Living Wittily

Are Gates Obstacles in Our Path or Opportunities to Grow?

I love gates. Iron, wooden, old, not so much new. My first 15 years were spent on farms where my dad was the dairyman. I came to understand gates. Gates are for closing, they are for letting animals out and letting animals in. A gate is both a safety mechanism and a convenient point of access for tractors - once upon a time, and I remember that far back, it was for working horses!

Gates are visible and tangible metaphors, but are they obstacles or opportunities? Are they there to keep us out, or to invite us to open up the next stage of the path, and walk on? To open a gate, and close it behind us, is one of those actions that is both intentional and purposeful. I doubt if opening and closing a gate is ever thoughtless or careless. 

In my own growth and development into the person I now am, or am becoming, I've walked through many a gate. There are those life experiences when you know that you have gone through a definite point of transition, the landscape has changed and so have you. The day I came to faith in Jesus, and decided to surrender my life to the loving service of "the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me", a gate was opened by God into a new future, and that same gate closed on a life to which I could never go back.

The words of that Billy Graham anthem, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back" are life-changing testimony, accompanied by the clicking shut of a gate on what was, and moving into a new future and a different path.

The moment of discovered vocation is also a gate, a hinge point that swings open to the next field of the life we are to live. For me that call to be a minister of the Gospel, and to spend my life as servant of the community of Christ's people was another gate opened and closed behind me. And since then many other gates, each requiring a decision of whether to open and move on, after closing that gate behind us.

I've been wondering about how and why we make the decisions we do, why we go through some gates and not others. Discerning what is good for us, and trying to fit that with where we believe God is calling us is one of the more scary and risk-laden tensions of the spiritual life. 

God's voice is of the heart.

I do not therefore say all voices of the heart are God's,

And to discern his voice amongst the voices

Is that hard task to which we each are born.

I came across that anonymous verse in an old devotional long since lost. But these lines have given me significant wisdom in the big decisions. They, along with mind and heart open to Scripture, guidance from trusted friends, prayer to tell the ego to pipe down, and trying to read and understand our own life story, - these are what significantly shape our decisions when we come to another gate.

All of this perhaps explains my need to take a photo of a good gate! Obstacle or opportunity, there to halt me or give me access; but often enough, a challenge to see if I'm ready to walk another path through another field and into a wider landscape. Or so it seems to me.   

TFTD September 16-22: John Newton and the Name of Jesus.

Monday

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.

John Newton based this hymn on references to fragrant ointment in the Song of Solomon. ‘Sweet’ evokes love, devotion and comfort, a familiar reassuring voice ‘in a believer’s ear.’ The power of the name of Jesus to make sorrow bearable, to be as ointment in wounds, as assurance in danger, gathers so many biblical texts from the Psalms to the Gospels. Newton could be deeply affected emotionally when thinking of the mercy of God and the grace of Christ, ever wondering about that ‘amazing grace’ which for the believer distils into the name above all names, ‘Jesus.’ 

Tuesday

It makes the wounded spirit whole and calms the troubled breast;
'tis manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary, rest.

The wounded spirit, troubled breast, hungry soul, and weary body all find their answers in wholeness, calm, manna and rest. Newton ransacks the Bible for metaphors of how the name of Jesus is medicine, consolation, food and a Sabbath for the whole person. Down the centuries many Christians have not only prayed in the name of Jesus, but at times simply speaking his name becomes all that need be said to the One who knows the deepest realities of the heart.

Wednesday

Dear Name! the Rock on which I build; my shield and hiding-place;
My never-failing treasury, fill'd with boundless stores of grace.

“Jesus is a rock in a weary land” is a line from another hymn that alludes to the Psalms, and God is the Rock on which life can be safely built. Newton may well have been thinking of the house built on the rock of obedience to Jesus’ teaching, as in Matthew 7. Not content with three images, the name of Jesus is also the key to ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ.’ None of the variations of contemporary worship should over-indulge our experience nor over-emphasise what we feel – the focus of worship is beyond ourselves, a bowing before the name that is above every name, and an acknowledgement of our indebtedness to God’s boundless stores of grace in Christ.

