From Open Doors
Over 150 people have been killed and 10 churches demolished in a carefully planned attack on the Christian community in Damaturu.
More than 200 heavily armed Boko Haram members invaded the community of New Jerusalem after Friday prayers on 4 November, detonating bombs in churches and shooting any believer in sight. Carrying sophisticated guns, explosives and knives, and chanting "Allahu Akbar", the Islamists began to shoot passers by who could not recite any Islamic verses - the only condition for survival. All the Christians who were trapped were either shot or slaughtered with knives. Boko Haram spent about four hours killing and demolishing churches without hindrance from police or security personnel. At least 17 military and police were killed during the attack and both the new and old Police Headquarters were demolished.
Concentrated in northern Nigeria, the extreme Islamist sect is openly agitating for the full implementation of Sharia throughout the country. "War on the church of Jesus Christ" A new settlement of believers in the New Jerusalem area of Damaturu has been described as a haven of churches and Christians - one with which extremist Muslims are not happy. "We are dumbfounded by this attack. It is a war on the church of Jesus Christ," said Rev. Garba Idi, pastor of the ECWA Gospel Church that suffered a bloody blast during the attack. "Boko Haram is out to destroy the church," he concluded while inspecting his damaged church. "Their plan was to kill all of us, but the Lord has spared us. We have a great challenge as a church in this part of the world. We are living on the mercy of God, because they promised to come back and destroy our homes."
Mrs. Grace Samaila, 30, newly married in June, saw her husband shot in the head in front of their church. "We were on my husband's motorbike just outside the gate of the church. The Muslim militants stopped us and asked my husband if he was a Muslim. He said, ‘No, I am a Christian.' In my heart I knew that calamity will soon befall, so I was praying. They asked me to get down from the bike and go my way [although] I asked them to allow my husband [to go] so that he could take me home. They shouted at me and pushed me with a stick as my husband was pleading with them to allow me [to go]. "They asked him to accept Islam and he said no. So they shouted at him to keep going. As soon as he moved some meters away from them, they shot him in the head. He fell from the bike [and died next to the road]. "I could not sleep, and every day the scene of the incident appears to me," she said. "I want God to take away my life, to join my husband."
The present situation
Believers in Damaturu remain fearful. Many have fled the city, convinced that the few security men deployed in the area are insufficient to contain the situation. Local church leaders tried to meet with His Royal Highness the emir of Damaturu, but they were denied an audience by the palace attendants.
In claiming responsibility for the attacks in Damaturu, the spokesperson for Boko Haram, Abu Qaqa, threatened to launch more attacks all across northern Nigeria. With the intention of imposing full Sharia, this Islamic sect has apparently designed a plan to eliminate all churches throughout the northern cities and villages. About 10 people have been arrested in connection with the attacks; further investigation is underway, according to the state police commissioner.
Please pray:
For comfort and healing for Christians caught up in these attacks
For protection, strength and wisdom for Open Doors co-workers seeking to encourage our persecuted brothers and sisters in situations such as this
That God would reveal Himself to the leaders of Boko Haram and change their hatred to love.
Showing posts with label religion.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion.. Show all posts
Friday, December 02, 2011
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Hindu threats to Christians in Nepal
My home town of Aldershot has had a massive influx of Nepalese Ghurkas, which has embarrassed the town council in their ability to provide housing, education and medical services. In grateful recognition of this hospitality the Nepalese government has turned against Christians in Nepal.
An extremist Hindu group behind a bomb blast outside a Christian mission building in Nepal has demanded that the country become a Hindu state and all churches in the capital be closed within 50 days. An explosive device was detonated beside the offices of the United Mission to Nepal, an association of Christian and government organisations devoted to social justice and poverty alleviation, in Kathmandu on Tuesday 22 November. The building is situated in a residential area, but there were no casualties and minimal property damage. Another bomb found nearby was defused by a bomb disposal squad. Five days later, a bomb was discovered outside a Protestant church in central Kathmandu by the janitor; it was defused by security forces.
