Living Wittily

Photos of Isaiah's Hopeful Imagination 2. God's Long-Term Investment in Life.

It's true. To plant a tree is to trust in the future. A tree is a long term investment in life The prophet Isaiah repeatedly speaks about trees as symbols of hope.

Trees are those slow growing signposts that line the road to Zion. Listen to the applause of creation for the Creator as "the trees of the field clap their hands". Trees that in the long years of arboreal life are to be pictured as signs of God's promise that "as the days of a tree" so shall be the long life of his people.

Isaiah finds so many ways to encourage faith, to restore hope, and to find metaphors for the reality of the incomparable God, who when He moves in justice and mercy creation applauds, dances, and bursts into fruitfulness. 

In the hopeful imagination of Isaiah, God will grow trees of hope in a new landscape in which the wilderness becomes a forest, the desert an orchard, the barren place an olive grove.

This wonderful poem describes hope as the impossible reforestation of the desert.

I will make trees grow in the desert.
    I will plant cedar and acacia trees there.
    I will plant myrtle and olive trees there.
I will make juniper trees grow in the dry and empty desert.
    I will plant fir and cypress trees there.
   Then people will see and know
    that my powerful hand has done it.
They will consider and understand
    that I have created it.
    I am the Holy One of Israel.”

My guess is we don't pay enough attention to trees. Preoccupied by money, anxious about today let alone tomorrow, accustomed to think short term instead of a future oriented hopefulness - no wonder a walk in a wood makes a difference to how we feel inside, and how we look at the world.

This Advent, Christmas trees don't have to be artificial, bauble bedecked stumps cut off too soon. Instead walk the woods with Isaiah, and listen for the applause of creation- consider and understand - God makes all this happen. Immanuel, God with us.

Photos of Isaiah's Hopeful Imagination. 1. Deserts and Flowing Rivers

Isaiah's hopeful imagination for a people used to desert, wilderness and land made barren by the absence of water:

 

"I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs." (Isaiah 41.18)

 

I know Advent majors on the symbol of light - but when it rains, use your imagination. This small weir flows out of a lochan currently filled and still filling with rainwater. Over the summer this was a waterless waterfall.

 

God does this kind of thing when inwardly the heart feels like a waterless waterfall.

 

"Thou flowing water pure and clear, make music for thy Lord to hear."

 

Aye. That. Happy Advent.

Developing an Isaianic Mindset - Though for the Day, First Week in Advent.

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light...the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."

Monday: Isaiah 43.19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

This week we are going to learn to think like Isaiah, to have an Isaianic mind-set. Isaianic:  Adjective. (1) To see things differently because God has announced Good News. (2) To look into the darkness and see the first finger-lines of dawn. (3) To hear God’s call to the Church to strengthen feeble hands and strengthen knees that give way. (4) To have strength renewed by waiting trustfully for God to act.

Tuesday: Isaiah 9.2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

Isaiah understood not just the cost of living crisis, but the kind of crises that made folk wonder if life was worth living. Darkness can mean various things: fear of the future, anxiety about being able to cope, despair of where help will come from. Isaiah knew, and told the people, that hope is in God, and God has plans. Advent is about those plans, God saying yet again, “Let there be light.”

Wednesday: Isaiah 9.6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Now that’s Isaianic thinking! God is on the move. You’ve heard of hostile take-over bids? This is a saving take-over bid. The governance will rest on God. By the birth of Jesus will come the light of life, the power of God, the Eternal entering time, the one who will rule in peace. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord. Looking at the mess the world is in, an Isaianic mind-set sees the coming of God.

