Sometimes lately I've had a definite problem hearing everything that was going on around me. I don't believe that I'm going deaf, but rather that the problem is linked to a recent fall that left me with internal bruising connected with bent - I had feared cracked - ribs. Three weeks later, I'm pleased to say that, in general, I'm much better but, when in sleep my body follows its natural instinct to turn over, there is sufficient pain to wake me up. The result is that, instead of spending part of the night on one side and part on the other, the 'deaf' ear tends always to be the one I lay on. I believe that balance is critical in all aspects of life; I'm sure that's how we are made to live: part asleep and part awake, part working and part resting, and so on. As the old saying has it, 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'.
When it comes to church, some of the prescribed lessons are from the Old Testament and some from the New. Although sometimes we can't quite make out how one relates to the other, we accept that it should be that way. If we get carried away with the excitement of the stories of the Judges' wars, or the visions of the Prophets, it's easy to see these as an end in themselves. Or we can be so entranced by the teaching of Jesus, his battles with the Pharisees or the story of the infant churches in Acts and Paul's letters that we consider the Old Testament an irrelevance. Either way, we lose sight of God's overall plan for His people. Early in His ministry, Jesus taught His disciples, "I haven't come to abolish (the Law or the Prophets) but to fulfil them." (Matthew 5:17). Throughout the New Testament there are references to the Old, and in many places the Old Testament carries indications of the things that would be fulfilled by Jesus in the New.
Balance is important in everything. It's all too easy for us to consider that our own point of view is the only one that is right, and to regard those who think differently as wrong, irrelevant ... or worse, evil. Nowhere is this more the case just now than in regard to Brexit.
When a decision has been made and implemented - in whichever direction and by whatever means - and the dust has settled, there will be a significant portion of the population who will be, to say the least, dissatisfied. Logically, it's impossible for half the population to be 'right' and the other half 'wrong', whichever way we might assign those labels. We must accept that those who voted 'leave' in the referendum three years ago did so sincerely according to their beliefs, experience or guidance at the time. Similarly those who voted 'remain' were equally sincere according to their values and perceptions. Tolerance and a balanced understanding of the views and motives of either side is the only way that our nation can be healed from this devastation.
Like me, you may have been praying about this. Naturally enough, our prayers will have been that the outcome is in accordance with our own views. Not all prayers are answered by 'yes', however. In some cases the answer is 'no', and in that case we are disappointed; we feel let down. In His prayers on the Mount of Olives, Jesus prayed, "for those who will believe in me through (the disciples') message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." (John 17:20-21). This is a prayer that remains unanswered by 'yes': the church is far from united. Mark's description of these events includes Jesus' plea that he might be spared the agony to come. He concludes, "Yet not what I will but what you will." (Mark 14:36). This is a useful 'condition' to add to any prayer, to avoid disappointment.
How willing are we, in all circumstances, to let God's will be done in our lives?
Monday 15 April 2019
Monday 1 April 2019
Trouble with the Plumbing
I'm having a problem at present with a leak from the flat above mine into my bathroom. It's not the first time I've had trouble of this nature, but last year's activity on that stage was rather unusual. Although it was very minor, I noticed that there was a steady drip into my bath, coming from where - if I were ever to overfill the tub - the excess water might leave. Eventually, I decided to call for a plumber to investigate whether something serious were just around the corner.
When he arrived, the plumber was puzzled. He removed the front panel and fumbled around the end of the bath. "Well," - I could identify the amazement in his tone - "I've never seen anything like this before!" Then he moved to the toilet cistern and adjusted the ball-cock. "That should sort it." he said. The cistern outflow was piped into a common outlet with the bath and that happens to slope very slightly the wrong way. In the normal scheme of things, this wouldn't cause a problem because the other end of the outlet is below the top of the bath anyway but, with no overflow from the bath to counter it, the cistern's excess was making its way to the bath's plughole.
This concept of finding the solution to a problem other than where the problem manifests itself is not so uncommon as you might think. A trapped nerve in the spine, for example, can report to the brain a pain in some other part of the body; conversely, a pain in the foot can be the result of some other problem causing us to walk badly.
I'm reminded of something I was told at college some forty years ago: "Before we can appreciate and have a relationship with the God who is, we have to unlearn what we've been taught, misunderstood, or simply assumed about the God who isn't!" Put another way, any wrong ideas we might have about God can hinder our understanding of who He really is.
