Still Quarrying: A Day Of Silence?

 

We call it Holy Week but for most parishes in the Church of Scotland it is Holy Two Days: Thursday when the Lord's Supper was instituted and Friday when the death of Jesus is commemorated.  Saturday is ignored.  Even those churches which have a programme of special services throughout Holy Week do nothing on Saturday.  This is deemed appropriate by some.  Apart from Matthew’s sparse account nothing is said about the day when Jesus lay dead in the tomb.    And so Saturday in Holy Week has taken on the name, the Day Of Silence. But do we have to leave it at that?   

Alan Lewis taught theology in New College, Edinburgh before moving to Austin Theological Seminary in Texas.  His major printed work is an examination of Holy Saturday and its significance.  My copy of his book ‘Between Cross and Resurrection’ covers 477 pages and draws on a wide range of sources throughout Christian history.  So there really is no need to be silent about Holy Saturday.  

Think about it.  Jesus was dead.  All His vial functions were stretched to their limit until they gave out.  Of course, this happens to every man and woman, but this is Jesus, the Son of God, who existed with the Father from  all creation.  Charles Wesley draws us all in when he has us sing:

‘Tis mystery all: the Immortal dies!

Who can explore his strange design?’

 

Wesley goes on to comfort us by saying that even the angels can’t work it out!  But it is still worth our reflection.  What does it mean to us that Jesus died?

Alan Lewis says in the Prologue of his book: 

‘The non-event of the second day could after all be a significant zero, a pregnant emptiness, a silent nothing which says everything.’  

It takes all those pages in his book as he tries to work it out. Which makes me wonder what I can possibly add. Certainly, I have tried over the years whenever I have taken a service on Holy Saturday to ‘sound the depths.’ But in the end, there is one thought that echoes in my soul: Jesus died.  As all of us must do.  In His humanity he identified with us to that extent.  He shared our flesh and our psychology and like us, at a certain point, He was subject to death.  But let’s get back to Alan Lewis’ words.  Jesus’ death may well be thought of as a ‘zero’, an ‘emptiness’, a ‘silent nothing’.  But it is a ‘significant zero’, a ‘pregnant emptiness’, ‘a silent nothing which says everything.’ 

There has been much imaginative speculation about Jesus’ experience between the Cross and the Resurrection.  It’s most helpful to ne, however, to simply acknowledge that He was dead.  And in that He shared our humanity to the end.   But that death accomplished so much that is in any way significant to humanity.  Dietrich Boenhoffer said it all as he approached his execution: 

‘This is the end.  For me, the beginning of life.’

When Alan Lewis was researching what would become his book on Holy Saturday he was diagnosed with cancer in 1987.  It finally overwhelmed him in 1994.  In the final chapter he gives an account of how, in effect, he was living out the truths at the heart of his work.  Reflecting on the diversity but ultimate togetherness within humanity he writes:

‘. . . our single human nature was raised to wholeness and new possibilities from the one grave wherein it lay on Easter Saturday.’

Still Quarrying: Ten Thousand Places.

I have a thing about kingfishers.  Kingfisher curtains in my wee study, kingfisher print on a house wall, kingfisher ornaments.  I don't try to analyse it too much but the shape, the colour, the flight, it all just seems to come together and make a deep impression on me.  Not  to mention the thought that this is just one more evidence of God's Goodness to us in Creation.

Yet in all my seventy  years of life I have only actually seen one kingfisher in flight.  I was walking on the bank of the Forth and Clyde canal with Gabrielle and one flashed across the surface of the water, brightening up an otherwise overcast morning.  Just one sight of a favourite living creature but the impact has lasted with me and, please God, will last forever. 

Gerard Manley Hopkins touches on this in his poem: As kingfishers catch fire . . .’    The things we hear, touch and see have the power to touch us in the depths because they all come from God.  Those great lines:

‘For Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men’s faces.’  

So, it’s not surprising that even a brief glimpse of something beautiful can stay with you forever.  This is Christ playing out in ten thousand places!  Even more so when the Word who was there in the beginning speaks clearly to you and draws you close to His heart, perhaps for the first time.  Or perhaps with a word of assurance when live is hard and challenging to faith.  Or when He strikes you with a truth hitherto not completely understood.

In the long run of things these are moments, drops in time, but in Christ  they are eternal.  ‘As kingfishers catch fire’ and touch the heart of one man forever so, as the apostle Peter would say, the Word is a seed eternally planted.