Thursday

By Thee my prayers acceptance gain, although with sin defil'd;
Satan accuses me in vain, and I am own'd a child.

Yes. I know. We don’t usually sing that verse, and no modern hymn book includes it. But John Newton was deeply conscious of the power of sin and Satan, and the hold of guilt and shame on his heart and conscience. His own personal history as a slave ship captain was a guilt-burden he carried all his life. Our prayers for forgiveness and grace will never become redundant; our gratitude for the grace that saves us is a lifelong hymn of the heart. And despite all Satan’s subterfuges, we remain, securely, children of God, our every prayer accepted in the name of Jesus.

Friday

Jesus, my Shepherd, Husband, Friend, my Prophet, Priest, and King,
my Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring.

This could be a worship and prayer list, a prayer list of contemplative images that, like Mary, can be pondered and kept in the heart. That might be quite enough as a Thought for the Day – or a whole week. Modern versions change ‘husband’ to ‘brother.’ They shouldn’t be so quick to ‘improve’ Newton! When he used the word ‘husband’ in the late 18^th Century, it could also mean ‘one who attends to a ship’s stores and provisions.’ (Oxford English Dictionary) And that makes perfect sense to Newton the retired seaman!

Saturday  

Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought;
but when I see Thee as Thou art, I'll praise Thee as I ought.

John Newton, evangelical Church of England vicar, anti-slavery convert, pastor of immense sensitivity and spiritual affection, looks forward to the beatific vision, the full gaze of the redeemed soul on Jesus the Saviour. Like each of us, Newton could be strict with his own heart, critical of his changeable love and unreliable inner climate. But it will be all right, and all will be made right, when he sees the beauty and the glory, the grace and the mercy of redeeming Love. Then, and perhaps not until then, he will be enabled to praise Jesus as he ought, and as freely and fully as throughout his life he longed to do

Sunday

Till then I would Thy love proclaim with every fleeting breath;
and may the music of Thy name refresh my soul in death.

Another hymn written a century later, echoes this verse: “There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth; it sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth.”  Newton and Cowper between them wrote The Olney Hymns, originally for the weekly prayer meeting in Olney. That the name of Jesus was music in Newton’s ears is no surprise, nor is his desire to use every fleeting breath to proclaim, make known, and convince others to receive and be owned by the Love that had saved a wretch like him! Towards the end of his life he wrote: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things; that I am a great sinner, and Jesus is a great Saviour.” Rest in peace, and rise in glory, John Newton.

Reading Brunner While Recovering from Covid!

 

Yesterday I spent a while reading some Emil Brunner. I'm not sure how many are now able to see behind Barth to his contemporary whose Dogmatics are in three medium sized volumes of around 1000 pages.

 

Brunner's Dogmatics Vol. 1, Chapters 14-16 are on The Holy, God is Love, and The Triune God. For me they are theological gold, and amongst the best of Brunner's writing. If reading good theology helps in the recovery from Covid, then I did myself a lot of good yesterday!

 

Sometime I'll write a blog post about why I've kept Brunner as valued friend ever since I first read him in 1978. For now, here he is in doxological mode:

 

"The most wonderful testimony to this final unity between Holiness and reconciling Love is found indeed, at the close of the farewell discourses of Jesus in the Gospel of John: "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are. . .The whole passage is a symphony in which the themes of Holiness, Glory, Communion and Love constantly recur and blend in perfect harmony. The 'gratia' is fulfilled in the 'gloria', and the 'gloria' itself is simply perfect communion."

 

I think the photo belongs to I John Hesselink, who arranged a meeting between Barth and Brunner in 1960, the last meeting of these two Professors of Dogmatics. You can read about Hesselink the bridge-builder in this delightful article mainly about Heselink's friendship with Brunner.