Thursday: Isaiah 55.1-2 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”

How do you buy if you have no money? Isaiah is talking about the things money can’t buy. God’s love is free; forgiveness is free, but only because on the cross God has paid forward for our sins. These are Communion texts about bread and wine, which remind our Christian hearts of what truly satisfies as the richest of fare – our Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

Friday: Isaiah 40.28-29 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

When you’ve had enough. Those times when the broken world and the endless crises and the suffering of so much of humanity, makes you want to switch off and have a holiday from reality. Listen to Isaiah’s questions - Do you not know? Have you not heard? Now read his reply, about God, not you, or me. And ask strength for your weary heart, and power for your weakness. This too is Isaianic thinking – when the going gets tough, God is tougher still!

Saturday: Isaiah 40. 30-31 “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

This is Isaiah’s promise that comes after the questions. God doesn’t get weary and decide to walk away. We can’t know all of God’s wise purposes, but God’s wise love and merciful power give us hope. And hope gives us resilience, new energy, a deeper, surer trust. We will soar like eagles carried on thermal columns of faith; we’ll run like elite athletes in the power of the Holy Spirit; we will walk and not faint. This is Isaiah the life-coach teaching us the Isaianic mind-set.

Sunday: Isaiah 7.14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Immanuel. (God with us).”

Every Advent is a time for replenishment. Peace and justice, hope and faith, love and joy – we need refilled. Too often we have to live with the opposite vocabulary of war and injustice, despair and cynicism, hate and tears. So every Advent, God calls us to celebrate the coming of the Christ-child, and the Immanuel promise, God with us. Wherever you are in life right now, God’s there; wherever we are in life tomorrow and into the future, God with us. That’s the Isaianic mind-set.

Questions that Test Our Ecumenical Credentials.

Well, the things you get up to on a Monday afternoon. Down here to discuss a paper on "Who can preside at the Eucharist in a time of vocational decline." Of course the subject is specific to certain Christian traditions on the one hand, and on the other hand there are traditions in which the question barely arises - it depends on the sacramental theology and theology of priesthood / ministry that lies at the heart of any particular tradition.

But it fairly got us going - from the earliest post-resurrection communities, to the age of the Fathers, then Augustine, the Medieval church, the European Reformations in their diversity of Eucharistic theologies, and on into our own century.

Institutional ecclesial decline compels new ways of staying faithful to theological and liturgical traditions while also embracing wise pragmatism, changed rules, revised theology, liturgical relaxations and much else.

As a Baptist minister I have a different set of commitments when the community meets around the Lord's Table. These are no less rich, and no less valid, are held with the same deep devotion, and argued on theological and biblical principles held with equal conviction.

It was a test of our ecumenical sympathies, and also at times, a revelation of our significant ignorance of the varied sacramental theologies held across the traditions of Christian Faith. At other times, some humble learning, and generous agreements to differ, meant we could discuss safely and responsively. A good couple of hours.

Photo taken on the walk back to the car - parked a mile away.

The Camera, and the Coincidence of Time and Place.

This road has been closed for years now, because of a collapsed bridge.

Yesterday, the last few minutes of sun slanted across and were caught in the flood water running off the fields.

A broken bridge, protective concrete and steel fencing, old telephone poles, standing floodwater - and from such unpromising materials a display of winter afterglow.

And what used to be a passing place, complete with redundant sign, has become a temporary autumn mirror reflecting sunlit gold, delaying the shadows just a little longer. 

The coincidence of being, and seeing, being there and seeing what's there, at a precise moment of attentiveness - like many photos, this cannot be contrived, but must be noticed by a heart that sees.

An example of why I find a camera a contemplative aid, and the world around glowing with possibility.

Dealing with the Joy Deficit

“Britain has a joy shortage.” So says the Christmas advert for one of the big supermarkets. True enough. It’s hard to argue given the cost of living crisis, the climate change crisis, war in Ukraine, and now that feared word recession has made a comeback in the top ten joy-diminishing media buzz words. 

One of the odd things about the Psalms is the way the same prayer can talk about how hard life is, and then go on to say things like, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30.5)

Now nobody is helped by unrealistic promises that the difficulties we face aren’t important and don’t matter. Tears are real, worry is sickening, and yes, there’s a joy shortage. For folk struggling to heat their homes, care for their children, and work out how to get through the winter, false cheerfulness doesn’t help much.

