Risen and Reigning                   Word on the Week          30^th March 2024.

Of all the expressions of Easter my least favourite would be the cartoon which adorned the front page of one of our national newspapers.    It portrayed the common man surveying a litany of disasters appearing in a news sheet and exclaiming loudly ‘Jesus Christ’.

Recognising he was blaspheming the Lord’s name the cartoonist sought to head off possible criticism by having the little bird pose the question, “Is that blasphemy?”  The worm responds by professing ignorance and claiming that the disasters listed are blasphemy.

I am sure there is a word for the recognition that what you are doing is wrong but after naively querying it, go ahead and do it anyway.   ‘Disingenuous’ comes close but in taking the Lord’s name in vain you descend to the language of the gutter.   Usually his cartoons are brilliant but even cartoonists require editorial scrutiny.   

Ironically the horrific items listed in the new sheet are similar but on a smaller scale to those listed by Jesus in the Gospels as signs of the end of the age (Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 21).   

The scene in Jerusalem that first Easter was set by the arrival of some Greek worshippers who were looking for Jesus.   This was a sign that the Gospel was breaking out from its Judean roots and reaching the Gentiles.   Jesus now proclaimed that the hour had come for him to be glorified by giving his life for sinners (John 12 verses 20 to 27).

The Lord’s illustration of the seed requiring to die before it could bring forth many seeds was to be applied to himself on the cross producing the seed of the Gospel.   In his death he was substituting his perfect life for the sinner making him the long awaited Saviour: –

I delivered to you, wrote the Apostle Paul, as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15 verses 3 to 4).

And on a more personal note the hymn writer Philip Bliss wrote of Jesus: –

Bearing shame and scoffing rude

In my place condemned He stood

Sealed my pardon with his blood

Hallelujah! What a Saviour.

May the real Jesus Christ be Risen and Reigning in your hearts this Easter and always.

To Be or Not to Be              Word on the Week                 23^rd March 2024.

On 20 March 2024, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying recommended the introduction of legalisation regulating assisted suicide and euthanasia in its majority report.   The spirit of our age, so fond of death, commended we follow Holland, Belgium and Canada on the downward path.

Once introduced, it expands like a business opportunity, removing limitations such as age or competency in its way.   Assisted suicide as a concept elevates ordinary suicide to the position of a worthwhile goal, fostering despair and banishing hope.

The very notion of euthanasia plays into the near universal feeling of the elderly that they become a burden to others.   It is a pernicious thing which feeds on the evil idea that if you were removed others would be happier.   It also diverts attention from the excellent palliative care provided by the hospice movement and others.

Co-incidentally I visited the St Bridgit’s Hospice in the Curragh on Thursday.  I was able to spend an hour with my friend who recently went there.   The experience was entirely positive.   The love and care shown by the staff as they went about their duties made the occasion a very pleasant experience for us both.

Jesus famously waited till his friend was dead before demonstrating indelibly that He was the resurrection and the life beyond the grave.   Lazarus had an experience of life on both sides of the grave proving the reality of Jesus’ power over death.  

He challenged Martha with the words; “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.   Do you believe this?” (John 11 verses 25/26).

Do you believe this?   Then tell someone.   Do not keep it to yourself!

Isaac Watt the hymn writer certainly believed it when he wrote “I’ll Praise my maker while I’ve breath” the last verse of which is; –

I’ll praise Him while He lends me breath; 

And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers: 

My days of praise shall ne’er be past, 

While life, and thought, and being last, 

Or immortality endures.              

St Patrick                         Word on the Week                     16^th March 2024.

It’s tomorrow that St Patrick kisses the stone!   His kiss transforms the land from its winter hibernation to the green fertility that makes Ireland the Emerald Isle.   After this Winter’s deluges of rain, he may need to blow his warm breath over it to dry up the saturation caused, they say, by global warming.

Tradition has it that 17^th March is the date to bury your seed potatoes in the ground so the warm darkness can work its magic.    Only those with access to the inside of a poly tunnel would dare to tackle planting in March this year!