The Nepal Defence Army (NDA), an extremist Hindu group that wants to reinstate the country’s Hindu monarchy, claimed responsibility for the blast outside the United Mission. Pamphlets signed by the group reportedly demanding that Nepal should be a Hindu state, that all churches in Kathmandu should be closed within 50 days and that all missionary organisations should leave Nepal, were found by the police.
The NDA bombed a church in Lalitpur, south of Kathmandu, in May 2009. Three people were killed and more than a dozen injured in that attack, which happened on the eve of national elections for a new prime minister. The group has also been behind the murder of a church pastor and other attacks against Christians, who are feeling increasingly under threat in Nepal. They are concerned about proposed new legislation that would outlaw converting from one religion to another or inciting someone else to do so. Offenders could face up to five years in prison.
Christian leaders fear that the witness of the Church in Nepal will be seriously threatened if the government proceeds with the legislation. It would be a retrograde step for religious freedom in Nepal, overturning the provisions of the 2007 interim constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and expression to all groups. In a worrying indication of the growing climate of hostility over religious conversions, especially to Christianity, two people were beaten and forcibly evicted from their village in Sindupalcowk on 22 November because they had become Christians.
An extremist Hindu group behind a bomb blast outside a Christian mission building in Nepal has demanded that the country become a Hindu state and all churches in the capital be closed within 50 days. An explosive device was detonated beside the offices of the United Mission to Nepal, an association of Christian and government organisations devoted to social justice and poverty alleviation, in Kathmandu on Tuesday 22 November. The building is situated in a residential area, but there were no casualties and minimal property damage. Another bomb found nearby was defused by a bomb disposal squad. Five days later, a bomb was discovered outside a Protestant church in central Kathmandu by the janitor; it was defused by security forces.
The Nepal Defence Army (NDA), an extremist Hindu group that wants to reinstate the country’s Hindu monarchy, claimed responsibility for the blast outside the United Mission. Pamphlets signed by the group reportedly demanding that Nepal should be a Hindu state, that all churches in Kathmandu should be closed within 50 days and that all missionary organisations should leave Nepal, were found by the police.
The NDA bombed a church in Lalitpur, south of Kathmandu, in May 2009. Three people were killed and more than a dozen injured in that attack, which happened on the eve of national elections for a new prime minister. The group has also been behind the murder of a church pastor and other attacks against Christians, who are feeling increasingly under threat in Nepal. They are concerned about proposed new legislation that would outlaw converting from one religion to another or inciting someone else to do so. Offenders could face up to five years in prison.
Christian leaders fear that the witness of the Church in Nepal will be seriously threatened if the government proceeds with the legislation. It would be a retrograde step for religious freedom in Nepal, overturning the provisions of the 2007 interim constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and expression to all groups. In a worrying indication of the growing climate of hostility over religious conversions, especially to Christianity, two people were beaten and forcibly evicted from their village in Sindupalcowk on 22 November because they had become Christians.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
John 8:13. The testimony of one.
The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
On a technical Jewish point of law, the self-testimony of a single witness was not valid. But they make a mistake in who was doing the testifying. This was not a mere man; The "I am" makes a claim of divine authority as does the mention of light. Light is Yahweh in action - Ps 44:3
On a technical Jewish point of law, the self-testimony of a single witness was not valid. But they make a mistake in who was doing the testifying. This was not a mere man; The "I am" makes a claim of divine authority as does the mention of light. Light is Yahweh in action - Ps 44:3
Monday, August 15, 2011
The Ministry of Dr John
Dr John started coming to Lansdowne at the same time as I and was baptized on the same occasion. He had been a GP in one of the most reliable practices in town and I was surprised to see him there. It turned out that he had been widowed some time before and was courting a widow in the church who was about ten years his junior.
We attended Pastor's Class together and became Deacons and Elders together, but he has had a ministry that I could never aspire to; that of visitation. I have been most grateful for it during my long illness. For me, in particular, it has been useful. Because we share a medical background there are many anecdotes and reminiscences that we can share, which keeps me entertained and distracted. He also understands my worries and cares, and difficulties in sometimes coming to terms with what I am suffering. He has had his share of the infirmities of old age and understands the frustrations.
