faith that the Christ of the empty tomb was present even in that worst of places.  That is the message of Easter.  Christ is risen not just in the controlled atmosphere of a Church or the majestic sweep of a landscape.  The light from the tomb scattered the darkness of the cross and challenges us to believe with Paul that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8: 39)

Still Quarrying 130 - Easter Morning: Peace.

It has been a bind not being able to stray beyond the bounds of the garden.  Another letter was received yesterday from the Scottish Government reminding me of my vulnerability during these days of Covid-19.  And yet it was good to be out in the garden early this morning to breathe the freshness of the air, to see the brightness of the daffodils and to hear the comforting birdsong.  A confined space and yet so much evidence of life.

I was reminded that first evidence of the Resurrection was in a garden.  Mary Magdalene still carrying the grief of Jesus’ death and the confusion of finding His tomb empty has her name spoken by a man she thinks is the gardener.  In that moment she recognises the voice of Jesus.   In the place where she expected only to acknowledge His death she finds Him alive.  

When Easter comes round preachers want to be at their best.   In all the words I may have spoken on all the Easters I have lived through I find myself praying today that something of the Risen Lord has been experienced and that His voice has spoken to hearts in need.   In the garden I prayed in this way for all those who are confined, that their inner life will be expanded by the reality of Christ risen from the dead.   As a believer I know about the Resurrection.  This morning my greatest need along with so many others is to experience the Resurrection.  

In the evening of the first Easter Jesus appeared to His disciples who were in lockdown in a room in Jerusalem.  They had heard reports of the empty tomb.  They were soon to experience the reality.  Despite the doors being locked Jesus ‘stood among them’.  His message to them was ‘Peace be with you.’  (John 20: 21)

There is nothing more I hope for this Easter morning than a sense of His peace.  The peace of knowing sins forgiven; the peace of knowing the strength of His presence; the peace of being assured that all things work to the good of those who love Him; the peace of being assured that He has gone through death to the eternal world to prepare a place for His people.  

The prayer uppermost in my soul on this Easter morning is for all those in lockdown that the same voice heard 2,000 years ago in a room of anxious and baffled men will be heard by them and that they experience His peace.

Still Quarrying 129 - Holy Week: Silence.

We’ve become used to the quietness where we stay, especially in the mornings.  So two days ago it was a bit of a shock to hear the screeching of machinery just outside our garden.  Two men were digging a hole in the pavement.  Something to do with phone lines.  Well, life is going on for many people through these strange and bewildering times.  Things break down and need to be sorted.  I’ve sometimes thought about the people we need when things go wrong with white goods or plumbing or gas/electricity supply.  Are they still out there?  The men with their noisy machinery were strangely reassuring.  

The day after Jesus’ crucifixion would be a day of silence for any who were observant Jews.  It was the Sabbath when the noise of work would be stilled unless absolutely necessary.  That’s one of the reasons why this day in Holy Week is traditionally called the Day of Silence.  But it goes deeper than that.  It was a world without Jesus.  He lay wrapped in grave clothes in a rich man’s tomb.  God, it seemed, had nothing more to say through Him.  Certainly His followers had nothing more to say about Him.  It was all over.  The Kingdom had not come.  

There are legends surrounding this day.  It has been suggested that Jesus descended to the place of the dead and brought salvation to all believers who were there since the beginning of time.   I prefer to think of Jesus as the Gospels present Him on this day.  Dead.  This makes the Incarnation and his identification with humankind complete.  This is the end we all share.  We cannot escape this one absolute.  That is something we can all agree on whether people of faith or not.  We will all die.  

However, into the midst of this reflection comes the words of an old hymn:

‘Be still my soul: the Lord is on thy side;

 Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

 Leave to thy God to order and provide

 In every change he faithful will remain.

 Be still my soul: thy best, they heavenly Friend

 Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.’  

The worst of experiences may overwhelm us but within ourselves we have the promises of God which bring ‘strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.‘   Beneath the silence of this day in Holy Week God was working out His purpose.  Jesus was dead but His work was not complete.  Easter morning would show that God’s purpose moves forward through suffering and even death to bring the ultimate hope to the world.  