But it’s not only for the potatoes that we would wish St Patrick had died during a warmer month.   Thousands of flimsy dressed marchers in the multitude of Patricks Day Parades would dream of Summer sunshine as they fight off hypothermia in the East wind.

It appears, like many of the participants who come from the US, the parades themselves are an import from the cities of the East coast of America.   We are told they originated in Boston and New York, brought there by Northern Irish immigrants in the 18^th Century.   The marching, normally associated with army drills, has found its ‘raison d’etre’ on the streets of 5^th Avenue!   The NYPD are out in force with bands, singers and dancers making our Parade in O’Connell Street seem like a scaled down version with many crossing the Atlantic to join in it!  

Every Parade has to have a Grand Marshal.   This year we have the new presenter of the Late Late Show, Patrick Kielty.   He assumes the responsibility of upholding the traditions and values that define our Parade.  It appears that both have been eroded in favour of a Maida Gras type of event popular in Latin America.

We know three things about St Patrick.   His written Confession, his Hymn to Jesus (Breastplate) and his letter to Coroticus, the latter’s soldiers having murdered some of Patrick’s newly baptised converts on the beach.  Apparently the soldiers came from Scotland and were seeking to capture slaves when they attacked the baptism, killed and carried off a number of the converts by boat.

In his letter Patrick quoted John’s Gospel, “Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (verse 18).  

He concludes his letter by recommending it be read in front of ‘the whole body of the people’, concealed from no one and in the presence of Coroticus himself.   He states his desire that the murderers may repent and they may set free the baptised women, that they themselves may live before God and be made well, both here and in eternity.

From the River to the Sea         Word on the Week          9^th March 2024.

It’s the slogan, chanted by Palestine/Hamas supporters, seeking the total destruction of Israel who inhabit the land from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.   It is matched by the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s intent to annihilate Hamas!   The conquest of Gaza ensued.

There can be few of us who have read the Bible and not cringed at the conquest of Canaan.   Especially because it was ordained by our God one of whose qualities is peace (Deuteronomy 1 verse 8).  God was preparing a place on earth for his chosen people because he loved them (Psalm 44 v’s 2/3).

It was to Abraham that God promised global mission (Genesis 12 verse 4).   This was to come through his descendants.   There was to be an interlude in Egypt and afterwards when the sin of the Amorites reached judgement time, they along with the other Canaanite tribes, who embraced evil practices, would be judged (Genesis 15 verse 16).   Hence the conquest of Canaan terminating in Joshua’s day (Joshua 24 verses 25/6)’

There would be many battles fought culminating with God’s people, through their disobedience, being removed from their land (2 Kings 25 verse 22b).   After the exile the people of God seldom had full possession of their land and it is only in 1948 that the State of Israel was formed.

And so the battles continue between the offspring of the Son of Abraham by faith – Isaac, Jews and the offspring of the Son of Abraham after the flesh – Ishmael, Arabs (Genesis 21 verses 8 to 10).    The battles have been fought over the Land, both claiming it as sacred!

The Apostle Paul, himself a Jew, longed for the day when his brethren would realise that the expected Messiah has come (Romans 9 verses 1 to 5).   Paul’s heart’s desire and prayer to God for his people, the Israelites, is that they may be saved (Romans 10 verse 1).

At present their minds are hardened.   It is as if a veil is over their face.  It remains to this day and will only be lifted when they turn to Christ (2 Corinthians 3 verses 12 to 17). 

And what of us who believe?

 ‘We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ – Verse 18.  

Counterfeit Relief            Word on the Week                     2^nd March 2024.

Life in this life can be hard.   It can offend our desire for fairness.  Things happen that should never have been allowed.   The apparent randomness of illness and accidents.    Then, in some cases, the premature-ness of death.

To combat these thoughts many turn to the drug culture which has come into being in my lifetime.   In my youth you may have heard of a chemist taking drugs.   (Only doctors and chemists had access to drugs.)   The contrast with today could not be more stark!