But more than that he has a thorough understanding of Scripture and will bring a passage to our meetings that I am unaware of (such as from Zepheniah) which will uplift my heart. He has concentrated on the promises of God and passages that bring comfort and reassurance to the anxious. What a ministry!
We attended Pastor's Class together and became Deacons and Elders together, but he has had a ministry that I could never aspire to; that of visitation. I have been most grateful for it during my long illness. For me, in particular, it has been useful. Because we share a medical background there are many anecdotes and reminiscences that we can share, which keeps me entertained and distracted. He also understands my worries and cares, and difficulties in sometimes coming to terms with what I am suffering. He has had his share of the infirmities of old age and understands the frustrations.
But more than that he has a thorough understanding of Scripture and will bring a passage to our meetings that I am unaware of (such as from Zepheniah) which will uplift my heart. He has concentrated on the promises of God and passages that bring comfort and reassurance to the anxious. What a ministry!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
John 5:31-47. The special testimony of John's gospel.
Time for a pause on John's gospel today. Some people want to strip this gospel from the canon of Scripture because it is so different from the synoptics and because it was written so much later; but the real reason is that it so clearly asserts that Jesus is God, and chapter 5 exemplifies this.
However, just what was it that led to Jesus crusifixion? Was it not the charge of blasphemy? When Jesus was accused of making himself out to be God as in, say Luke 22:70 "They all asked, 'Are you then the Son of God?' He replied, 'You are right in saying I am.'"
It could not be plainer than that. So there is no disjunction between the Fourth gospel and the synoptics.
However, just what was it that led to Jesus crusifixion? Was it not the charge of blasphemy? When Jesus was accused of making himself out to be God as in, say Luke 22:70 "They all asked, 'Are you then the Son of God?' He replied, 'You are right in saying I am.'"
It could not be plainer than that. So there is no disjunction between the Fourth gospel and the synoptics.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
John 5:26. The Son has life in himself.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
The moon, the planets and, as we have seen from space exploration, the earth itself, have only reflected light from the sun. So it is with life on earth; we human beings together with every creature whether plant or animal or microbe only have life because of being created by one with life in himself. The Father has it and so does the Son.
Some theologians talk about the 'eternal generation of the Son'. It all depends what they mean by this, but it should imply that this granting of life to the Son was not something that began at the the incarnation, since John has already told us that 'all things were created by him.'
I like JC Ryle on this: The privileges of a true Christian are greatly underrated by many... One of a true Christians's treasures is the 'presentness' of his salvation. It is not a far distant thing which he has to have at last, if he does his duty and is good. It is his own in title the moment he believes. He is already pardoned, forgiven and saved - though not in heaven.
Another of his treasures is the 'completeness' of his justification. His sins are entirely removed, taken away and blotted out by Christ's blood. He may look forward to judgement without fear. He shall stand without fault before the throne of God.
The third treasure is the entire change in his relation and position towards God. He is no longer as one dead before him - dead legally, like a man sentenced to die, and dead in heart. He is alive unto God. He is a new creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.
The moon, the planets and, as we have seen from space exploration, the earth itself, have only reflected light from the sun. So it is with life on earth; we human beings together with every creature whether plant or animal or microbe only have life because of being created by one with life in himself. The Father has it and so does the Son.
Some theologians talk about the 'eternal generation of the Son'. It all depends what they mean by this, but it should imply that this granting of life to the Son was not something that began at the the incarnation, since John has already told us that 'all things were created by him.'
I like JC Ryle on this: The privileges of a true Christian are greatly underrated by many... One of a true Christians's treasures is the 'presentness' of his salvation. It is not a far distant thing which he has to have at last, if he does his duty and is good. It is his own in title the moment he believes. He is already pardoned, forgiven and saved - though not in heaven.
Another of his treasures is the 'completeness' of his justification. His sins are entirely removed, taken away and blotted out by Christ's blood. He may look forward to judgement without fear. He shall stand without fault before the throne of God.
