Tuesday 19 March 2024

Still Quarrying: Forgiven!

 One of the biggest challenges in the Christian faith is forgiveness.  It is sometimes presented in such a way that if we are the victim of some insult, betrayal, theft or assault our automatic response should be to forgive.  But in practise it is never that easy.  Complications arise. What, for instance, if the person who has caused us such pain does not feel in need of forgiveness?  Their view is we deserved what we got.  Or even more complicated.  A Christian believes that what he/she said to us or did to us, although it has caused us pain, was the right thing and is so recognised in Heaven.  

It can be even more of a challenge, however, to believe that we are forgiven.  It is at the heart of our faith that God through the death of Jesus has dealt with all our sin, but has it really sunk in?  Yesterday I had an idea that I would write down on pieces of paper all those things that trouble me about my past, put them in a bin liner and rejoice to see the binman take it all away to a place I will never know.  But then it occurred to me that I would ever completely wipe out all that stuff from my mind and was never meant to.   John Newton could write about ‘Amazing Grace’ because he was mindful of what he was before he took the story of Jesus to his heart and was grateful that by the grace of God he was given the opportunity to begin again.  

Then think about Mary Magdalene, a faithful follower of Jesus.    Luke tells us that she lived a disturbed life before the turn-around she experienced when she encountered Jesus.  (Luke 8: 1-2) If it was known about her past in the community and the fellowship of believers, it cannot have been very far away from her mind.  

Paul saw himself and all Christians as ‘a new creation’ in Christ but never forgot that he had in the past colluded in the deaths by execution of people in the rising Christian movement.   Peter never forgot that he had denied Jesus.  But all these people could stand up under the weight of past sin because they believed that it no longer defined their lives.  They were no longer just sinners, but sinners renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit.  ‘Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven.’  

The best way forward for us all is to meditate on the powerful images we find in Scripture of what it means to be forgiven.

In his final prayer the prophet Micah says:

‘Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.  You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins under foot and hurl all our iniquities into the deaths of the sea.’  (Micah 7: 18-19)

Consider the depths of the sea.  That is the distance of our sins from us.  They may still be there in some unfathomed place, we remember them, but they no longer touch us, they no longer define our lives.  

The Psalmist writes:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’  (Psalm103: 11-12)

It’s a powerful image.  God taking charge of our sins and hurling them into the depths of space.  They are ‘removed’ from us.  They may still be there in some unexplored place, we remember them, but they no longer touch us, they no longer define our lives.   

As we approach Holy Week we are invited to ponder the last days of Jesus on this earth and the fulfilment of his mission to make it possible for us to be forgiven, and to be part of a community where the temperature of forgiveness among us is high.  Having been touched by the power of forgiveness in our lives, however much of a challenge it may be, nevertheless it should never be absent from Christian aspiration.  

Sunday 11 February 2024

Still Quarrying: Conditional Goodwill?

 

On the Sunday after Queen Elizabeth died, I opened the morning service at St Paul’s by acknowledging the events of the past week and giving notice that prayers would be said for her family in their sorrow and for the King in particular as he faced new responsibilities and challenges.  In the Children’s Talk I spoke about the Queen’s tea party with Paddington, how she served Paddington that day, how she served the nation through the years, and how we are always blessed by people who give of themselves for the sake of others.  The Scripture tie up was God’s gift to us of Jesus and how Jesus in turn lived a life of giving to those who needed Him most.  

 

That was it really.  Looking back at my sermon notes there were no references to the Queen.  I stuck to my usual task of providing what I hoped was a faithful exposition of a passage of Scripture, on this occasion Psalm 85.

 

The service had even more significance for me.  It was the last time I would celebrate the Lord’s Supper in St Paul’s.  The following Sunday would see my last service before retiring.  To break bread and share wine in memory of our Lord is always a high point in ministry but on this occasion the emotions were even stronger.  

 

The service over, I am at the back of the Church where people are gathered as usual, and  today mindful of how I must be feeling there are hugs and the occasional tears and it’s an effort to keep myself together.  I see a man standing apart from the general huddle.  He says he wants to talk to me.  I don’t know him.  Obviously, a visitor.  And he looks as if he is ready to do battle.  No name is offered.  He introduces himself as a member of a charity that works with the homeless and he is distressed at what he perceived to be the prominence I had given to the Queen in the service.  The wealth and privilege she represents has no relevance to people on the street.  