Popular today are Cocaine, Ecstasy, Cannabis and Heroin.   We read of shiploads of new drugs of increased potency and reduced price being apprehended by the authorities.   Users try to mix drugs to achieve a longer lasting effect at the same time minimising the negative effects.

It’s a murky business.   When we sought permission at Grace Church to build on our old site in Pease Street the Drug Rehabilitation Centre next door required us to block all windows looking towards their premises.    Apparently drugs are no respecter of persons and the wealthier clients would not wish to be seen attending the Centre!

The craving for more drugs ensures continuity of employment for ‘pushers’.   They act as a conduit for the flow of drugs in their area.   The drug users pay dearly and the debt incurred by them ensures loyalty of custom! 

The other common form of escape is through alcohol.   It is having a hard time competing with coffee!   Pubs are closing down as traffic laws enforcing sobriety for the driver are imposed.  

One friend who suffered from alcoholism had long periods off the drink but it eventually ended his life.   He lived in the flats beside the church.   He didn’t leave much behind but this poem is something of himself he expressed: –  

May, June, July and August gone again but not memorable;

Save that I saw them go past the empty quays the rivers flow.

Look at the old house, outmoded, dignified, dark and untended;

With grass growing instead of the footsteps of life, the friendliness, the strife

In its beds have lain youth, love, age and pain.

I am something like that – lonely?

But not on my own.

Tony Curtis.

No one should underestimate the pulling power of an addiction.   At the same time, it should not be overestimated.   Tony knew he was not alone.  He had Jesus.   “I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day (2 Timothy 1 verse 12).

To God be the Glory            Word on the Week                24^th February 2024.

Seeing God’s hand on a work is not always apparent until time filters out the incidental from the important.   So it has been with Jon and Sandra Blackwell’s search for God’s mission field for them.   The initial decisions came slowly.  First the Bible Translation work with Wycliffe and second the field; Cameroon.

That was 20 years ago!   Today there is a New Testament in a new language.   The latter being written down for the first time.   This has opened the door for reading materials and adult literacy work to teach the people to read their own language.   The latter is being developed by a local translator, Pastor Edward.

Taking advantage of modern technology, LCD projectors show scripture films dubbed in the newly available language permitting 40,000 people access to The Word of God in their mother tongue.   The spread of smartphones, powered by solar energy, presents the option of a digital New Testament rather than in book form.

Among the many people from Grace Church in Dublin who visited the Blackwell’s was Mick Toolan.   He was struck by dirty water in everyday use. He discovered that the pumps which operated the few existing wells often mal-functioned.   From the realisation that something could be done the charity Water for Cameroon was formed.

This has succeeded by having local ownership of new wells and by using simple pumps which could be maintained locally.   Mick was able to employ reliable work people and gain acceptance from the local community leaders.

The work spilled out to the making of water filters which are made locally and installed in schools, hospitals and homes.   They run on sand and gravity.  The water being poured into the top and its cleansing is complete by the time the water reaches the tap at its base.  

Allied to these filters is improved hygiene in schools with simple plastic devices for hand washing.    Various other efforts have been made in land irrigation and more recently the building of a small school to reach a remote people.

There is also Cameroon Medical where limited financial aid is dispensed to assist in helping to meet the bills as there is no health service available.

Water for Cameroon is ongoing and Mick, having come back from retirement is now looking for a successor, possibly from Grace church.   In this, as with all the projects, we seek the Lord’s guidance.  

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me (Matthew 25 verse 40).  

Alexei Navalny                      Word on the Week               17^th February 2024.

Alexei Navalny died this week.   He is the most recent and perhaps the best known of Putin’s political enemies.   He loved Russia and held to a vision of a future time when his beloved Russia would be free.   

The 47-year-old blogger had survived poisoning attempts and years in some of Russia’s most notorious jails.  His group had exposed corruption at almost every level of the Russian state – frequently targeting President Putin himself.  