A verse of Scripture I often read at funerals comes from Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost:

‘God raised (Jesus) from the dead freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.’ (Acts 2: 24)

Jesus was held by death but God freed Him from that cold grip.  That was always the plan and nothing would stop it unfolding.  And the good news for us all is that if it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus then it is impossible for death to keep its hold on those who trust Him.  That was at the heart of Paul’s faith: 

‘We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.’  (1 Thessalonians 4: 14)

More than any other this is a day to reflect on our vulnerability but to set beside that the hope that comes to us in the promises of Jesus.  

Still Quarrying 128 - Holy Week: Forgiveness.

It was Good Friday some years ago.  I was in the car on my way to take part in the Three Hours Devotion at Glasgow Cathedral.  On the radio there was a special meditation for Good Friday, an angel’s perspective on the last week of Jesus’ life on earth.  When it came to Jesus’ death she said that this was the saddest day of all for the angels not just because of Jesus’ agony and death but because from that day He would always be closer to human beings than to them.  

I have never discovered who wrote this piece but it’s one of those things that seem to have taken root in my mind.  There is truth in this.  If anything shows that God is on our side then it is the crucifixion of Jesus.  You would never expect there to be a message from God in the spectacle of His Son slowly dying in agony and yet in the end this was the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for us.  In this there there was an assurance that there is no suffering we go through that He has not experienced.  He is eternally connected to our pain, mental and physical, even our spiritual pain.  Surely there is no more gut-wrenching moment in the entire literature of the world when Jesus cries: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?‘  There was disturbance in the Godhead in that moment.  Jesus experiencing the loss of God.  

Then there is the death itself.  Charles Wesley’s hymn says: ‘This mystery all!  The Immortal dies.‘   Jesus actually died.  Luke highlights this:

‘Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.’  (Luke 23: 46)

It’s customary in some Christian traditions that when this is read in worship there is a pause for a moment of silence.   The only reasonable response to deep mystery.  

So with this divine identification with the human condition we can understand if there was sadness among the angels.  The Son is now closer to us.  But I would want to take this further.  Surely the sadness would give way to celebration when the angels grasped the meaning of His death.  In his teaching in Luke 15 Jesus repeatedly makes the point that there is rejoicing in heaven ‘in the presence of the angels of God’ over one sinner who repents.  The angels don’t seem to have any problem with the population of the Kingdom being increased as hearts are turned to God.  It is Jesus’ death that makes this possible for men and women now:

‘He died that we might be forgiven,

 He died to make us good,

 That we might go at last to heaven

 Saved by His precious blood.’ 

Again turning to Luke, he tells us that one of the criminals crucified with Jesus turned to him with the plea:

‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’

And Jesus reply:

‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’  (Luke 23: 42-43)

That is the promise for all those who are drawn to Calvary, the place where a fundamental change is made to human existence.  There we learn that God is with us in darkness as well as light, pain as well as pleasure, failure as well as achievement.  There we learn that God has made provision for the darkness in our inner being to be dispelled.  There we learn that through the death of His Son He draws us nearer to Himself and by His grace makes us fit for His Kingdom.

‘This the power of the Cross.

 Christ became sin for us.

 Took the blame, bore the wrath.

 We stand forgiven at the Cross.’

Still Quarrying 127 - Holy Week: Remembrance.

Christians of all traditions are missing the sacraments at this time.  It is a big gap in our devotional lives.  We can listen to sermons online and even pray together but how is it possible to celebrate Baptism and the Lord’s Supper?  Ingenious suggestions have been made, some not very seriously, but in the end it is really not possible given the restrictions placed upon us.  

We especially remember the Lord’s Supper on this day in Holy Week when at the Passover table Jesus broke bread and shared wine and called upon His disciples to continue doing this to remember Him.  He was reinterpreting important Passover symbols.   The bread was His body.  The cup of wine the New Covenant in His blood.  ‘Whenever you eat the bread and share the wine remember me.’  

