For the Birds and Us                        Word on the Week              13^th June 2020.

Through the struggles and strains of lockdown one of the things we have become more aware of has been the ‘Dawn Chorus’.    The birdsong which contributes to this does not need an alarm clock – the brightening sky to the North-East wakens them up and they find their voices.

The soothing effect, even at 4.30 am, is most relaxing.   The recent rain, after the almost 3 month’s drought, has increased the volume of birdsong throughout the day.   Successful nesting (predators have been absent!) and even the magpie family which reared 3 chicks in the Scots Pine at our front door behaved themselves!  

A family of Blue Tits found a safe place to feed their fledglings in an old cage.   They, being small, could reach the bird-food whereas their rivals had to rely on the bird feeders in more exposed places.    While the parent birds busy themselves collecting food, as soon as their wings will carry them, the young birds put in an appearance right outside the kitchen window.    They have no fear at this stage.  One chick which rested on the windowsill was being examined by Tess our Pugaleer whose nose was 1 inch from it.    Needless to say I put a stop to Tess’s investigation!

Where access to such treats is not possible the TV has produced some excellent nature programmes which lift the spirits    The sheer beauty of the birds in their mating plumage, the intricate web of materials that comprise their nest and the rich colour to their eggs remind us of God’s hand in all creation.

This year during lockdown we have had time to reflect on ‘natural selection’.  There may be a scientific explanation but I would be curious as to where the corona virus evolved from in such a short time.    There have been other plagues in times past.    They seem to arise when a virus crosses from the animal world to mankind.    Perhaps it should be called ‘unnatural selection’!

Habakkuk had no difficulty in attributing the plagues of Egypt to the Lord’s hand when surveying the history of Israel in his day (Chapter 3 verse 5 and Exodus Chapters 7 to 14).    When time has filtered out what is and what isn’t important about current events it will become more apparent what God is saying to us in these days (Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verse 11).

Now is the time to encourage each other with the words of Hebrews Chapter 10 where the writer proclaims the completeness of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and his entering into a covenant relationship with his believing people.    He then tells them (and us) to maintain fellowship with each other (even if it is on Zoom) as you see the Day approaching (verses 8 to 25).   

Human Fault Lines               Word on the Week                          6^th June 2020.

My earliest memory of a fault line was not human at all.   It was a fissure in the rock which bounded the coast line.   The North Sea swept into it twice a day with each high tide.   It lay across our path to an inlet where the fishing was good.   The temptation to jump across the divide and save a longer walk was irresistible!

We were told horrific tales of the young girl who tried to jump the 5-foot gap but her long dress caught on the rock and she plunged some 40 feet to her death.   Her name was Mary Reid and the Cove bears her name to this day.

Fault lines present both a challenge and danger.    An early one in Scripture in language.   Everyone in the beginning spoke God’s language.   His words were easily understood.   Language is one of his amazing gifts to us that is often overlooked.     From the start God made himself known by words.  The trouble is that by sinning they can be used deceitfully.    Their meaning can be twisted as the Serpent demonstrated (Genesis Chapter 3 verses 1 to 5).

This led to the first major fault line when the ‘one language and common speech’ had to be scrambled in order to curb the people’s desire to live as they pleased without God.   What they feared happened and their language was completely confused and they were scattered ‘all over the face of the earth’ (Genesis Chapter 11 verses 1 to 8).

Another fault line is found in race.    Skin colour sadly promotes division.   When mixed with injustice it can lead to riots and killing.    This week we have seen peaceful force in conflict with State forces in the USA.   During the reporting there was a moment when the TV cameras picked out members of the National Guard kneeling alongside protesters united in prayer.   Christianity heals divisions by creating new people (Galatians Chapter 3 verse 28).

In Jesus this unity can become permanent as each comes to the cross to leave their sins there and embrace the other.  The death of Christ has made many rebels one as thy become part of the family of God (1 Peter Chapter 2 verse 9).

The hymn-writer puts it well when he says Jesus is omnipotent (having unlimited power) to save – trust in Him.