The third treasure is the entire change in his relation and position towards God. He is no longer as one dead before him - dead legally, like a man sentenced to die, and dead in heart. He is alive unto God. He is a new creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Galatians 6:17. The Marks of Jesus
Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Whatever does this mean? Nothing to do with the 'stigmata' of Francis of Assisi. Paul certainly had the scars of suffering for Jesus, but these were physical scars from beatings and hardship. I suppose it means two things: that after what he had suffered for Christ he was immune to mere earthly troubles and that as an ambassador for Christ anything aimed at him was aimed at his savior.
Whatever does this mean? Nothing to do with the 'stigmata' of Francis of Assisi. Paul certainly had the scars of suffering for Jesus, but these were physical scars from beatings and hardship. I suppose it means two things: that after what he had suffered for Christ he was immune to mere earthly troubles and that as an ambassador for Christ anything aimed at him was aimed at his savior.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
John 2:23-25
Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
These three verses could as easily be a preface to chapter 3 rather than a coda to chapter 2. The chapter breaks are, of course, arbitrary.
By the time of the attendance at the Passover feast, Jesus was regularly performing miracles, which naturally drew men to him, but Jesus was not taken in by easy applause. He knew what man is like. I can never understand it when people say that men are naturally good; quite the reverse, we are naturally evil. The older I get and the more honest I am with myself, I recognize my own evil heart and have no reason to think that other people are different.
These three verses could as easily be a preface to chapter 3 rather than a coda to chapter 2. The chapter breaks are, of course, arbitrary.
By the time of the attendance at the Passover feast, Jesus was regularly performing miracles, which naturally drew men to him, but Jesus was not taken in by easy applause. He knew what man is like. I can never understand it when people say that men are naturally good; quite the reverse, we are naturally evil. The older I get and the more honest I am with myself, I recognize my own evil heart and have no reason to think that other people are different.
Saturday, April 09, 2011
John 1:16
From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another,
In the Greek it is grace upon grace that we have received from his fullness. Jesus has a never-ending supply of unmerited favor. We see the echo in the question, "How many times shall I forgive my brother?" Until seven times". "Until seventy times seven!" This does not mean 490 times, for love keeps no record of wrongs. There is an unlimited supply of grace. Jesus is full of it; grace is overflowing. Past sins, present sins, future sins; all are forgiven; paid for by Christ's death on the cross; signed off on by the resurrection.
In the Greek it is grace upon grace that we have received from his fullness. Jesus has a never-ending supply of unmerited favor. We see the echo in the question, "How many times shall I forgive my brother?" Until seven times". "Until seventy times seven!" This does not mean 490 times, for love keeps no record of wrongs. There is an unlimited supply of grace. Jesus is full of it; grace is overflowing. Past sins, present sins, future sins; all are forgiven; paid for by Christ's death on the cross; signed off on by the resurrection.
Sunday, April 03, 2011
John 1:10
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
Have you ever felt that your contribution was not recognized? I was listening to a congregation singing a hymn that I had written and was peeved that no-one had acknowledged that I had written it. Stupid pride! But consider that the whole world was made by Jesus and we not only fail to acknowledge it, but we have spoiled it. I would be upset if someone singing one of my hymns changed an 'and' into a 'but', yet we have despoiled the world he made with greed and selfishness. Where there were green fields there are slag heaps; beautiful rivers have become polluted pools; loving communities have become warring partners; handsome bodies riddled with bloody bullets.
Lord, grant that we should recognize your presence among us.
Have you ever felt that your contribution was not recognized? I was listening to a congregation singing a hymn that I had written and was peeved that no-one had acknowledged that I had written it. Stupid pride! But consider that the whole world was made by Jesus and we not only fail to acknowledge it, but we have spoiled it. I would be upset if someone singing one of my hymns changed an 'and' into a 'but', yet we have despoiled the world he made with greed and selfishness. Where there were green fields there are slag heaps; beautiful rivers have become polluted pools; loving communities have become warring partners; handsome bodies riddled with bloody bullets.
Lord, grant that we should recognize your presence among us.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
John 1:6
There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John.
This was John the big dipper. He was baptizing in the Jordan where there was much water.