It is the only act of worship that Jesus commanded and its importance is seen in the instructions Paul received as to its administration from Jesus Himself.  The worship in Corinth was a mess.  Paul suggested that the Church would be as well not meeting together ‘for your meetings do more harm than good.’  You can read all about it in 1 Corinthians 11.  But into these circumstances Paul brought the words of Jesus Himself.   Remember, apostles received special revelation from the Risen and Ascended Lord and Paul was able less to give advice as to reveal the will of the Lord:

‘For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,  and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’  (1 Corinthians 11: 23-26)

It all seems so simple and yet tragically this one act of worship commanded by Jesus and which should unite us more than any other is still a focus of division among Christians.  And it really is not on for one tradition to point the finger at another as the source of the problem. Even within traditions people are not happy unless the Lord’s Supper is dispensed in a way they think appropriate.  But the Corinthian experience, focussing on setting right what is wrong, is an encouragement for us to believe that things can change.  

Getting back to the simplicity of it all.  The heart of the Lord’s Supper however it is celebrated can be summed up in a hymn I once heard which had as a refrain:

‘All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you.’

This should be uppermost in our minds whenever we eat the bread and share the wine.  As Paul would say in this we proclaim the Lord’s death and that death was for each of us.  The next time you take the bread and wine into your hands, and I pray it will be soon, remember Him as loving you from all eternity.  

Still Quarrying 126 - Holy Week: Betrayal.

We will be watching The Trouble With Maggie Cole tonight.   For the past few weeks it has been one of our televisual priorities.  The trouble with the Maggie in the title is that she gave an interview on radio about life in the village where she lived.  Fueled by a couple of glasses of white wine she made unflattering and in some cases libelous remarks about a number of local characters.  These subsequently appeared in a national newspaper and Maggie became something of a community pariah.  Since then she has tried to put things right with those she placed in a dubious light.  This has been largely successful with everyone except the Deputy Head of the local primary school who hitherto has been her best friend.  At this point in the series they remain unreconciled but we’ll see what happens tonight.

It often happens like this.  When those with whom we have the closest of relationships let us down we find it so hard to take.  It was an experience known to David.  When he was going through a time of sickness and slander, when apparently concerned friends were visiting him and then spreading fake news of him, he finds amongst them his closest friend:

‘Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.’  (Psalm 41: 9)

Again, when David is under pressure from enemies there is no encouragement from someone he has come to depend on:

‘If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide.  But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,  with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.’  (Psalm 55: 12-14)

Christian eyes have looked on these passages and made a connection with Jesus’ experience of betrayal.  Wednesday in Holy Week has been traditionally associated with the beginning of Judas Iscariot’s plans to betray Jesus.  The Gospels tell us of his meeting with the Chief Priests to whom he reveals his willingness to hand Jesus over to them for a price.  

There have been many attempts to mitigate Judas’ actions.  Some have suggested that like the other apostles Judas believed that Jesus was about to bring in the Kingdom of God, that the Messiah was about to act decisively in favour of Israel.  In placing Jesus into the hands of his enemies Judas thought he would bring matters to a head, forcing Jesus to act.  There is, of course, no evidence of this and we have to set alongside any attempt to enter the psychology of Judas Luke’s statement that he was motivated by Satan.  (Luke 22: 3).  

What has weighed heavily with me from time to time is that until the moment of betrayal Judas does not seem to have been much different from any of the other apostles.  Jesus sent them out to preach the good news, to heal the sick and cast out demons.  Judas was part of those missions.  So perhaps on this day in Holy Week, as well as mourning the pain of betrayal that would fall upon Jesus, we should be aware of the dark impulses in our lives that can lead to actions that would make us seem more the enemies of Jesus than His friends.  

Still Quarrying 125 - Holy Week: Conflict.

On Saturday I received a nine page letter from the Scottish Government.  It identified me as ‘someone at risk of severe illness’ if I catch Covid-19.   This is due to my underlying health condition.  There is much helpful lifestyle advice in the letter but it was a bit of a shock to be told that I should not go out at all, not even for that one walk a day.  If need be I should walk in the garden or perhaps just sit on my doorstep and enjoy the view.   I have to say that my first response was to think that this was a bit much and maybe my early morning jaunt with Gabrielle could still be risked.  But then came a call on Monday from my local Surgery.  This was to make sure that I understood the letter and that regrettably I had to observe complete isolation.  