1 The Saviour died, but rose again
triumphant from the grave;
and pleads our cause at God’s right hand,
omnipotent to save.

2 Who then can e’er divide us more
from Jesus and his love,
or break the sacred chain that binds
the earth to heaven above?

3 Let troubles rise, and terrors frown,
and days of darkness fall;
through him all dangers we’ll defy,
and more than conquer all.

4 Nor death nor life, nor earth nor hell,
nor time’s destroying sway,
can e’er efface us from his heart,
or make his love decay.

5 Each future period that will bless,
as it has blessed the past;
he loved us from the first of time,
he loves us to the last.

Race and Riots                       Word on the Week                          30^th May 2020.

On Monday this week in Minneapolis the Police arrested George Floyd.     He died by suffocation when handcuffed he lay on the ground with a policeman’s knee on his neck.    This position lasted for some 5 minutes while three other policemen stood around.     We are not told what his crime was.

The incident would have gone largely unnoticed were it not for a bystander capturing the action on his camera.     Two factors to note; George was of African-American stock and there appeared to be an absence of mercy by the policemen.

The detained man can he heard groaning on the video, and repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe”, before he stops speaking.      His last words have been taken up by the rioters as their slogan as they wreaked havoc on the city over the last few nights. 

When there is the perception that justice is lacking it becomes difficult to do anything meaningful without being accused of bias.    In this case George was a black man and the policeman was white.   George had no power and the policeman was powerful.    It is only in God’s sight that they are equal “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.   Male and female he created them and he blessed them” (Genesis Chapter 5 verses 1 – 2).

 The French philosopher named Muretus 1526-1585 was well educated but also very poor. He became sick, and was taken to the place where the destitute were kept. The people who cared for him did not know that he was a scholar and that he understood the scholar’s Latin. One day the doctors were discussing his case in Latin and they were saying that he was a poor creature of value to no one and that it was hopeless and unnecessary to expend care and money on attention to such a worthless human. Muretus looked up from his bed of rags and answered in their own Latin, “Call no man worthless for whom Christ died.”

Every human is made in the image of God and however marred the image may be it is never obliterated.   In fact, it there is always the potential of redemption and a re-imaging for the person who comes to faith in Christ.    In Christ there is no such thing as an excluded race.    God’s mercy knows no limit (Titus Chapter 3 verses 1-8).

Some years ago we had Alfred, Maria and family from Serra Leone worshipping with us.   They were musical and one of the songs they composed had the powerful lines that Christians should be colour-blind.   By God’s grace this has become second nature to us and may point to a remedy for churches to adopt instead of permitting segregated worship.  

May the cross of Christ make us all colour-blind (Galatians Chapter 3 verses 26 – 29).

Ravi Zacharias 1946 – 2020            Word on the Week                23^rd May 2020.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries an organisation whose members have carried the Gospel to every corner of the globe.   This week he went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ whom he served so faithfully from his conversion in 1963.

When he was a 17-year-old student, in despair, he attempted suicide.   Mercifully it failed and afterwards, when reading the Bible, he came across the words of Jesus “Because I live, you also will live” (St John Chapter 14 verse 19).   He felt that this was address to him and it was confirmed when on a family visit to his Grandmothers grave shortly afterwards he saw the same words written on her gravestone.

After a distinguished college career during which he had found his feet as an evangelist he started his International Ministries.   It now has close on 100 evangelists on staff.   Their desire is to explore the different worldviews they find in many countries and “help the thinker to believe and the believer to think”!    They follow Ravi’s passion for apologetics (reasoned arguments in justification of, in Ravi’s case, Scripture) although few could compare with his ability to handle the question and answer sessions which took place after the talk.   His aim was “to engage people in meaningful interactions with gentleness and respect, bearing in mind that behind every question is a questioner”.

He spent his early years in India, his college days in Canada and the USA and established his global base in Atlanta, Georgia.   Through God’s grace with clarity and an intellectual philosophy, Zacharias gave countless speeches and wrote numerous books answering key objections and questions about the origin, meaning and morality of Christianity.   His illustrations were very well thought through.   I heard him explain that he committed them to memory he valued them so much in making his case for Christ.