Unless. Supposing we thought up and put into action ways we can practice joy-making for our neighbours, our work mates, those we know who are struggling. Maybe there’s a joy shortage because we’ve forgotten how to make joy happen as a gift to others.

How about donations to the foodbank, a knock on the neighbour’s door, the text that eases loneliness, thank you to the bus driver, the nurse, the shop assistant, the teacher, the bin men and women – why not make your own list?

Instead of bemoaning a joy shortage, and so adding to the joy deficit, we can become entrepreneurs, manufacturers in the joy industry. Then we may well find this is true: “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” (Nehemiah 8,10)

(Originally written for the Aberdeen Press and Journal as the Saturday Sermon, Nov 2022: Photo taken late November 2019, at Mains of Drum Garden Centre.)

The Demand of the Gospel According to Rudolf Bultmann

You may have to read this more than once - but it's worth it.

 

"The second command determines the meaning of the first:

in loving my neighbour I prove my obedience to God.

There is no obedience to God in a vacuum, so to speak,

no obedience separate from the concrete situation

in which I stand as a man among men,

no obedience which is directed immediately toward God.

Whatever of kindness, pity, mercy, I show my neighbour

is not something which I do for God,

but something which I really do for my neighbour;

the neighbour is not a sort of tool by means of which I practise the love of God,

and love of neighbour cannot be practised with a look aside toward God.

Rather, as I can love my neighbour only when I surrender my will completely to God’s will,

so I can love God only while I will what He wills, while I really love my neighbour."

 

Told you * you have to read it more than once!

 

(Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus and the Word.)

 

When "Love your neighbour" Gets in the Way of Being Righteously Annoyed.

At Costco, and two contrasting encounters with other shoppers and their trolleys. Trolley wars increase as Christmas approaches.

Minding my own business turning into the next aisle, peripheral vision picks up rapid incoming - the tall robust lady driving her trolley like an AUDI cut across while saying "Sorry" - in a tone that contradicted any semblance of apology. I translated her words and actions as as self-important impatience with such irrelevancies as courtesy, respect, or the slightest thought that others might have to be considered in a crowded world.

I'm in Costco looking for gloves, outdoor cycling, not too thick. First the helpful assistant directed me to them since they weren't anywhere obvious, "Aye, they're up next to the Deli." I look through them - XL, L, M, S - the XL I could use as a wicket keeper. I look through several columns of boxes, can't see any S size. I grovel at the bottom boxes - can't easily see what's in the top boxes (it's a height thing). A large trolley looms to my right, and a gentle voice with a European accent says, "What size are you looking for?" (No, it wasn't the AUDI trolley lady) It was a tall rugby player type of man. I said, "Small." He looked through all the top boxes I couldn't see into, and said, "Sorry, none here." Smiled and off he went pushing his trolley.

I have no idea what is happening in the life of these two people. For all I know the lady was in a hurry because she had child care stuff to sort, other family worries that meant she was preoccupied and her day was already hard, Maybe so. The helpful well-dressed rugby player perhaps had his own problems too, or maybe was just having a better day.

What I'm pondering, is my own annoyance at the woman's behaviour (obvious in my retelling of it), and gratitude to the man (also obvious in my retelling of it). That second commandment - it doesn't allow for discrimination. I don't get to choose which neighbour to love.

If anything the annoying lady may well be God's way of raising the bar of what obedience to "Love your neighbour as yourself" actually involves. That requires some empathy, patience, and a sense of proportion about what actually matters.

And my friendly rugby player may well have come along to demonstrate exactly what "Love your neighbour as yourself" looks like, when you're tall and the other guy isn't! And it's no big deal to help out, except it is, because every one of those no big deal moments of helping others, is a choice.

Either way, "Thank you God for the revision lessons. Hope I do better in the next assignments."

Whatever Time, Whatever Place - "Lo, I Am With You.