 

Now you must understand that immediately after a service is not the best time to have a go at a preacher.  Having poured out your soul for well over an hour in prayer and preaching is emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually demanding.  Adrenaline is pumping and weighing on your mind is the question: ‘Did they get the message?’  It’s a kind of maelstrom of the inner being that not even close friends or family members can fully appreciate.  So to have this man suggest that I had departed from my first responsibility to preach the Gospel was hard to take.  

 

I cannot clearly remember how I responded although I did manage to refer to my longstanding involvement with the Preshal Trust in Govan with it’s concern for the marginalised in society.  But in the end, it was all rather defensive and maybe even verging on incoherence.  The look on his face told me that for all the impression I was making I might as well have been stoning him with popcorn.  Needless to say the encounter did not end well.  

 

Monarchy does get people worked up one way or another.  Others just accept it as part of our national life.  It has some surprising supporters.  When former First Minister Alex Salmond was asked if the monarchy would have a role in an independent Scotland he responded: ‘Elizabeth Queen of Scots sounds good to me.’  

 

Personally, my respect for the Queen grew through the years as I learned more of her faith and her deep commitment to serve.  Of all the words spoken and written during the Covid pandemic, her broadcast to the nation ending with the heartfelt hope that ‘we will meet again’ has stayed with me.  Maybe what was happening was a deeper appreciation of the person who cared about those who were bereaved and suffering and who as a Christian she held in her prayers, looking forward in faith to better days.

 

That is something we all have to remember when thinking about the King and his present health challenges.   The Church’s relation to the State has for centuries been a source of controversy and passages of Scripture have been cited to support different and, indeed, opposing views.  What should be remembered by all groups is that human beings make up the machinery of government.  They make mistakes as well as do good, they carry a great weight of responsibility, and therefore stand in need of the prayers of the Christian community.  When governments work at their best justice is pursued, stability maintained, and the sick and vulnerable are a care priority.  It is to those ends that we uphold them in prayer.  When governments depart from those priorities it is a matter of concern, but the prayers continue with the emphasis on change.  It was on this basis that the Confessing Church under the Third Reich prayed for Adolf Hitler.  

 

Many have been the responses to the news of the King’s cancer diagnosis, but it has been sad to read and hear what can only be described as conditional goodwill.  Some have taken this opportunity to express their disagreement with the institution of the monarchy or their dislike of the King personally along the lines of: ‘I disagree with the monarchy but best wishes to the King.’  A man’s cancer is not an opportunity to press personal opinions.  To draw near someone with an expression of goodwill and at the same time maintain a resolute distance seems disingenuous in the extreme.  In the end a man has received the diagnosis we all dread.  What would we like to hear in these circumstances?  

 

Everyone llikes to be called a Good Samaritan but have we really grasped what it means?  It is not just a call to perform ‘good deeds’ but to show a radical,  concern for the  traumatised in society regardless of race and religion, and to allow nothing, not money or inconvenience to come in the way of responding to his need.  The Samaritan was focussed on the person.  Whatever barriers existed between himself and the mugged and wounded Jew were irrelevant.  (Luke 10: 25-37)

 

Remember Jesus did not tell stories just to entertain.  He expected a response.  When a listener had grasped that differences mean nothing in face of suffering and need he said:

 

‘Go and do likewise.’  

Saturday 3 February 2024

Still Quarrying: Wheat And Weeds.

 There have been horrific acts of violence reported in the media in the past week not least the chemical assault on a mother and her children by Abdul Ezedi  granted asylum from Afghanistan by the British government.  Much has been made in the media that Ezedi’s third successful application for asylum was influenced by his conversion to Christianity.  In a radio interview Robert Jenerick, former Minister of State for Immigration, warned against spurious claims for asylum supported by ‘well well-meaning but naïve vicars and priests.’   

 

Phillip North, the Anglican Bishop of Blackburn, has responded to this by outlining the preparation that is required by anyone wishing to join the Church of England.  But of more significance was his argument that no matter how faithful someone might have been in their church attendance and their willingness to take vows of membership it is impossible to look into their souls to ascertain where they actually stand with Jesus Christ.  In the end the granting of asylum is the responsibility of government and not the Church.  

