Late sunset, those last minutes when, filtered through a forest, the sun can be looked at as what the mystics might have called a dazzling darkness, the interplay when shadows are illumined and light is shaded.
Combined with silence, interrupted by our own footsteps and the friction of sleeve on winter jacket, those 40 minutes of walking at dusk are a form of invisible mending, frayed strands gathered back into the weft, and the garment of our days good to go, for another day.
I was at one of the Glasgow Baptist Churches on a pulpit exchange Sunday. I had chosen what I thought were well known hymns. We would finish with “How Firm a Foundation You Saints of the Lord.” Problem. The organist didn’t like playing the usual tune. I tried to be persuasive, diplomatic, and patient. He wasn’t interested, and said he would choose the tune and play it and it would be fine.
So I preached, and we came to the last hymn. The first verse goes like this:
How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled.
On a June summer evening, in a wee Baptist church, we sang this rousing, faith-building hymn to the tune for “O Come All Ye Faithful”, a tune forever embedded in winter snow and Christmas trees. Try it for yourself! The last line was sung by a startled then near hysterical congregation, trying to sing with devout seriousness:
You who unto Jesus / You who unto Jesus
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled.
I can no longer sing this verse without praying for inner calm. But the truth at the heart of that first verse is as true now as it was when it was written. The foundations of the church of Jesus Christ are firm, rooted and anchored in the promises of God.
All of this came back to me when I was reading Psalm 33 in preparation for Service this Sunday. Not only is it Remembrance Sunday, which brings its own solemnity and time for reflection on the costs of human conflict. But looking ahead following COP 26 the world faces major challenges on climate change, the COVID pandemic continues to have a global impact, major refugee movements and famine threats in Afghanistan, Yemen and other parts of our world. Many of the firm foundations we have relied on are beginning to feel decidedly shaky.
So these words from Psalm 33 are precisely the promises and prayers which still provide a firm foundation for our own lives, the life of the Church, and indeed the future of God’s good creation.
“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our strength and shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
To wait in hope isn’t the same as giving in. Another great hymn we don’t sing often enough has the lines,
Save us from weak resignation, to the evils we deplore...
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving Thee whom we adore.
We wait in hope before God because we have learned that God is our strength and shield, and we trust in his holy name. Hope is the opposite of shoulder-shrugging, I can’t help it resignation. Hope is when faith is at its most defiant. Hope is when we stand beneath the cross with broken-hearted disciples, and head with the women for the tomb with its immovable rock, and find that the immovable stone has been moved, and the crucified is glorified. And our hearts rejoice in hope.
We wait in hope because God isn’t finished with the church, and the church isn’t finished. How firm a foundation! What more can he say than to you he has said? Our wee church in Montrose (like every other Christian congregation) is built on the firm foundation of God’s promises:
“You are fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Ephesians 2.19-20.
So as Psalm 33 says, “We wait in hope…” Not wild unrealistic hope, but the settled confidence that God can be trusted. Not passive let’s do nothing hope, but hopeful living, hope-filled praying, acts of hopefulness and hope-building. Not fingers crossed and hope for the best hope, but an inner assurance that God keeps his word, and we can trust his holy name.
We are in a time of flux, unpredictability, and multiple crises. Anxiety and uncertainty can easily slide into despair. But our faith has a firm foundation, and so does our hope. What more can he say than to you he has said…”He who did not spare his own Son, but freely gave him up for us all, will he not, with him, freely give us all things.”
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
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