From prison, by various means, Alexei was able to access the internet where he maintained his criticism of Putin.   His last postings earlier this week showed that even interment in Kharp Penal Colony in the Arctic circle could not break his spirit.   He leaves behind a loyal wife and family. Also his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).  No doubt it will continue to expose Putin.

Apparently Alexei had become a thorn in the flesh to Putin.   His courage was amazing.   His following were difficult to control.   There was also the fact of his surviving an attempt to kill him with the deadly Novichok poison.   This had only increased his status both at home and abroad.

It was in 2020 on an internal Russian flight that the poison was applied.  He took ill immediately and the plane landed in Omsk. That emergency landing saved his life. A German-based charity persuaded Russian officials to allow him to be airlifted to Berlin for treatment.

Sometime later the German government revealed that tests carried out by the military found Alexei had been contaminated with “a chemical nerve warfare agent of the Novichok group”. The Kremlin denied any involvement and rejected the Novichok findings.  

This denial came despite the fact that Putin had twice used the substance to kill people in the UK.  These were the days when he wished to prove to his enemies that he could reach them wherever they took refuge.

Lord Acton first coined the phrase in 1887, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.   Proof of its accuracy is being played out before our eyes.   What are we to make Vladimir Putin?   A person who appears to have many options when it comes to killing critics!

Scripture records a time when his enemies were trying to kill Jesus.   His accusers claimed Abraham for their parentage and cast doubt on Jesus’ legitimacy.  Then Jesus made the case for their father to be the devil.   In trying to kill him they were doing the devil’s work.   The devil had been a murderer from the beginning (the devil incited Cain to murder Abel: Genesis 4) and there is no truth in him (John 8 verses 39 to 44).    Murderers and liars are doing the devil’s work.

The Apostle John returns to this theme in his letter.   This time he claims that sinning is of the devil.   But adds the good news that the reason the Son of God came was to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3 verse 8).

Look to Jesus and believe, even Putin, or you and me and have eternal life ((John 6:40).

New Life                           Word on the Week                     10^th February 2024.

One of the joys that light up our spinney is the bursting forth of the snowdrop. They have to penetrate a mat of ground ivy to reach the light of day.  These plants which the poet Thomas Tickell, who lived in Glasnevin, Dublin, (on land which was to become the Botanic Gardens), called ‘vegetable snow’. This name appears in his poem ‘Kensington Gardens’.  Snowdrops brighten up our lives in the dull days of early Spring.

They multiply in the damp woodland conditions and have to be divided and distributed, spreading the joy around.   They are accompanied by a few yellow Aconites which add variety of colour amongst the white snowdrops.

Along the verges of the farm road Cow Parsley begins to appear.  It has a vigorous growth for which our hens are thankful!   It gets cropped daily. A bucketful of its tender shoots is served up daily to the hens as part of their breakfast.

Coming to the fore, sometimes in amongst the cow parsley are the daffodils.   These ‘Lent Lilies’ or in the Irish translation, “the plant with the bowed head” add a splash of yellow to the landscape.   They have been planted in clumps which enables them to powerfully express themselves – as they bloom and fade in turn managing to remain attractive to the end.

And the end does come.  It requires the death of the plant to permit nature to work its miracle in the bulb till its time comes round the following year.  Likewise, the seed must fall into the ground and die before it produces much fruit (John 12 verse 24).  

Walter Chalmers Smith the preacher from Aberdeen, who also wrote hymns, makes the connection with nature and compares it with the unchanging Jesus.          ‘We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish-but naught changes Thee’.

The Apostle Paul, quoting from Isaiah, speaks enthusiastically of the afterlife: –  

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 2 verse 9).

The Apostle then tries to describe the Christian life when it comes to full flower in Heaven.   Within the limits of our vocabulary he sums it up “Just a we have borne the likeness of the earthly man so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15 verse 49).

So the amazing conclusion is that, in heaven, we will be like Jesus!   If you understand the full implications of this, you will be able to look at death with calmness and confidence in a glorious future!

Brigid 1500                     Word on the Week                      3^rd February 2024.