 

This is exactly what was going through my mind.  I am not the only minister who has seen people through preparation for membership, heard them take vows of membership before God and a congregation, only to see them disappear like the proverbial snow off a dyke, usually when the wedding or baptism has taken place, or the first flush of enthusiasm has died.  I never found it easy just to mentally shrug my shoulders with a some you win some you lose attitude.  Questions arise as to how we do things in the Church.  Have we reduced membership to the level of any other club or organisation when Jesus made it clear that discipleship involved first and foremost

Commitment to Him and the taking up of a cross?  

 

But it’s the Bishop’s point that stands.  We cannot look into people’s souls to ascertain where people stand with Jesus Christ. Jesus warns us against passing judgment on people’s eternal souls and taking precipitate action against those who may raise questions in our minds with regard to their commitment.  He told a story about a farmer who sowed wheat which an enemy tried to spoil by sowing weeds.  The farm hands wanted to pull up the weeds, but the farmer refused.  Even more damage could be done to the crop.  ‘Let both grow together until the harvest.’  (Matthew 13: 24-30)

 

That is a challenge to us all.  But as with many things, when we find ourselves reacting against others in the Church, how do we look from the perspective of eternity, in the eyes of the only One who looks into our depths?  

Wednesday 13 December 2023

Still Quarrying: Riding The Bumps.

 After the Stem Cell Transplant in 2020 a doctor friend revealed that his greatest anxiety for me was that I would pick up an infection during the process.

  For a period of time, I would virtually have no immune system, all my childhood inoculations would be wiped out, and when I was eventually discharged it would be with a compromised immunity. This was just before we were beginning to feel the impact of Covid-19.  So, when it hit us I was classified as highly vulnerable and strongly advised not to stray beyond my doorstep.  

 

I don’t think I realised at the time how dangerous those months were for me.  Recent events have brought that home.  I’ve had coughs and sniffles over the last few years but at the beginning of November it reached a new level.  The persistent cough and breathlessness became so bad that eventually I contacted the Beatson cancer help line.  That led to an admission to the Assessment Unit where it was discovered that I had picked up a Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).  There was nothing much that could be done in the way of treatment except to go home, stay warm, and avoid contact with other people as far as possible. Obviously if things got worse, I would need to be admitted but for the time being yet again it was a case of ‘watch and wait’.  

 

It was disappointing.  I had hit another of those bumps that frequent this cancer life.  The physical discomfort is bad enough but then come the waves of frustration, irritation, and even anger.  And that is followed by the burden of not coping in a way that I think is appropriate for someone who seeks to have his life defined by an awareness of God the Father, the teaching and example of His Son Jesus, and the power of His Holy Spirit.  

 

How many hours have been spent meditating on the Scriptures?  How many insights have I gathered from fellow believers going through their worst of times? How many opportunities have there been to take the truths I have gathered and seek to encourage and help others through preaching and counsel?  Where now are those moments when an unmistakable Presence has supported me when the darkness was deepest?  

 

It sometimes feels as if all of this has been wiped out as I feel the judder of another ‘bump’.  But what if these times come to us to further demonstrate just how personal and powerful God can be in our lives.  Stripped to the bone spiritually where is our help, our strength, and our hope?  If I were dealing with someone like me in my days of regular pastoral work I would be encouraging her to focus on the constant testimony of believers in Scripture and in the history of the Church that no darkness has ever mastered the light of Christ, that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God, that God in Christ has overcome the suffering and death that threatens to destroy our quality of life.

 

Still in the grip of the RSV I heard a powerful message from a Welsh preacher on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday worship.  He was focused on John 11: 35.  Jesus’ response to the death of Lazarus and the effect this had on those who were closest to him: 

 

 ‘Jesus wept’. 

 

The Son of God felt the pain of corruption and death even as He knew that this was not the end for Lazarus.  Holding suffering and hope together is the ultimate challenge for many Christians at a personal level.  But the life, death and resurrection of Jesus shows us that despite the pain, the frustration, the despair we are given good reason to hope.  God was in Christ angered by disease, disturbed by death, but holding in his heart the ultimate purpose of the coming Kingdom where no darkness would fall.  The apostle John’s visions contained one showing the triumph of the Kingdom:

 

‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more.

 Neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore,

 For the former things have passed away.’  (Revelation 21: 4.)

 

We will never cease to hit the ‘bumps’ and ask the question why?  We see this all through Scripture.  Listen to David, Job, Jeremiah.  So many others,  even the Son of God as He suffered.  But drawing near to these supreme witnesses we pray for grace not just to admire them or take comfort from them but to live their way in every circumstance.   

Tuesday 10 October 2023

Still Quarrying: When The Bell Rings.

Over the last few years, I’ve spent a bit of time in the Beatson cafeteria.  It’s a good place to have coffee, read, and await my chauffeuse to bear me home in her motor car.  (I’m not driving at present.  Concentration a bit suspect.)   From time to time, you hear a bell ringing.   Installed for those who have completed their treatment it sends out a message:

 

Ring This Bell 

Three Times well.

My treatment’s done,

This course is run,

AND I AM ON MY WAY!

 

The cafeteria is usually crowded so the sound of the bell is greeted with applause, cheers and hugs.  And a wide smile, and sometimes tears, from the patient looking forward to better days.

 

I heard the bell a week past on Monday and it occurred to me, nor for the first time, that as things stand, I will never ring that bell.  There is no absolute cure for Multiple Myeloma although in in my case I have been assured that as long as I continue with the chemotherapy and other medication the disease can be considered to be under control.  

 

It sounds a bit morbid, but it is not unusual for people to have medical conditions that require them to be on life-long treatment.  My mother was diagnosed with angina in her mid-fifties which remained with her until her death at age 88.  As with many things what matters is how we respond to the challenges that fall to us, making adjustments to lifestyle and aspiring to be content. 

 

When the bell rings I’m reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome.   After a heavy theological discourse Paul shows us how it must all be put into practise.  In the midst of a scattergun list of practical application he writes:

 

‘Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.’  (Romans 12: 15)

 

I suppose there was a time when I would have thought it more difficult to mourn with those who mourn.   But experience has taught me that it can be more difficult to rejoice with those who rejoice.  When someone is being blessed in a way that is eluding you  it can be very difficult to connect with their spirit of rejoicing.  But like so many things when it comes to a Biblical quality of life, we are persistently called to aspire to those things that are best for us and for those around us.  That needs help as Paul learned when he prayed continually for healing from pain and did not appear to be receiving an answer.  God’s word to him was:

 

‘My grace is made suffient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  (2 Corinthians 12: 8)

 

The bell may never ring but the Gospel rings our with promises that will never fade.  


 

Sunday 1 October 2023

Still Quarrying: Fresh, Green, Proclaiming.

 Here’s a thing.  What is the connection between Hercule Poirot and Psalm 92? 

 

Yesterday one of my morning psalms was Psalm 92, a song of praise to God for His love and faithfulness, His creative power and His sovereignty in a world where wickedness seems to have the upper hand.  The psalm ends with an assurance that those who are faithful to God will show signs of His rule in the here and now:

 

‘The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,

they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;

planted in the house of the Lord,

they will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still bear fruit in old age,

they will stay fresh and green,

proclaiming ‘The Lord is upright,

He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.’ (vv. 12-15) 

 

What caught my attention particularly was vv. 14-15:

 

‘They will still bear fruit in old age,

they will stay fresh and green,

proclaiming ‘The Lord is upright,

He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.’

 

I had a birthday the other day which brings me within one year of the biblical ‘three score years and ten’.  So, it was good to read that as far as God is concerned we are never over the hill, passed it, burned out.  To the end of our lives, we ‘bear fruit’, we stay ‘fresh and green’, we continue to serve by proclaiming the great truths concerning God and His ways. 

 

These assurances were still glowing within when we went to see the new Poirot movie, ‘A Haunting In Venice.’  (Kenneth Branagh as Poirot will never surpass David Suchet in my eyes but it’s always good to have your prejudices challenged.). Poirot has retired and is living very privately in Venice.  He has taken great steps to avoid being drawn into further detective work even to the extent of hiring a bodyguard to keep people and their problems at a distance.   But there would not be a movie if this remained the state of affairs and very soon we see Poirot drawn into the work that has made him world-famous.  

