Single Minded

‘What you get is what is written on the tin.’  That’s a popular phrase that is used to describe a person who has no side, is completely straightforward, is open and honest, whose face will never belie what he really is.  In the wake of the recent horse meat scandal that phrase might need to be revised or even abandoned.  We will be forever reminded that what is written on the tin or the packet is not necessarily what is inside.  

It doesn’t really matter if the meat that shouldn’t have been there is not harmful to anyone.  What was written on the outside did not deliver what was promised.  Mind you, there will always be people for whom the phrase is entirely appropriate.  What you see is what you get - by and large.  It is not given to anyone to be absolutely consistent with everything that is professed and every high aspiration that is pursued.  The apostle James realised that this could be a problem with Christians.  He appeals to the ‘double-minded‘ in the Church:  ‘Come near to God and he will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts . . .‘  (James 4: 8)  Whom else could he be targeting but those who have a high calling in Christ but are failing to live up to it?  The writing on the tin which hides a different, darker reality.

In this season of Lent the story of Jesus’ temptations is very much to the fore.  Here we see an attempt by the Devil to create a division in Jesus’ soul so that the One who has come to be Savior of the world becomes something less than his calling.  What has been written in the ancient Scriptures of Israel is that He should save the world through His sacrifice and rising again.  What the Devil wants is that He should subtly miss the mark, perhaps doing some good, but ultimately failing to deal with the sin and death which had driven a wedge between God and humankind.  Feeding the hungry, performing spectacular miracles, bringing the political powers of the world under His control.  What could be wrong with this?  But when the hungry are fed they may have no room for God; when people have stopped gaping at one miracle they will not be satisfied until they have seen another and another; and no law has ever ensured trust in God.  

Jesus had to be Himself, completely faithful to His calling.  The core problem of humanity had to be addressed and that required a Suffering Saviour who would pay the price of the world’s sin.  Jesus will never be anything else: ‘For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’  (Mark 10: 45).  With Jesus what you get is what is written in the Gospels.  Our Christian journey begins in earnest when we accept Him as He is, our Saviour who has promised by Word and Spirit to lead us in His ways and to create a blessed consistency in what we profess and what we are.  That must surely be one of our highest aspirations in the Season of Lent.     

Artificial Compassion?

Professor Noel Sharkey is a world authority on robots.  His fascination with what has become known as ‘artificial intelligence’ began in the 1980s and it was a great day for him when eventually he was able to program a robot to walk in a straight line down a corridor.  Things have moved on considerably since then but there are some developments which are causing Professor Sharkey some concern.  In a recent radio interview he spoke about robots being used for elderly care in Japan and more worrying for him drones being used to drop bombs on Afghanistan.  

That robots could be used more and more in warfare and perhaps even develop the ‘intelligence’ which enables them to make life and death decisions is certainly a deeply troubling idea.  This is what we saw in the Terminator movies.  There is no doubt that there is a movement towards this and it is one that Professor Sharkey believes should be halted.  Surely, though, there must also be a concern with regard to the use of robots as carers.  

However sentimental it may sound the weak and the vulnerable need the sound of a human voice and the touch of a human hand.  That you matter to someone is a powerful message to receive.  Think of what it meant to lepers in Jesus’ day to actually have him touch them.  They were a people who had to live apart from the main stream of human society because of their disease.  They have been described as ‘the living dead.’  But Jesus spoke to them, touched them and healed them.  I doubt if I am alone in knowing the difference a kind word and a loving touch can make.  

But there is something else to consider in this.  If we shift our responsibility to care then we are denying ourselves the opportunity to fulfill our humanity.  God has established in Jesus the pattern of a humanity that He wishes for all of us and time and again in the gospels we read of Jesus having ‘compassion’ on troubled people.  This is a word which to some extent has been emptied of its meaning but essentially it means standing alongside people in their pain to the extent that you are actually sharing it.  This is costly in so many ways and it is understandable if we reach out for an alternative or even turn our backs on the suffering.  But Jesus calls us to face the suffering of the world and to respond with compassion and in His life and teaching he shows us how.    

The hero of one of His stories cared for a victim of robbery and violence whose plight other people had ignored.  He treated the victim’s wounds, paid for his board at an inn and pledged more money for his care if it was needed.  He went way beyond what anyone would expect from a total stranger and what a difference his compassion made.   

It is truly amazing to see the advances that have been made in the development of ‘artificial intelligence’ and the benefits that have come to the worlds of medicine, engineering, science and entertainment.   But there can never be ‘artificial compassion.’  That is our gift to give.  

Springtime In Our Souls.

Unlike other Christian traditions we Presbyterians are not required to stick rigidly to the Christian Year and yet many of us have found value in observing seasons like Advent and Lent as well as the major seasons of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.  Our Advent and Lent services in St Paul's have been well supported over the years, giving us an opportunity to reflect on some of the more challenging aspects of our faith.  In the end the whole purpose behind these seasons is that we emerge from them with a firmer grasp of the faith and a deeper commitment to the life of discipleship.