King James, when he commissioned the 1611 translation insisted that the Greek should just be transliterated rather than translated as the Puritans wanted. They would have preferred dipped or immersed, but the Puritans had the last laugh as many of them were called Baptists thereafter.
Notice that it wasn't John's idea. He was sent by God. 'John' means 'Jehovah has been gracious' and so he had.
This was John the big dipper. He was baptizing in the Jordan where there was much water.
King James, when he commissioned the 1611 translation insisted that the Greek should just be transliterated rather than translated as the Puritans wanted. They would have preferred dipped or immersed, but the Puritans had the last laugh as many of them were called Baptists thereafter.
Notice that it wasn't John's idea. He was sent by God. 'John' means 'Jehovah has been gracious' and so he had.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
John 1:5
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
What is this darkness? Was not the creation the work of God's hand? How can it be anything other than good? Because of the Fall. Darkness here represents the evil in the world because of Adam's disobedience. The Fall caused the world to be cursed. Every bit of selfishness, greed, hate, spite and wickedness stems from the Fall. That is the darkness that the light shines on. Light not only reveals what is in the dark corners, it banishes darkness and this is light so bright that there are no shadows remaining.
The word translated understood is a difficult translation. Other versions have 'comprehend', 'apprehend', 'appropriate', 'overcome', 'put it out', 'extinguish', 'perceive', 'stop' or 'absorb',. The root of the word means 'to grasp hold of'. We are told by the experts that this is also a figure of speech called litotes, which means to undersell for effect. The best known example in British English would be "It ain't 'alf 'ot, mum." the plaintive cry of the British soldier in India or North Africa, meaning it is very hot indeed.
My own best shot at the meaning would be 'doesn't get anywhere near getting hold of it' which carries the double meaning of understanding and defeating. The light is victorious, nay, triumphantly victorious! Overwhelmingly victorious!
What is this darkness? Was not the creation the work of God's hand? How can it be anything other than good? Because of the Fall. Darkness here represents the evil in the world because of Adam's disobedience. The Fall caused the world to be cursed. Every bit of selfishness, greed, hate, spite and wickedness stems from the Fall. That is the darkness that the light shines on. Light not only reveals what is in the dark corners, it banishes darkness and this is light so bright that there are no shadows remaining.
The word translated understood is a difficult translation. Other versions have 'comprehend', 'apprehend', 'appropriate', 'overcome', 'put it out', 'extinguish', 'perceive', 'stop' or 'absorb',. The root of the word means 'to grasp hold of'. We are told by the experts that this is also a figure of speech called litotes, which means to undersell for effect. The best known example in British English would be "It ain't 'alf 'ot, mum." the plaintive cry of the British soldier in India or North Africa, meaning it is very hot indeed.
My own best shot at the meaning would be 'doesn't get anywhere near getting hold of it' which carries the double meaning of understanding and defeating. The light is victorious, nay, triumphantly victorious! Overwhelmingly victorious!
Monday, March 28, 2011
John 1:4
In him was life and that life was the light of men.
My first impression when I read this verse was to think of dead bodies. It is true that when you see a corpse you are aware that the light has gone out of the eyes, but this is not what is meant here. Always (54 times) in John's writings 'life' means spiritual life. When he tells us that 'he who believes in me shall never die' he means 'die spiritually' since even Lazarus had to die again. The 'everlasting life' of John 3:16 is not physical life but spiritual life. We will all be raised on the last day, but our lives on Planet Earth will end unless the Lord first returns. All physical life does come from the Word as verse 3 tells us, but this verse deals with a different type of life. This type of life is the source of Man's illumination. It is this light from which darkness flees; this light that shines in every dark corner; this light that is the negation of everything evil.