 

That’s the only spoiler you will get.  But it was good Saturday afternoon entertainment and remarkable to me that there was a connection with Psalm 92.  In the end Poirot bears fruit in old age, shows himself to be fresh and green, and is ultimately fulfilled in the work he was destined to do.  

 

There have been a few challenges for me in retirement, not least the continuing treatment that leaves me below par for half the week.  But more that anything is the absence of preaching.  It is not something that can readily be put into words, but colleagues will know what I mean when I say that you are never more fulfilled when out of your reflection on God’s Word a message emerges which you are called to deliver to God’s people.  This is not to say that it comes easy.  There are battles to be fought in the preparation and in the very act of delivery but the fulfilment in the end is beyond anything else in human experience. 

 

When this is no longer a regular part of your life there is a sense of incompleteness at the centre of your inner being.  So, it has been a blessing recently to have the opportunity to preach in our parish church, Renfrew Trinity, and a few weeks ago in St. Andrew’s Trinity in Johnstone.  And I am looking forward to the couple of gigs I have in the diary.  It’s good to be still involved even if in a limited way.  And to do so in the assurances that come from Psalm 92 that I can bear fruit in old age, stay fresh and green and proclaim what I know to be true concerning the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Tuesday 22 August 2023

Still Quarrying: Broken Trust: 'The Devil Amongst Us'?

When you are facing long-term medical treatment there are certain qualities that you have to learn to develop: patience, resilience, contentment.    But chief among these qualities is trust.  I’ve heard myself say to people throughout my time under treatment that you have to come to the place where you are content to let people do things to you in the faith that this is the best way forward for you.    Demanding scans, needles, cannulas, drugs that take the feet away from you.  But all prescribed and given in the confidence that this is for the good.  And we are called upon to accept the judgement of the medics.  The responsibility they carry is monumental.  They may be prescribing treatment that will initially make us feel worse, but the intention is that ultimately it will at least improve our quality of life or, indeed, cure.  And we trust them.

 

It's with this mind, that I am most disturbed by the Lucy Letby case.  Surely it is the biggest challenge in the whole area of trust to place the life of your baby in the hands of another.  If it’s difficult enough to place your own life in the hands of another, how much more when it is your baby?  And Lucy Letby continually reassured parents with the words: ‘Trust me I am a nurse.’  When something good is twisted and made to become an opportunity for evil then spiritually this is one of the worst things.  

 

Jesus was once accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul.  He responded by saying that anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit is beyond forgiveness.  (Matthew 12: 32) Once you say God is bad the pathway to Him is blocked off.  What Lucy Letby did was to distort something that is good, trust, and make it the gateway for abuse and death.  

 

And what of Lucy Letby?  She has received the most severe custodial sentence since the abolition of capital punishment.  She will spend the rest of her life in jail.  Added to her crimes has been her refusal to attend court to hear the Judge’s remarks and the experiences of the parents whose lives she has affected irrevocably.  A last demonstration of control which seems to be part of her mindset.  

 

But what of her now?  I caught sight of a tabloid headline yesterday which topped a photograph of Lucy Letby with the words: ‘Proof That The Devil Is Amongst Us.’ 

She is deemed to be beyond normal human society and few would argue with that.  But in her lifetime as it stretches out before her is there no hope that there could be repentance?  Is it the case that the road to God is eternally blocked off to her?  I recent sang in Church Frances Crosby’s hymn with the verse:

 

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,

To every believer the promise of God;

The vilest offender who truly believes.

That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.’

 

In the latest revision of the Church of Scotland hymnbook that third line has been changed to ‘for every offender who truly believes/ that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.’  An updating of language?  Or a call to recognise that that there is no category of sinners - and we are all sinners - which is uniquely beyond the mercy of God?  

 

We need to pray for great humility when it comes to speculating on the eternal souls of others.  My overriding thought at this moment is that in prison Lucy Letby will come into touch with some Christian influence, a Chaplain, another prisoner, who will be used to bring about that radical change Paul spoke of when he said that those who are in Christ are a ‘new creation.’  

 

Final word.  Confronted with the worst in human conduct it is never inappropriate to look to ourselves for those times when we have hurt others or burned against them inwardly and stood in need of the mercy of God.