It is not automatic of course.  Mere participation is no assurance that anything will happen in our inner being.  We cannot work up or force a blessing from God just by adhering to certain spiritual practices.  Elizabeth Jennings has a poem called ‘Making A Silence’ in which she reflects that certain silences can be commanded like the silence that is needed for a child to sleep or for a sick person to have rest.  There is also a silence that happens naturally when everyone else is asleep ‘And you can feel the stars/And mercy over the world.’  In the end, though, there is the greatest silence of all:

‘But the greatest one of them all

Is a gift entirely unasked for,

When God is felt deeply within you

With his infinite gracious peace.’  

What she is thinking of here is a silence which cannot be created by us and does not happen naturally but is the work of the Holy Spirit, a gift from God.  That can come to us at anytime, unsought and unanticipated.  People have told me of times when challenging experiences brought them to the very end of themselves and yet they felt a sense of God’s peace at the very core of their being.  It seemed to come as a gift for that moment.  

This does not mean that nothing is demanded of us in the spiritual life.  It is possible for our inner being to be so cluttered with self-centered priorities, deadening routines and pressing duties that we are no longer turned wholeheartedly towards our God.  That’s when we need to consciously create space for God to do a new thing in our lives.  It is His gift to give but we must be eager to receive.  Jesus said: ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks,  the door will be opened.’  (Matthew 7: 7-8)  

Even Jesus needed space for his soul to breathe.  Luke tells us that there came a time in His ministry when there was considerable pressure on Him to preach and to heal but ‘Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.’  (Luke 5: 15-16).  So we need to find times for prayer, reflection on the Word, and worship with fellow believers in order to keep a tight connection with our God.  I hope the coming season of Lent will bless us in this way and that there may be Springtime in our souls.    

Where Are We Now?

It was my eldest son who greeted me with the news that Bowie had just released his first single for ten years.  Now 66 (yesterday was his birthday) there have been some concerns about his health in recent years so it was good to hear that at last something had emerged from the silence.  

The first impression is that he sounds fragile, almost like a sad, old crooner but that tone brilliantly carries the song.  He is revisiting places familiar to him when he spent some time recording in Berlin:  ‘A man lost in time . . . Just walking the dead’.  It is the memories which give rise to the refrain: ‘Where are we now?’  

It is poignant, haunting, strange and the appeal of the refrain is almost heart-breaking but there is a spark of light in the climax:

‘As long as there's sun

As long as there's rain

As long as there's fire

As long as there's me

As long as there's you’

I suppose that is what you have to be content with when you have not been caught up in the hope that Christ brings.  As long as the world keeps turning and we can reach out to one another then that is what matters.  There is something deeply moving about that but I am glad that we have not been left to create our own meaning.  I believe that has been given to us in the life and ministry of Jesus.  He has shown that there is a Deep Story unfolding in human history.  God is working out His purpose which will be seen in a great climax which the followers of Jesus called the New Creation when everything which has ever made us cry will be swallowed up in the love, justice and peace of God.  Men and women can step into that purpose and be part of the New Creation now, living according to the values which will in the end be triumphant.  

‘As long as there’s sun . . . rain . . . fire . . . me . . . you.’  But there is more - thank God.  

An Unexpected Journey.

Having declared my immunity to the Tolkien bug on more than one occasion I still allowed myself to be conveyed to the cinema to see the first installment of The Hobbit.   I am still not totally enchanted but there is something timeless and appealing about the basic plot.  A very conventional and settled life is suddenly disrupted by a call to go on a journey which will involve personal challenge, perhaps even danger, but in the end there is the promise of great benefit coming to a large number of people - or rather, dwarves, hobbits etc.  

The subtitle of the movie is An Unexpected Journey and when you examine some of the greatest stories of faith you will find that an unexpected journey is involved.  You can start with the ‘spiritual father of us all’, Abraham, probably leading a comfortable life but unexpectedly hearing the voice of God to go on a journey to a  land which will be the base for the descendants of Abraham, destined to become ‘a great nation.’  

There is also Moses, raised as an Egyptian prince yet becoming aware of his Hebrew roots and eventually being called to lead his people on a journey of liberation out of slavery and into the Promised Land.  

In a sense the earliest followers of Jesus were called to a journey.  There is something quite dramatic about the way Jesus seems to break into people’s lives while they are going about their daily business, fishing, collecting taxes, even in the case of the Pharisee Saul on his way to arrest Christians!  He calls them all to follow as He seeks to build His kingdom.

As we face the future together we have to be prepared for The Unexpected Journey, the call to go into an area of service, perhaps previously unknown, but a need is presented and the pressure to meet the challenge is not easily resisted.  It is always daunting but like Abraham, Moses and the early believers we have the promise of God’s presence and His resources as we go forward.  David was asked to go on many unexpected journeys and there were times when he was stretched to the limit but he was still able to say:

You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning;

My God turns my darkness into light.

With your help I can advance against a troop;

With my God I can scale a wall.

Psalm 18: 28-29.

May this God be with you on all your unexpected journeys in 2013 and beyond.

Hold On To A Good Thought!