Photo of Findochty Parish Church

 

Monday

Matthew 28.18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

First things first. Before the disciples do anything they learn what it means to say “Jesus is Lord.” Mission, evangelism, witness, loving God and neighbour, being Church – whatever phrases we use to describe what followers of Jesus do, the starting point is that we live and move under Jesus’ authority. And at no time, and in no place, is the authority of Jesus superseded, or his presence absent.

Tuesday

Matthew 28.19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”

All authority belongs to Jesus, “Therefore go.” The imperative mood is clear. Jesus gives direct instruction to his followers then, and to us now. Make disciples. Share the good news of Jesus, and invite people to trust their lives to Him. Baptism is the public witness of that faith, a moment of personal obedience and public commitment.

Wednesday

Matthew 28.20 “Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Teaching takes many forms. Jesus chose 12 to be with him. They learned by watching, listening and then copying the Master. The Sermon on the Mount is an example of how Jesus calls us to live in the Kingdom of God. So in the church we have Sunday School, Bible study, teaching ministry, and the continuous learning from each other that comes from a community journeying together. As children of the Kingdom of God, obedience is our glad yes to God’s commands. Give thanks for those who have taught you, from whom you’ve learned the way of Jesus.

Thursday  

Matthew 28.20 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

“Lo I am with you always.” This is not only a word of encouragement to us, but a promise of successful completion of the great commission. If God is for us, and with us, who can be against us? Emmanuel – God in Jesus is with us.

Friday

Luke 24.45-48 “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”

This is Luke’s version of Jesus’ commission to his followers, then and now. The Good News is that Jesus died and rose again. The Gospel is that repentance from sin and faith in God’s love in Christ, brings forgiveness of sins. That’s what we live by – a Gospel of crucified love and risen power, good news of the forgiveness of sins and sharing the love of Christ for the reconciliation of the world.

Saturday

Luke 24.49 “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The success or failure of the church’s witness doesn’t depend on our plans, our enthusiasms, our commitment, or our activities. These come second. What comes first is being clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of imagination, words, ideas, energy, guidance, love, joy, peace and the rest – these are God given gifts for the work of mission. Out of the abundance of our hearts, the gospel flows.

Sunday

Acts 1.8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In Matthew Jesus says he will be with us “to the end of the age.” In Luke he says “to the ends of the earth.” Time and Space. Jesus is Lord of both and inhabits both. At whatever time, he is there with us. In whatever place, he is there with us. This is the Christian version of the space-time continuum! And this promise is tied to our obedient yes to Jesus commission, “You will be my witnesses.”

Prayer

Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on fire!

Flow river, flow, flood the nations with grace and mercy,

Send forth your Word, Lord, and let there be light!

 

 

When the Poet Meets the Poet Theologian, and Both Say Amen.

Rowan Williams on John Burt's poem 'Mary of Nazareth III'. This is literary and theological reflection of the highest order, in which a poem's assumed Christology refuses to be confined in concepts, but is explored in the human experience of the Christ's mother. That Jesus must learn to translate the eternal and divine into timebound and human experience requires a daring speculative leap that perhaps the poet is best placed to articulate without being over-protective of the metaphysical assumptions intended to keep such speculation orthodox, sound, and safe. 

"Mary has to teach Jesus how to be human, as any mother teaches a child. And if this humanity is uniquely the vehicle  of the eternal Word of God, Mary has to teach her child how to that unique human.

Jesus must learn to be God incarnate from his mother; that is, he must learn how to make his life gift not campaign;

to do what has to be done by 'being done to', by loving and attentive receptivity that will embody the eternal loving receptivity of the Son to the Father in the Trinity;

by making loss and catastrophe and death a means of growth.

Mary's familiarity with receptivity and the transformation of risk or vulnerability becomes the specific, concretely human means of Jesus growing into a humanity that is the agent of universal renewal, the door opening in to a new humanity and a new creation."

(page 50)