My first impression when I read this verse was to think of dead bodies. It is true that when you see a corpse you are aware that the light has gone out of the eyes, but this is not what is meant here. Always (54 times) in John's writings 'life' means spiritual life. When he tells us that 'he who believes in me shall never die' he means 'die spiritually' since even Lazarus had to die again. The 'everlasting life' of John 3:16 is not physical life but spiritual life. We will all be raised on the last day, but our lives on Planet Earth will end unless the Lord first returns. All physical life does come from the Word as verse 3 tells us, but this verse deals with a different type of life. This type of life is the source of Man's illumination. It is this light from which darkness flees; this light that shines in every dark corner; this light that is the negation of everything evil.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
John 1:3
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Jesus the creator. He wasn't just the apprentice; God the Father letting him try his hand at a few minor beetles. Jesus created all things. Nothing was left for any other. We tend to make Jesus subsidiary to God the Father, but we fall down in our idea of the Trinity when we do so. There is but one God. I don't understand how there can be three persons and one God, but when we start separating them into three Gods or see each person as merely an aspect or face of God then we fall short. God made everything but the 'word' made everything; nothing was made without him.
Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy,
Thou art worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory, glory and honor,
Glory and honor and power.
For thou hast created, hast all things created,
Thou hast created all things,
And for thy pleasure they are created,
Thou art worthy, O Lord.
Jesus the creator. He wasn't just the apprentice; God the Father letting him try his hand at a few minor beetles. Jesus created all things. Nothing was left for any other. We tend to make Jesus subsidiary to God the Father, but we fall down in our idea of the Trinity when we do so. There is but one God. I don't understand how there can be three persons and one God, but when we start separating them into three Gods or see each person as merely an aspect or face of God then we fall short. God made everything but the 'word' made everything; nothing was made without him.
Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy,
Thou art worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory, glory and honor,
Glory and honor and power.
For thou hast created, hast all things created,
Thou hast created all things,
And for thy pleasure they are created,
Thou art worthy, O Lord.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Lost your Joy? Think Gospel. Galatians 4: 12-20
Have you ever had the impression that something has gone badly wrong in your spiritual life? There was once a time when it was your commonplace habit to talk about Jesus Christ every day, when reading your Bible was such a joy that all these reading schemes that talk about 4 chapters a day, or getting through the OT once and the NT twice in a single year seemed impossibly restricting, when you were at every meeting even some that were not really meant for you. There was a time when prayer was virtually continuous.
But now, it is somehow empty. The services always seem to annoy you; some glitch with the amplifier, a sour note on the trumpet, that wretched synthesizer again (why can't they use the organ?), your favorite seat taken by a visitor, a grammatical mistake by the preacher, you don't like the way they insist on breaking up into small groups to pray, the sermon is too long, the pews too hard, the hymns don't fit the music, the flowers are tired, someone else is serving communion, there always seems to be something that spoils it for you. And why have they switched versions of the Bible? OK the KJV was archaic but we were familiar with it and the cadence of the prose was magnificent. The gender non-specific NIV is too PC. The ESV may be correct in its translation but it doesn't flow like the NIV. Why is it that the passage for the day always seems to be an endless string of 'begats' or a story about some brutal Iron Age despot slaughtering his enemies down to the last woman and child? And what is the point of prayer? It's just talking to the ceiling, trying to make you feel better. If God wants to do something different he'll do it without advice from me.
Have you been there? What is the remedy? You had better start going to the evening service instead of just the morning. You had better reinstate your Bible reading plan. Are you tithing? Have you let that slip too? Better check with your bank balance. Trouble with prayer? Form a prayer triplet to help you.
Stop! Those may all be good things to do, but none of them is the remedy. Actually there is nothing you can do to restore your spiritual life. What do you mean Dr Hamblin? Are you implying that I am not just backslidden but actually an apostate? Am I the man of Hebrews 6? It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
By no means. What I am saying is that you are powerless to restore your spiritual health. Think back to what you did to convert yourself? Nothing, it was all of Christ. What did you do to sanctify yourself? Again, nothing. It was the work of the Holy Spirit. So why do you think you can restore your spiritual health?