Earlier this year he recited a stanza from this hymn from Richard Baxter (1615-1691): “Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.
 
If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad
To welcome endless day?
 
Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.
 
Come Lord, when grace hath made me meet
Thy blessed face to see;
For if Thy work on earth be sweet
What will thy glory be!
 
None of us could have imagined just two months this hymn/prayer would be answered.

The WhatsApp site, created by Chinese Malaysian student returnees as a vehicle to sustain fellowship between those who studied in Dublin back in the 1980ies, hosted “A Malaysian Blessing” this week.   This was sung by singers from 80 churches in a fine show of unity.    They sang it first in English then in their local dialects.

What was the blessing they chose?   It was the Aaronic Blessing; an inspired choice.               

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”                           Numbers Chapter 6 verse 23 – 26.

When the Lord gave this Blessing to Moses it was with the instruction that Aaron and his two sons (the clergy of the day) were to use it to bless the people.   It starts with the request for (probably) fruitful harvests, children, health, the presence of God   and that they be kept secure.  

Looking at the remaining lines; God’s face is inexpressibly holy (Exodus Chapter 33 verse 20).   It has not been seen on earth.   It is perhaps an expression of ultimate desire (Psalm 80 verses 3; 7; 19).    The peace referred to is not simply the absence of war but ‘shalom’ meaning complete well-being.

This longing to see God was met when Jesus came to earth.   The Apostle John puts it succinctly “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (Chapter 1 verse 18).

Blessings by their very nature must be selfish.   They are seeking God’s favour and protection on the person or thing being blessed.    Probably the best known Irish one is: –

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

This blessing which is sometimes used as a prayer shows Ireland’s intimate attachment to the weather!   The imagery used of Wind, Sun and Rain feature as God-given gifts.   The last line speaks of the eternal security of the believer.             “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (St John Chapter 10 verses 27 – 28).   

Reader, may you know this security in your own life.          

Darkness into Light                 Word on the Week                       9^th May 2020.

This is the morning when those wishing to empathise with the suicide prevention work of Pieta House get out of bed at sunrise and go on a fundraising walk.   The sun rises early and the recommended time of 4.15 am may not appeal to everyone!    However, there is the added bonus for those who venture out of hearing the birds singing in their dawn chorus.

The walk was started in 2009 by psychologist Joan Freeman, as a fundraiser for suicide prevention and counselling.   At the first event 400 attended while in 2019 the event was attended by an estimated 150,000.    It has been replicated in five continents.  Dr Freeman has pioneered a similar work in New York called Solace House.   The ministering to self-harm and potential suicides is of increasing value.

Secular society has presided over a gradual reduction of human worth.   Having denied the existence of creator God humans now have the status of intelligent animals.   These ‘animals’ are misusing the planet to such an extent that we are led to believe that imminent destruction will come about.    Indeed, with global warming predicting floods and the current pandemic making inroads into elderly people the future looks bleak.                                                                                                                                        Once upon a time people looked to families for support.   Now our problems are not seen to be so much relational but physical and can be addressed by rewiring human instincts, forgoing procreation and tampering with gender.    In addition, the abortive worldview would encourage pregnant women to make war on their own bodies and that of the children they are carrying.

In this present darkness many are tempted to see themselves as part of the problem and turn against their own bodies in seeking a solution.                                                             When Jesus healed the man born blind he described himself as the light of the world (St John Chapter 9 verse 5).   The man was not only given sight but could see error!                                                                                            From the beginning the Bible has made a distinction between humans made in the image of God and animals (Genesis Chapter 5 verses 1 to 2).   Jesus shed light on human worth (St Matthew Chapter 6 verse 26 and Chapter 10 verses 29 to 31).   He also made the promise to those who follow him that they would never walk in darkness but have the light of life (Chapter 8 verse 12).