Sitting It Out In Faith.

My daughter-in-law Mary was at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday evening.  She works for the BBC and the reception was for Regional Media in the presence of the King and Queen.   

Next day it was announced that the King has cancelled future appointments due to side-effects from his chemotherapy.  It is not unusual for people to function normally when undergoing some forms of cancer treatment, but the time may come when the weight of these very powerful drugs begins to take its toll.  They may be working well as far as the doctors are concerned but there is a price to be paid.  

Basically, poisons are being introduced into your body to combat the spread of the cancer.  The term ‘chemical warfare’ is not inappropriate.  Todd Billings, mentioned in my previous blog, discovered that the chemotherapy he was given prior to his stem cell transplant was a derivative of mustard gas which was used as a weapon in World War 1. (I should say that I don’t know if this was the chemotherapy used in my stem cell transplant, although something equally powerful would be used.) So, negative side effects are not surprising: nausea, hair loss, deep fatigue, bowel problems, mood swings – the list is long.  At its worst the only option for the patient is to sit it out. 

These days it is common to hear of a high-profile person’s cancer experience, but I can’t recall anyone specifically citing side-effects of chemotherapy as a reason for a withdrawal from work or duty.  This is another advantage in knowing what is going on with the King, not to mention the Princess of Wales.  They have not held back in talking about the bad days which have to be endured if their cancer is to be cured or steered into remission. 

There have been times when my heart sinks when the nurse hooks me up to my chemotherapy and I think of the slow days that lie ahead.  But if we truly wish to connect with Christ in his life, death and resurrection then the worst of times must be gone through as well as the best. 

In Philippians 4: 10-13 Paul meditates on the nature of life, its ups and downs, and says that he has learned to be content in every circumstance and the reason?  ‘I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.’  

It’s not always easy.  As I type I can feel a ‘brain fog’ coming down.  But a big part of faith is believing in the promises.  

Rejoicing in Lament

There is a lot to be said for Springtime.   And poets and other writers have said it far better than I ever could.  There is more light – that’s for certain.  And it’s warmer – at least that’s the theory!  And whatever the weather, through cold, rain, wind and sometimes even snow there is growth.  A walk through our local park these days is a joy.  The crocuses are out in vast array and the daffodils are not only appearing in gardens but for sale in every supermarket.  

Along with Springtime is the season of Lent.  Usually associated in people’s minds with giving something up.  So, smoke less, drink less, eat less.  But in the best of Christian tradition, it is regarded as a time for self-examination and a reaching towards a more Christ centred life, a becoming more like Him.  Some will say that should be a constant aspiration.  I agree.  But sometimes we need reminding of the great purpose God has in our lives and if Lent serves in that purpose, it is to be valued.  If all around us speaks of growth what areas of our lives are blocking our growth towards Christlikeness? 

It's fair to say that a strict observance of the Christian year is something that not everyone in the Reformed tradition has been comfortable with.  Happy to observe Christmas and Easter but let’s leave it at that.  However, in the parish Church in which I was brought up it went beyond that.  Holy Week was observed with a 15-minute service at 7.45 am every morning, an evening service often with a guest preacher, and a 6 am sunrise service on Easter morning.  

Every parish Church in which I trained as a student had Holy Week services, although usually only in the evening.   Glasgow Cathedral where I was Assistant went further with a Three-Hour Devotion on Good Friday.  This took place from 12 noon until 3pm with seven preachers each focussing on one of Jesus’ sayings from the Cross.  There were prayers and hymns between each preaching which enabled people to come and go. 

So, I always look forward to this time of year.  Devotionally I find it helpful to focus on the Cross and what that means to individual believers like me.  Often, I will have a book on the go to help in that direction.  This year it’s a book I have already read twice!  It’s called ‘Rejoicing in Lament’ by J. Todd Billings.  It’s the sub-title that really caught my eye: ‘Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ.’  The incurable cancer Todd suffers from is Multiple Myeloma, and that is what I have been wrestling with for the last 6 years: treatment, stem cell transplant, more treatment until today when I am anticipating a change in treatment to combat an advance in the disease.

It is often said that it’s good to know someone who has been through the same bad experiences as yourself.  But when that bad experience is a rare blood cancer, incurable, the writer still suffering, then it strikes at a deep level.  Todd is coming from a background of studying and teaching theology and brings all of this to address the issues faced by Christians who are going through their worst of times.   