In creating a Public Holiday as a ‘thank you’ to a long-suffering population during the Covid epidemic the Government decided on 1^st February.   Traditionally this is the first day of Spring.   It is also celebrated as St Brigid’s Day.   This year is claimed to be the 1,500 anniversary of her death.

In pre-Christian times it was known as the feast of Imbolc.  One of four such days marking the passage of time through the old Celtic year.  One of the main concerns in Springtime is the fertility of the sheep. The old Irish ‘i mbolg’, means ‘in the belly’, and probably refers to the fertility of the ewes in the flock as the lambing time approaches. 

The customs of St Brigid’s Day got a boost with the introduction of the Public Holiday.   Its traditions have included weaving Brigid’s crosses, hung over doors and windows to protect against fire, illness, and evil spirits. People also made a doll of Brigid with straw which was paraded around the community by girls, sometimes accompanied by ‘strawboys’ wearing straw masks and clothing.

St. Brigid and her cross are linked together by the story that she wove this form of cross at the death bed of either her father or a pagan lord, who upon hearing that the cross meant that his sins could be forgiven, acknowledged them and asked to be baptised into Christ. 

Brigid was renowned for her negotiating skills.   In her dealings with the High King of Leinster for a place to build her monastery he said, dismissively, she could have the area covered by her cloak.   This she readily agreed to and the deal was done.   To the King’s dismay the cloak grew and grew until it covered an area of 5,000 acres in Co Kildare known today as the Curragh.

It is at Downpatrick that she was finally laid to rest with the two other patron saints of Ireland, St. Patrick and St. Conleth. Her skull was extracted and brought to the Lisbon area, her Mother’s birthplace, by two Irish noblemen. A portion of her jaw was returned to Ireland and the relic was taken this week to St Brigid’s Parish Church in Kildare.

RTE, our broadcasting company, showed many of St Brigid’s symbols.  An enthusiast requested a fire to be lit outside Kildare Cathedral in memory of Brigid. The dean, Rev. Tim Wright gently reminded her that there was no need as Jesus the light of the world had already come. “Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8 verse 12).

Lost Things                      Word on the Week                     27^th January 2024.

One of the features in this life of ours that will increase as the years go by is the propensity to lose things!    The other thing is the gravity of the losses seem to increase in importance till finding the lost thing becomes crucial to our peace of mind!

There is the case of the illusive keys.   They have a habit of turning up in the most unlikely of places.   The search goes through the list of hiding places, pockets of clothes recently worn usually bringing about the desired result.

Those of us who depend on pills to keep the body functioning as normal will know just how they can leap out of their container and hide in the cracks in the floor.   They resemble each other and once they escape from their plastic mould it requires a magnifying glass to distinguish their identity!

Perhaps the most unpleasant of all losses is when you lose the proverbial ‘it’.   It usually means that you are out of control.   The self-control mechanisms are malfunctioning and you are on a rant!    The remedy can be hard to find.  My favourite comes from the old ‘Snoopy’ cartoon where the ‘Bear’ suggests to the ranting Snoopy, “somebody needs to stick his head in a bucket of iced water”!

I remember, in the days before smartphones, the farmer returning home after a successful day selling cattle at the mart, to find he had lost the wife!   A hasty retracing of the journey ensued.    The reunited pair doubtless had much to discuss on the journey home!

Jesus came into the world to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19 verse 10).   He spoke famously of the lost son (Luke 15 verses 11 to 32).   In this case it was not only the body but the soul of the son that was lost.  He had determined to depart from his roots following the advice of the psalmist who quoted what the fool said in his heart “no God for me” (Psalm 14 verse 1).

This led the Prodigal into all sorts of trouble and it does the same today for those who try to live a life apart from God.   These thoughts come from the lost person’s heart (Mark 7 verses 20 to 23).   But there is forgiveness for the one who turns from them and trusts Jesus who came to seek and to save the lost Luke 19 verse 10).

The next time you lose something remind yourself that being found by Jesus is of far greater importance as it is valid for this life and the next.