Isaiah points to a future we can look forward to where peace and light replace darkness (Chapter 60 verses 18 – 19).                                No longer will violence be heard in your land,
    nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
    and your gates Praise.
The sun will no more be your light by day,
    nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,                                                                                               for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory.

Normal People                         Word on the Week                          2^nd May 2020.

Our Vox Pop guru, Joe Duffy, in his Friday chat show teased out the TV production ‘Normal People’.   His purpose was to see what impact it had on his audience of ordinary people.    The show had been given some salacious publicity all week by RTE so Joe could have anticipated the comments people would make.

Apparently there is some nudity in it.   This always drives up the ratings.   Interestingly the Lord clothed our first parents and a sure sign of our rebellion against Him is when clothes come off.   Some of the callers to the programme remarked that this was pornographic and Joe was in his element!   He chided them for being back in the 60ies and implied that they needed to move on.

In the absence of any moral guidance from Church and the Scriptures being a closed book to many, we can anticipate ‘the Arts’ continuing to lead the downward spiral.   It is perhaps surprising that the National Broadcaster promoted this material but then there is so much of it available on the networks that they probably felt the need to compete.   What was perhaps more surprising was to hear an enthusiastic commendation from the broadcaster Ryan Tubridy.   He sought to verify his comments by referring to his 21-year-old daughter who apparently enjoyed it!

For the believer salvation comes in three tenses.   He can say “I have been saved” referring to the time when he bowed the knee to Christ and was justified by faith (Romans Chapter 5 verse 1) He is now at peace with God through the work of Jesus.

It is God’s will that we should be sanctified that is live a life of purity exercising self-control (1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 3 to 8).   This is the second tense of salvation where the Holy Spirit’s work in us is ongoing.   We can say “I am being saved” and will continue until we are taken into glory or Jesus returns.

The third tense, “I will be saved” applies to the life hereafter when God’s work in us will be complete.   This is the glorification of the believer.   He has now taken up his citizenship of heaven.   He has a new body like Christ’s glorious body (Philippians Chapter 3 verses 20 to 21).

This complete salvation Christ accomplished on the Cross.   The work has been done.   Jesus has made a complete atonement for sinners such as us (St John Chapter 19 verses 28 to 30).    Jesus has done the heavy lifting.   He went the long journey to Calvary.    We go our little journey of faith.   He died that we might live – not as ‘normal people’ but as redeemed people who live to please Him and Him alone.

Liberty in Lockdown                        Word on the Week              25^th April 2020.

Lockdown is a testing time for relationships!   To be confined to a single space with your loved ones over a period of five weeks endows one with the ability to clearly see their flaws!   It does not help that the date which the lockdown will end seems to be receding into the future. This does not reduce the tensions but increases them.

Domestic abuse has been recognised as a likely outcome and the Gardaí have been keeping a check on homes where it has occurred in the past.   But what of us ordinary mild mannered people?    Close proximity to others can bring out the best and the worst in us.   “God will not show you a sin in others that is not present in yourself” (paraphrase of St Matthew Chapter 7 verse 3).

Jesus gave us a check-list; “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (St Mark Chapter 7 verses 14 to 23).    We are all guilty before God.

And should efforts to keep the peace using the secular tools of ‘trying your best to be good’ and ‘not knowingly doing anyone any harm’ are seen to be particularly inadequate under lockdown conditions.   Some have increased the quantity of alcohol in the shopping list but found that drink doesn’t get rid of problems it merely floats them!     It’s always the other person’s fault and they need to fix it!

The only lasting way out of this is to confess your blindness to your own faults – first to the Lord then to the others.   Their acceptance of your need to be for forgiven will always seem inadequate, especially if it is not reciprocated!   But it’s your acceptance with God that matters.   He is a God of grace.   This means that acceptance with Him is not nor will ever be on the basis of your behaviour.

Everyone who trusts Jesus as their Lord is not welcomed into the Christian family because they have behaved in a particular way and kept the law of God but because Jesus did!   On the cross Jesus took our sins “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, (the Law) which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians Chapter 2 verses 13 to 15).