There is a story how I came in touch with Todd’s book, and I regard it as one of the blessings of the past few years.  It’s a book which flows from the heart of a companion: same condition, same treatment, same side-effects.  But he has gone through it all in the faith that however it ends, the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus is the cure for all our suffering.

The season of Lent brings the same encouragement but at a deeper level.  We are assured that however life falls for us we have a Companion, born as one of us, knowing sorrow and suffering, but who has taken all His earthly experience back to heaven, and draws near to us in compassion and hope.  

Still Quarrying: God On Our Side?

A letter appeared in The Times last Saturday with the headline ‘Trump and God’:

 

Sir, Donald Trump says that he survived the assassination attempt because God was on his side.  One can only wonder what he thinks God had against Corey Comperatore, the man who was killed.

 

                                                                    Ron Jacobs, Farnham, Surrey.

 

It’s one of those questions which in the end will have to be consigned to that file marked ‘mystery’.  And that to many people would be the eternal Christian cop-out.  We can’t give a straight answer to the question so we retreat into that area which may be satisfying for us but doesn’t begin to address the problem raised by the challenger.   So why wander into this area that can only lead to a dead-end?  The fact is that Mr Jacobs’ letter highlights part of the problem that holds people back from faith. Christians present God as all-knowing, all-powerful, all loving in His management of the Universe He has created.  But there are too many inconsistences, contradictions and challenges to reason in this that could lead anyone to believe that He is managing the Universe well.  

 

I do not have the answer to the question, but I believe that it is a discussion worth having.  Let’s start with Donald Trump and his belief that his survival from the assassin’s bullet is evidence of divine intervention and, moreover, indicates that God is on his side.  Let’s be clear, it was a remarkable survival.  The more you see the video footage the more you realise he was a fraction of an inch away from death.  But can this truly be taken as evidence of God’s particular favour to Donald Trump?  

 

On of the Psalmist’s struggles with God is that he apparently blesses the lives of the ‘wicked’.  This is expressed in Psalm 73:

They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.

They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. (vv. 4-5)

 

Compare this to the experience of the man who seeks to live according to God’s ways:

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.

All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. (vv. 13-14)

 

Eventually in the Temple the Psalmist has an experience of God which reassures him of His presence and His justice.  The point being that a pain free, problem free life is not necessarily a mark of God’s favour.  Even when it comes to remarkable deliverance from danger and death.  History shows that the worst of rulers have not fallen when attempts have been made on their lives.  So, Trump should be careful when claiming that God is on his side - as anyone should in making this claim.

 

I am grateful to blogger Moses Falco in drawing my attention to an encounter Joshua had with a celestial being before the battle for Jericho:

 

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.  Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’  ‘Neither’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’  The commander of the Lord’s army replied, ‘Take of your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’  And Joshua did so.  (Joshua 5: 13-15)

 

The message is when we think of God, we should never think of him taking sides.  Our first response is always to worship Him and bow to His will.  Which side are we on?

 

A word about Corey Comperatore.  He was killed while seeking to shield his family from the assassin’s bullets.  At the heart of the story of Jesus there is sacrifice, the ultimate expression of God’s love for humankind: ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only son . . .’ (John 3: 16).  Those who follow Jesus are called to follow in his steps and consider others to be more important that themselves.  (1 Peter 2: 21).   In other words, to live sacrificial lives.  Jesus said: ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ (John 15: 13)

 

We have seen this in Corey Comperatore.  Sacrifice is the supreme expression of true humanity.   Corey made no claims for himself but acted in a way that is in line with God’s will for His people.

 

I started with ‘mystery’ and there it must end.  But when the God I worship is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus I reckon it to be worthwhile hanging on in faith with all my questions and inadequate understanding.  A friend who has struggled with chronic illness for many years recently shared this prayer on Facebook:

 

‘God, I have no idea what you are doing, but I trust you.’  

Still Quarrying: Go Deep!

 Let’s get one thing straight: I have never warmed to Donald Trump.  Which is a polite way of saying I don’t like him, his style, what he stands for. This has led me to think and say things about him that I have believed are justified, placing them in the category of ’righteous anger’.  But somehow those words and the thoughts and feelings that gave them birth don’t leave me feeling good about myself.  

It's what goes on in a person’s inner life that Jesus is mostly concerned about in that block of teaching that has come to be known as ‘The Sermon on the Mount’.  I have heard this described as ‘a blueprint for living.’  The world would be a better place if we put the Sermon on the Mount into practise. What is often missed is that the qualities and standards of Jesus’ teaching can only become a reality in the lives of men and women by the grace of God.  What is emphasised in Jesus’ teaching is the inner life, and this can only be transformed towards His qualities and standards, indeed His likeness, by the influence of the Holy Spirit.  