Last year, I read God Lost and Found by John Pritchard, the former Bishop of Oxford. One section of his book is headed, "Faith not as locating God at a distance, but as recognising God in the midst." Here he explores some of these 'wrong ideas'. We might think of God as so vast, powerful and 'out there' that it's impossible to get near to Him. He is cosmic; why - how, even? - would he bother with our tiny problems? We think of Him present in spectacular events and emergencies, but not in the nitty-gritty of daily life. If we do think of any connection between God and us, it might be as a kind of heavenly auditor, totting up good things and bad things, - after all, didn't Abraham believe, and it was 'credited to him as righteousness' (Gen.15:6)? - or we might see God as a kind of judge, jury and executioner: keeping an eye on what we're doing and punishing us when we do wrong.
Pritchard draws his readers' attention to many scriptures that can re-affirm God's closeness to us. The Lord would speak to Moses, for example, "face to face, as one speaks to a friend" (Ex.33:11). Isaiah tells of God's intense commitment to Israel, using words that have been turned into a familiar song (Is. 43:1-4). Paul, as we might expect, is more direct. "Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you?" he asks (2 Cor. 13:5); and, lest we should be any doubt, "God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). Although the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) profess not to have doctrines, they do have a number of key principles, one of which reflects Paul's words and is expressed as "That of God in Everyone".
And finally, in case you're feeling that God is far away from you, let me quote the slogan from a 'Wayside Pulpit' poster that I saw locally many years ago: "If you're not close to God ... guess who moved?" God doesn't change; His love is eternal and His commitment to us is written in the Scriptures. Just as that plumber examined the whole bathroom to see why water was flowing the 'wrong' way into my bath, we have to examine our lives to see why we feel there is a distance between God and us.
When he arrived, the plumber was puzzled. He removed the front panel and fumbled around the end of the bath. "Well," - I could identify the amazement in his tone - "I've never seen anything like this before!" Then he moved to the toilet cistern and adjusted the ball-cock. "That should sort it." he said. The cistern outflow was piped into a common outlet with the bath and that happens to slope very slightly the wrong way. In the normal scheme of things, this wouldn't cause a problem because the other end of the outlet is below the top of the bath anyway but, with no overflow from the bath to counter it, the cistern's excess was making its way to the bath's plughole.
This concept of finding the solution to a problem other than where the problem manifests itself is not so uncommon as you might think. A trapped nerve in the spine, for example, can report to the brain a pain in some other part of the body; conversely, a pain in the foot can be the result of some other problem causing us to walk badly.
I'm reminded of something I was told at college some forty years ago: "Before we can appreciate and have a relationship with the God who is, we have to unlearn what we've been taught, misunderstood, or simply assumed about the God who isn't!" Put another way, any wrong ideas we might have about God can hinder our understanding of who He really is.
Last year, I read God Lost and Found by John Pritchard, the former Bishop of Oxford. One section of his book is headed, "Faith not as locating God at a distance, but as recognising God in the midst." Here he explores some of these 'wrong ideas'. We might think of God as so vast, powerful and 'out there' that it's impossible to get near to Him. He is cosmic; why - how, even? - would he bother with our tiny problems? We think of Him present in spectacular events and emergencies, but not in the nitty-gritty of daily life. If we do think of any connection between God and us, it might be as a kind of heavenly auditor, totting up good things and bad things, - after all, didn't Abraham believe, and it was 'credited to him as righteousness' (Gen.15:6)? - or we might see God as a kind of judge, jury and executioner: keeping an eye on what we're doing and punishing us when we do wrong.
Pritchard draws his readers' attention to many scriptures that can re-affirm God's closeness to us. The Lord would speak to Moses, for example, "face to face, as one speaks to a friend" (Ex.33:11). Isaiah tells of God's intense commitment to Israel, using words that have been turned into a familiar song (Is. 43:1-4). Paul, as we might expect, is more direct. "Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you?" he asks (2 Cor. 13:5); and, lest we should be any doubt, "God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). Although the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) profess not to have doctrines, they do have a number of key principles, one of which reflects Paul's words and is expressed as "That of God in Everyone".
And finally, in case you're feeling that God is far away from you, let me quote the slogan from a 'Wayside Pulpit' poster that I saw locally many years ago: "If you're not close to God ... guess who moved?" God doesn't change; His love is eternal and His commitment to us is written in the Scriptures. Just as that plumber examined the whole bathroom to see why water was flowing the 'wrong' way into my bath, we have to examine our lives to see why we feel there is a distance between God and us.
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