The foremost result of the Holy Spirit taking up residence in you is seen in your ability to forgive others their sins against you.   This flows from the forgiveness you have received from God and creates liberty – even in lockdown!

From Fear to Faith                      Word on the Week                   18^th April 2020.

There was some activity amongst the grandchildren this week as Ben put the finishing touches to his bird hide.   It had been a family affair and the finished shed looked like it would be difficult to move!   However, Grandfather’s doubts were dispelled when Stephen’s tractor attended to the heavy lifting and the hide took up its position at the edge of the fen.

To demonstrate the soundness of the construction Ben undertook to sleep in it!   The night passed uneventfully with the larger birds of woodpigeon, rook and buzzard taking to the sky.   At ground level one or two snipe were on the lookout for suitable nesting places.

We have been able to hear the bird-song better this year due to the relative absence of road traffic as a result of the Covid-19 lock-down.  Last night’s rain, after weeks of drought, has given the birds in the garden something extra to sing about.  

The feeding of the breeding birds is almost over.   Competition for the fat-balls can be quite intense with the rooks trying to outwit Betty as she attempts to preserve the food for smaller birds.   Right now I’d say the rooks are winning!

It was Mervyn Scott’s Baptist Mission’s Prayer News that alerted me to the lock-down that first Easter.   The eleven disciples and their friends were hiding in the house with the doors of the room locked for fear of the Jews (St Luke Chapter 24 verse 33 and St John Chapter 20 verse 19).    The fear must have been every bit as powerful as fear of the virus is today.  

When the Lord entered the locked room his visible presence created joy in the disciple’s hearts. But even after a further commissioning for service and breathing of the Holy Spirit on them their fears lingered.   A week later Jesus returned and entered the room, which was still locked, to reassure Thomas who had not been present the week earlier.     Thomas’s reply showed that his doubts were dispelled and in his declaration “My Lord and my God” faith was restored (St John Chapter 20 verse 29).

Fear penetrates our lock-down also!   The remedy is to ask Jesus for that faith which is not prompted by sight and is available to those who seek it.  Then Jesus told him because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  

Then St John explains in the text the purpose of his Gospel. 

‘Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’       

This is the new life referred to throughout the Gospel (St John Chapter 1 verse 4 etc.)

COVID-19’s Random Fatalities       Word on the Week                          11th April 2020

The church suffered some disruption many years ago.   Sadly, few churches are without the evidence that saved sinners are still sinners in their human nature (Romans Chapter 7 verses 24/25). The most evident thing when the disruption died down was our ability at discerning sin – other peoples’ sin!

It was something Jesus uncovered when the crowd wanted his confirmation that their attributing of sin, first to the Galilean worshippers who Pilate had slaughtered and second to the 18 who lost their lives when the tower fell and killed them, was no more than what they deserved.    Jesus reply must have rocked them!   He steered them away from the sinfulness of others and directed them to their own sins.   

The remedy, Jesus said, was to repent.   In fact, he said that if we did not repent we would all perish.   Perhaps our death would not be by man’s will (Pilate’s) or by a fatal accident (tower) but by the final judgement of God. (St Luke 1 to Chapter 13 verses 5).

COVID-19 is a virus whose random infection may, with good hygiene, be prevented but not eradicated.    Sadly, it is terminal for some people.   Jesus does not permit us to attribute greater sin to those who died than that which applies to the rest of us.  

The global nature of the spread of the virus matches the global spread of the gospel so that the following verses (which applied to Israel) now apply to the church.

When I … send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles Chapter 7 verses 13 to 14).   Although God said this in Solomon’s day He was anticipating ‘wicked ways’ down through the avenues of time to our day. That makes the remedy of humility and repentance relevant for today.

It takes the grace of God to produce these qualities.    The repentance Jesus looks for comes from a heart that has been turned around and like the disciple Matthew who left his sinful practices to follow Jesus he followed Jesus that day and very other day of his life on earth (St Matthew Chapter 9 verse 9).    Matthew joined Peter who wrote of their experiences: –

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1 verses 3 to 7).

By God’s grace may the same be said of us.