Jesus says:

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’

 

 “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell”. (Matthew 5: 21-22)

 

He is not seeking to enter the endless debates of his time as to the exact meaning of the sixth commandment.  He is calling people back to the original intention of the Jewish Law which is the inner transformation of men and women such that they walk closer to God and are mindful of those who share their progress through life.  Jesus cuts through the debates and exposes the core purpose of the Law: ‘Love God and love your neighbour.’  

 

What is startling about this teaching is that it leaves no room for surface politeness and phony tolerance in relation to others.  What do we really feel?  It is our inner being which matters.  It is there that the anger, curses and contempt boil and erupt in harmful words, broken relationships and sometimes physical harm.   Jesus said:

 

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of ther evil stored up in his heart.  For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”  (Luke 6: 45)

 

We cannot escape Jesus’ declaration that there is such a thing as spiritual murder.  

 

Which brings me back to Donald Trump.  I have never met him.  He has never said or done anything to harm me personally.  But he has stirred up negative thoughts and feelings within me that lead me to Jesus’ teaching and the inescapable challenge of spiritual murder.  Those thoughts and feelings, how are they regarded from the standpoint of eternity?  Am I any better than the would-be assassin? I am clear that there is such a thing as ‘righteous anger’ when directed against exploitation, torture, slavery and anything else that deepens the darkness in the world.  But too often that ‘righteous anger’ has been an excuse, leading to no good for the victims, doing nothing to bring the perpetrators to account, settling in my inner being as the luxury of the armchair pundit.  

 

The way forward when faced with someone whose views and attitudes we deplore is not just to shout at the wireless or the television which in the end changes nothing.  Be sure of what is wrong in what he/she stands for, argue your case, work and pray to perceive what is right and just from the standpoint of eternity.  Remember, followers of Jesus are called to go deep.  

Still Quarrying: Divided Heart.

 To the movies on Saturday to see ‘Back to Black’, the Amy Winehouse biopic. I didn’t go with any great knowledge of her life or music but was drawn to the story, albeit one that is all too familiar of a life ruined, and talent wasted.  She was only 27 when she died of alcohol poisoning after a significant period of sobriety.  

One of the most poignant aspects of the movie is Amy’s relationship with her grandmother who Amy describes as ‘my icon in everything.’  Like her, Amy has a deep yearning for a family of her own and there are several moments when Amy interacts with children with interest and tenderness.  And yet along with this is the ever-present pull towards drugs and alcohol which in effect renders family life beyond her.  

Amy’s was a lifestyle most people would revolt against and yet this divided life between the best of aspirations and dark reality is something we all have to live with to some extent.  It is life’s greatest challenge to be what we want to be.   The Psalmist prays intensely:

‘Teach me your way, Lord, 

that I may rely on your faithfulness.

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.’   (Psalm 86: 11)  

  

An ‘undivided heart’ that lives entirely according to the way of God. Not according to the darker impulses that lead in another direction.   This diversion was something that the Apostle Paul felt very powerfully even after his most dramatic conversion.  It showed itself in his awareness of the goodness in the Law of God but also in his inability to put it into practise.  Despite the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life, he still possess a ‘sinful nature’, broken, and still with a tendency to work against ‘the way of God’.  

In Romans 7: 14- 20 Paul speaks in anguish of his awareness of what is good and his inability to put it into practise:

‘I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do but what I hate I do.’  (v. 15).  

And:

‘For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing . . .” (vv. 18-19) 

Paul ends up by saying there is a kind of Civil War going on within his ‘inner being’ that too often he loses.  His desperate need is to be taken out of this deadly conflict and that is only possible through Christ the Deliverer who through His  grace grants forgiveness and through His Spirit provides the strength to overcome.   Listen to Paul’s cry:

‘What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!’  (vv. 24-25)

It has been my privilege through the years to know men and women who have known the horrors of addiction, destructive of themselves and important relationships, but have come to know the power of the Deliverer.  The struggles may have continued even to the extent of what addicts call a ‘fall’ but in their renewed life, like Paul, they were able to cry out to the Deliverer and to know His strength and His peace. And in sharing his personal Civil War Paul has given us all hope that as we deal with our own compulsive behaviours, in the Holy Spirit there is a way through.