There is only one thing able to restore you and that is the Gospel. Read about Jesus. Preach the Gospel to yourself. Listen to Gospel sermons. Concentrate on Jesus. This is the Gospel. God loves you. He loves you so much that he gave his one and only son for you. Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that he laid down his life for you. He suffered agony instead of you so that your sins would not be punished. And not just physical agony. He who had been one with the Father from eternity past and will be until eternity future had that bond of love wrenched apart, suffering separation from God the Father so that you would not have to. The Holy Spirit loves you. He loves you so much that his every minute is spent watching over you, guiding you, guarding you, leading you to Jesus.
And your part in all this? Come as you are. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bid’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.
Waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot. Thy love unknown has broken every barrier down. Thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, because thy promise I believe.
In Galatians 4: 12-20 the relationship between the young church and Paul had broken down. They had lost their joy (v 15); they had lost their love. Once they would have torn out their eyes and given them to Paul; now he has apparently become their enemy (v16). They welcomed him because he preached the Gospel to them and that is now what they needed all over again.
Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above; of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. Tell me the story often for I forget too soon.
And we do. Losing our focus on Jesus means that we lose our joy. We become sour and backslide. We nitpick, especially in other people. We see sinners everywhere, but not sinners saved by grace. Modern Christians seem to think that the Gospel is just about evangelism. It is a story for sinners; we more mature Christians require stronger meat. Nonsense! The Gospel is the Gospel is the Gospel. It needs to be preached to unrepentant sinners. It needs to be preached to young Christians. It needs to be preached to growing Christians. I needs to be preached to mature Christians. It needs to be preached to dying Christians.
Yes and when that world’s glory is dawning on my soul, tell me the old, old story – “Christ Jesus makes thee whole.”
The Galatians had enthusiastically responded to the Judaizers. They were zealous for the Law. It is so easy to believe that now we are saved we must progress to the higher ranks of Christendom. What are the extras we must adopt? The Galatians had become zealots for the Law. It’s fine to be zealous providing the purpose is good (v18). None of us gets worked up over Jewish food laws, I presume, but it is so easy to be zealous over the unimportant. When we were young the zealots were out with prohibitions. You couldn’t be a Christian if you smoked or drank alcohol. Now you may be foolish if you do and there are plenty of health reasons why you should avoid them, but do you really think that God has stopped loving someone because he burns a weed wrapped in paper between his lips? And that is true whatever the weed. God still loves drunks. He sent his son to die for them.
Christians didn’t go to the theatre or the cinema; they didn’t buy a Sunday newspaper; they never went dancing; the television and the radio were silent on a Sunday. I remember being told in a sermon that these long-haired fellows with electric guitars were plugged into Hell. We were zealous for all the wrong things.
Instead we must be zealous for the Gospel. Paul talks about again going through the pains of childbirth for them (v19). It like they have to be born again, again. Whatever our spiritual ills, the remedy is the Gospel.
Every day remember what Jesus Christ has done for you. Begin you prayers with thanksgiving for his love and mercy and his grace. Read the gospel passages regularly. Commit them to memory. Here’s a task that will aid you. Learn John’s gospel off by heart. Sounds impossible? Little children can do it. It doesn’t matter if you fail; the attempt will bless you. It is not a task that will get you into heaven, merely a device to keep the Gospel before your eyes.
If you are a preacher you will no doubt have heard the story of the young man who asked his mentor what he should preach about and received the reply, “Preach about Jesus and preach about 20 minutes.” I wouldn’t worry about the time limit, but otherwise it’s good advice. The Gospel is God’s remedy; never leave it out.
But now, it is somehow empty. The services always seem to annoy you; some glitch with the amplifier, a sour note on the trumpet, that wretched synthesizer again (why can't they use the organ?), your favorite seat taken by a visitor, a grammatical mistake by the preacher, you don't like the way they insist on breaking up into small groups to pray, the sermon is too long, the pews too hard, the hymns don't fit the music, the flowers are tired, someone else is serving communion, there always seems to be something that spoils it for you. And why have they switched versions of the Bible? OK the KJV was archaic but we were familiar with it and the cadence of the prose was magnificent. The gender non-specific NIV is too PC. The ESV may be correct in its translation but it doesn't flow like the NIV. Why is it that the passage for the day always seems to be an endless string of 'begats' or a story about some brutal Iron Age despot slaughtering his enemies down to the last woman and child? And what is the point of prayer? It's just talking to the ceiling, trying to make you feel better. If God wants to do something different he'll do it without advice from me.