TFTD Sep 9-15: The Solidity of a Life Founded on Integrity

Monday

Psalm 15.1 “Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?”

Sacred. Holy. Two words you don’t hear every day. I wonder if the church’s anxiety to downplay the distinction between sacred and secular has back-fired? We need words like reverence and awe. They describe our recognition that life has boundaries. The word ‘holy’ lies at the heart of Christian worship: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, bow down before him, his glory proclaim.” I wonder too if we have become too self-important to feel the need to bow down. We could do with recovering at least some of the Psalm poet’s sense of the holiness, majesty and glory of God.

Tuesday

Psalm 15.2a “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.”

Blameless and righteous living has to do with behaviour and action, what we do and why we do it. Righteousness is strongly flavoured with justice, fairness and mercy. To use a phrase too tritely used by politicians – Righteousness is “to do the right thing.” And for the right reasons. The blameless walk is about a way of life, the settled disposition of someone for whom doing what God approves is sufficient reason.

Wednesday

Psalm 15.2b “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.”

A blameless walk and righteous action are complemented by speech that can be trusted, and words that can be believed. Now more than ever, in a culture of devalued truth and easily distorted words, integrity in our speech is an important sign of those who take truth seriously, because we take God seriously. The complaint “Nothing is sacred anymore,” suggests that deep down we know that such things as truth, goodness, beauty, God and God’s ways, have a claim on us. God requires integrity, a close match between our words, our heart and the world we live in.  

Thursday
Psalm 15.3 “Whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbour, and casts no slur on others.”

Words wound. Words spoil reputations. Words ignite conflicts. No wonder the Bible repeatedly warns against words that are false, malicious, trouble-making, forged in anger and spoken in spite. “The tongue is a fire”, says James. “Every word you speak must be accounted for”, warned Jesus. It isn’t possible to come into God’s presence to pray and praise, if much of our speaking elsewhere causes damage, hurt and misunderstanding. We get to enjoy God’s presence when our daily conversations at home, work and wherever, are consistent with what we say in our worship and prayers; when our words are also blameless and righteous.  

Friday
Psalm 15.4 “Who despises a vile person but honours those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind.”

The Psalm-poet warns about bad company. We can be a bit self-righteous if we baulk at ‘despising a vile person.’ To fear the Lord is to put the values and ways of God first in our relationships. So if we make promises we keep them, however inconvenient it turns out to be. In a society like that of our Psalm-poet, doing business depended on keeping your word, being trusted on the strength of a promise. Indeed the steadfast love of the Lord is a belief embedded in a culture where the word was a bond. God doesn’t change his mind about what he has promised – nor should those who come into God’s presence on the strength of those promises. Our word should be as dependable as God’s promises to us. There’s a thought!

Saturday
Psalm 15.5 “Who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.”

What we do with our money, and what we allow our money to do to us, is absolutely central to a life of practical obedience to God, and faithful Christian discipleship. Luther said property is fellowship through created things. Money is a sacrament, a means of grace, a means to the end of loving our neighbour. In a consumerist and competitive world, how we as Christians use our money becomes counter-cultural, subversive of barcodes and Q8 scan codes. Banksy’s newest art says: “When you give to the poor leave the camera at home.” Aye. That!

Sunday

Psalm 15.6 “Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”

Living with integrity is a present continuous process. Integrity is the outcome of habits of thought and action, countless choices for good, so that such behaviour becomes characteristic of the doer. They are predictably trustworthy. That’s a big ask. But the good character of a Christian is a powerful statement, a persuasive argument, a recurring witness to our faith in a faithful God.

This whole Psalm is about how we behave outside the church affecting the quality and sincerity of what we do inside God’s house. Doing righteousness, speaking truth, blameless walk, making our money talk the language of compassion – do these things and life is well founded.