I am sure everyone here today is aware of the events which unfolded at Sandy Hook School in Connecticut and the sorrow that has been brought to so many families in that small town.  It was inevitable that people started to look into the life of the young man who carried out the killings and it has been reported that he spent a lot of time viewing violent video games.  That has started a debate in some newspapers as to whether violent images actually make people more prone to violent conduct.  It is a debate that has been going on for many years, long before there was video technology, and it seems to be very difficult to draw any definite conclusions.  Some years ago I took part in a television discussion where the opinions of two psychologists were given and they were reluctant to  make a link between violent images and behaviour.

What we can say, though, is that violent images do have an impact on us, even if it’s just that we turn away.  They are powerful, they stay with us, they can lead us to doubt the goodness in life.  That raises the issue of how we look after our minds.  We hear a lot about the importance of looking after our bodies through sensible eating and exercise but we also need to be careful what we watch and what we read and what we listen to.  A very early Christian called Paul once wrote a letter to a Christian community and he said:

‘Whatever is true, whatever is noble,  whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.‘  (Philippians 4: 8) 

It is here that Mary, the mother of Jesus, can be  a help to us.  She had been through a difficult time.  She had been in the final stages of pregnancy when she had to make that journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, something like 90 miles, and probably on foot.  Bethlehem was crowded with people, there was no room for her and Joseph to stay anywhere, and she had to give birth in a place that was used to shelter animals, using rags to wrap her baby and a feeding trough to lay him to sleep.  Horrendous conditions but  she had one good thought to hold on to.  She had been told that her baby was very special.  In fact, he was the Son of God and the Shepherds who came to her confirmed that.  They had been visited by angels who told them about the birth of a Saviour, someone who was going to make a huge difference to the whole of humankind.  

And Mary listened to this good news.  She ‘treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.’  What that means is that she thought very deeply about her baby and what his birth meant to the world.  I don’t think that she understood everything about him but she knew that something had happened which was going to change things for the better.  She had grown up among a people who believed that one day a special person would be born in their midst and he would be like a light in the darkness - the darkness of sin and suffering and death.  And now she was thinking that her son was that person.  She had that good thought to hold on to.  

And it is a thought we can all hold on to.  There may be a lot going on  that makes us think the world is a very dark place but Christmas tells us about someone who pushed back the darkness.  He cared for people who were sick and had suffered loss; he spoke up for the poor and those who were denied justice; he gave his life for the sake of the whole world; he rose from the dead to show that this life is not all we have; and he promised that the whole of human history is moving towards a great climax when the darkness will be taken out of human experience entirely.  

I believe that when we think about these things, who Jesus was, why he came and what he has promised, it changes us.  No one loved as he loved, no one gave so much, no one can show us a better way to live.  I hope this Christmas you will take time to ponder these things in your heart, allow them to take root and to direct your future.  

What If . . .

I always like to have a seasonal book on the go at this time of year but I did not expect this  to be one.  It is set in London December 1952 when the ‘Killer Smog’ as it became known enveloped the city for four days.  It is estimated that around 12,000 people died and thousands more were made ill.  The smog is a sustained presence throughout the novel affecting the lives of all the main characters but it can be seen as symbolic of a far greater  evil which has descended on British society and seeping  into all the major institutions.  

Britain is presented as a satellite state of Nazi Germany having surrendered in 1940 after the disasterous Norwegian campaign.  There has been no invasion but successive governments are firmly under the thumb of Germany and gradually Britain is being moulded according to Nazi values.  There is a Resistance, the figurehead of which is Winston Churchill, constantly on the move to avoid arrest which would certainly lead to his execution.  

There have been a number of novels of the ‘What If . . ‘ variety which have tried to work out what might have happened had Germany prevailed in the Second World War.  The disturbing thing about this novel is that it suggests that the Britain of the 1940s may well have been fertile ground for the growth of Nazism.  There was a nationalism, an imperialism and to some extent an anti-semitism which Nazism could connect with,  and all of this is apart from the spirit of appeasement which existed from different motives.  

The main characters in the novel are all members of the Resistance, drawn in for different reasons and all with their own inner conflicts to resolve.  You really get to know them and while they are not consistently likable you end up caring about them.  The ingenious plot carries them along through many twists and turns to the climax on a Brighton beach.   

It is stunning thriller writing combined with impressive historical research and deserves to be read not just for its entertainment value but for the warnings that are there for all who have eyes to see.  In a lengthy and controversial ‘Historical Note’ Sansom points out that the nationalism which gave Nazism its opportunity is being seen all over Europe.  He writes:

‘ . . . all across Europe, in France, Hungary, Greece, Finland, even Holland, and most worryingly perhaps in Russia, fiercely nationalistic, anti-immigrant, and sometimes openly Fascist nationalist parties are significant forces in politics again.  And the terrible story of Yugoslavia in the 1990s reminds us just how murderous European nationalisms can still become.’  

There are also some harsh words about the SNP which have provoked responses from Scottish writer James Robertson and various people supportive of the SNP.

I would hope that the controversy does not completely obscure what is a stunning achievement by C.J. Sansom.