Tuesday 15 January 2019

Holiday Time

First of all, I must apologise if you're one of the handful of readers who faithfully followed me in my brief flirtation with Wordpress.  This year I have decided that, when I'm particularly busy or when the muse deserts me, I shall repeat - duly edited where appropriate - some of the pieces that first appeared there.

It's the time of year again when we decide how to spend our holidays.  Now I'm retired, I have the privilege of taking a break when I feel like it.  Sometimes it's just a day out, or a weekend; as usual this spring I shall join my fellow bell-ringers for a weekend away - this year, for the second time, in Warwickshire - to try out other bells than those at our home tower.  But once a year I try to arrange a proper holiday: a week or so at a particular place I haven't been to before.

How do you make your choice?  Do you simply want to relax on a beach in the sun?  Or maybe you prefer an action holiday, walking, or pony-trekking or perhaps following a favourite hobby.  Do you go for the cheapest available, or filter quality facilities or an unfulfilled ambition into your decision-making process?

Long ago I worked for a Christian travel company, where I read the claim that the only Bible verse with a holiday theme is "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest" (Mark 6:31).  It was used to publicise formal retreats and, for some, this may be the ideal break: a chance for spiritual refreshment.  But what else does the Bible offer that we can relate in a general sense to holidays?

The Psalms often provide us with words we can use to express to God our deepest personal feelings, our emotions and frustrations with the life around us.  I'd like to share with you some verses from them that might be relevant, if not to an actual holiday, at least to the general aims of a break from daily life: rest, restoration and refreshment.

Sleep is always important, but in troubled times it doesn't come easily.  We are reminded of the assurance that answered prayer can bring peace: "I call out to the Lord and he answers me ... I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the Lord sustains me." (Ps.3:4-5).  God "refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name's sake." (Ps.23:3).

There are times in life when disaster or tragedy strikes.  I like the way the NET Bible puts these verses.  "I was in serious trouble and He delivered me.  Rest once more, my soul, for the Lord has vindicated you." (Ps.116:6-7).  God is always ready to listen to our prayers, and answers each prayer to give us of His best.

Of course, most holidays involve at least some travel.  God is with us on the road, while afloat, in the air or aboard the coach: "You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways." (Ps. 139:3).

And remember that God never takes a holiday in the way we do; He's always there when we choose to listen to Him.  Don't forget to add your Bible to your packing list this year ... or maybe download one of the many available Bible apps for your phone!

Whenever it comes, have a good break!

Tuesday 1 January 2019

Hedging and Ditching

I know someone who keeps a detailed diary of his life.  He has written this daily account of his comings and goings for many years, sometimes to the exasperation of other family members.  But for him it’s not just a matter of academic record; with some pleasure he will take a volume from the shelf and read it as a book, delighting in the story of his life.

By contrast, my father was a farm worker all his working life and was not given to literary endeavour.  His diary served much the same function, insofar as it recorded what he had done at work, day by day, but often the record would consist of only two or three words, identifying the basic task and sometimes a field name.  A typical entry might be ‘ploughing, 4 acres’ or ‘horse-hoeing beet’.  In the winter months, the same entry would often appear a week or more at a time, ‘hedging and ditching’.

In my early years, I would watch him guiding his pen carefully round those letters.  I had no idea what the words meant; I simply knew that the two always occurred together.  Only later did I realise that a ditch is often accompanied by a hedge, and so it made sense to maintain the two at the same time.

In fact, these tasks complement one another; they’re two sides of the same coin.  The hedges were trimmed to ensure even growth and any gaps were bridged with hurdles, while the banks of the ditch were cleared and any rubbish taken away, to allow the free flow of water from the field.  On the one hand, it was important to provide a secure boundary through which animals couldn’t escape when they were let out into the meadows to graze after spending the winter months indoors.  On the other hand, good drainage was important to stop the lower parts of the meadow from becoming too muddy.  In short, the strategy was one of filtering: keeping the wanted in, while allowing the unwanted to escape.

This is a desirable strategy for our lives as faithful Christians.  It would be fair to say that the church in Philippi might have been Paul’s favourite of all those to whom he wrote.  In his Commentary on the New Testament, Frank B Hole says that Paul’s letter to them “is not characterised by the unfolding of doctrine, as are the epistles to the Romans and the Ephesians, but by a spirit of great intimacy — for there was a very strong bond of affection between Paul and the Philippian saints — and by many personal details being given.”  In Hole’s view, the letter gives an insight into Paul’s personality.  By extension, therefore, we can see the way he cared for the spiritual well-being of these people of whom he was very fond.

One of the examples of this care is expressed in the final chapter of the letter and is, I think, illustrated by the work my father and others like him spent so much of their winter months doing on the farm.  Paul wrote, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:8-9).

What Paul desired most for his friends in Philippi was that they should know God’s peace in their lives, just as he himself did.  Paul knew that the life around these early Christians was a mixture of good and bad.  To achieve the godly peace that was his goal for them, it was important that they should focus their thoughts and lives on the values that he had taught them and to expunge, so far as was possible, all the rest that their daily lives could ‘offer’ them.

Just as the labourer’s exercise of ‘hedging and ditching’ achieved good drainage and safe pasture for the farm animals, so we need to follow Paul’s advice so far as our spiritual lives are concerned, and trap for our delight and development the good things around us, while letting all that is foul and sleazy in life pass us by.

What targets have you set for your spiritual filters in the New Year?