The letter was signed by the Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood.  The day after it was delivered came the revelation that Dr Calderwood had not been observing her own directions to the nation with regard to living through and overcoming Covid-19.  This eventually led to her resignation.  Somebody has summed up the First Minister’s statement in the wake of the the resignation: the messenger had to go but the message remains.  The CMO had fallen short but the relevance and the urgency of the message must not be forgotten.

The whole business underlines the challenges faced by those of us who seek to communicate high standards of conduct which we believe should be embraced by others.  How do our lives measure up?  The message may be good.  If we are talking about the Gospel then we have there ‘the greatest truths anybody could ever stumble upon.’  But what about the messenger?  How can we dare to commend standards of conduct which we know within ourselves tax us to the limit?

Maybe you know what it’s like to read a passage of Scripture which causes you to look within yourself and you realise that living this out is as far away from you as flying to the moon?  Spare a thought and a prayer for those of us who go through that experience but yet have the calling to present a congregation of God’s people with what has been gathered in the Word.

Tuesday in Holy Week is traditionally regarded as the Day of Conflict, Jesus teaching in the Temple and coming up against the opposition of the religious establishment.  This is where we really see the dark side of Jesus’ teaching, making it plain to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees that though they might be well versed in the ancient Scriptures they really don’t shape up when it comes to living according to God’s will.  They are denounced as ‘white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.‘   Jesus goes on:

‘In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.’  (Matthew 23: 28)

Rewind to the beginning of Matthew 23 and you discover that Jesus has no quarrel with what they teach.  The problem is the Word has not made sufficient impact on their lives to shape attitudes and priorities:

‘Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:  “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.’ (Verses 1-4)

Again I ask, how can anyone dare to preach the Word of God when like all humanity we are prone to fall?  In engaging in conflict with the religious establishment of His day Jesus is revealing the conflict within all Christians whether they are preachers or not.  We take our stand on the most important message that can ever be heard by human ears but how do our lives reflect the message?  Yet this is the way Jesus has planned it.  When He launched His great mission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 16-20) He sent out people like you and me who were imperfect, made mistakes, were subject to many of the shortcomings that unsettle our inner lives.  But these were the people He called to build His Church.  In the end, it is only Jesus who is the perfect example of Gospel values.  

So we are His people in these strange and bewildering days, inwardly conflicted at times perhaps, but Paul the Apostle knew what that was like and still remained convinced that within the fragile jars of clay that are our lives we hold a treasure that enables us to be witnesses of His truth.  (2 Corinthians 4: 7)  

Let’s get back to that passage of Scripture that has really got under your skin.  Maybe it’s 1 Corinthians 13 and the qualities of Christian love.  You see that you fall short of this so what is your response?  If you are a preacher you might think it’s time to pack it in lamenting this impossible job you have been given.  But if the Word is having this impact on you, revealing what needs to be changed,  then the way forward is to trust that this Word will have the same effect on those who will gather to listen.  This is how a preacher holds on to his/her role with integrity.  We are not ‘better’ than anyone else.  We are part of a community seeking to be closer to God and to live according to His ways.  Within this community we have a role to keep before our brothers and sisters the eternal truths as we have experienced them.  

In my BB days I went on a 26 mile sponsored walk.  I had only a vague idea where we were going but we had an officer who had studied the map and was able to keep us on track.  He didn’t do this by radio or in a car.  He was walking the way with us, told us where to turn, when to stop, when we were coming up to a difficult bit.  That’s like the preacher.  He/she is part of a community which is seeking to live closer to God and to be His witnesses.  His/her role is to study the map and keep the route before his/her brothers and sisters in the faith.

Each of us lives with inner lives that know conflict.  In the end we need to trust that God knew what He was doing when he called us to serve and He will sustain us in the work He has given each of us to do.