Have you been there? What is the remedy? You had better start going to the evening service instead of just the morning. You had better reinstate your Bible reading plan. Are you tithing? Have you let that slip too? Better check with your bank balance. Trouble with prayer? Form a prayer triplet to help you.
Stop! Those may all be good things to do, but none of them is the remedy. Actually there is nothing you can do to restore your spiritual life. What do you mean Dr Hamblin? Are you implying that I am not just backslidden but actually an apostate? Am I the man of Hebrews 6? It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
By no means. What I am saying is that you are powerless to restore your spiritual health. Think back to what you did to convert yourself? Nothing, it was all of Christ. What did you do to sanctify yourself? Again, nothing. It was the work of the Holy Spirit. So why do you think you can restore your spiritual health?
There is only one thing able to restore you and that is the Gospel. Read about Jesus. Preach the Gospel to yourself. Listen to Gospel sermons. Concentrate on Jesus. This is the Gospel. God loves you. He loves you so much that he gave his one and only son for you. Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that he laid down his life for you. He suffered agony instead of you so that your sins would not be punished. And not just physical agony. He who had been one with the Father from eternity past and will be until eternity future had that bond of love wrenched apart, suffering separation from God the Father so that you would not have to. The Holy Spirit loves you. He loves you so much that his every minute is spent watching over you, guiding you, guarding you, leading you to Jesus.
And your part in all this? Come as you are. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bid’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.
Waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot. Thy love unknown has broken every barrier down. Thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, because thy promise I believe.
In Galatians 4: 12-20 the relationship between the young church and Paul had broken down. They had lost their joy (v 15); they had lost their love. Once they would have torn out their eyes and given them to Paul; now he has apparently become their enemy (v16). They welcomed him because he preached the Gospel to them and that is now what they needed all over again.
Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above; of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. Tell me the story often for I forget too soon.
And we do. Losing our focus on Jesus means that we lose our joy. We become sour and backslide. We nitpick, especially in other people. We see sinners everywhere, but not sinners saved by grace. Modern Christians seem to think that the Gospel is just about evangelism. It is a story for sinners; we more mature Christians require stronger meat. Nonsense! The Gospel is the Gospel is the Gospel. It needs to be preached to unrepentant sinners. It needs to be preached to young Christians. It needs to be preached to growing Christians. I needs to be preached to mature Christians. It needs to be preached to dying Christians.
Yes and when that world’s glory is dawning on my soul, tell me the old, old story – “Christ Jesus makes thee whole.”
The Galatians had enthusiastically responded to the Judaizers. They were zealous for the Law. It is so easy to believe that now we are saved we must progress to the higher ranks of Christendom. What are the extras we must adopt? The Galatians had become zealots for the Law. It’s fine to be zealous providing the purpose is good (v18). None of us gets worked up over Jewish food laws, I presume, but it is so easy to be zealous over the unimportant. When we were young the zealots were out with prohibitions. You couldn’t be a Christian if you smoked or drank alcohol. Now you may be foolish if you do and there are plenty of health reasons why you should avoid them, but do you really think that God has stopped loving someone because he burns a weed wrapped in paper between his lips? And that is true whatever the weed. God still loves drunks. He sent his son to die for them.
Christians didn’t go to the theatre or the cinema; they didn’t buy a Sunday newspaper; they never went dancing; the television and the radio were silent on a Sunday. I remember being told in a sermon that these long-haired fellows with electric guitars were plugged into Hell. We were zealous for all the wrong things.
Instead we must be zealous for the Gospel. Paul talks about again going through the pains of childbirth for them (v19). It like they have to be born again, again. Whatever our spiritual ills, the remedy is the Gospel.
Every day remember what Jesus Christ has done for you. Begin you prayers with thanksgiving for his love and mercy and his grace. Read the gospel passages regularly. Commit them to memory. Here’s a task that will aid you. Learn John’s gospel off by heart. Sounds impossible? Little children can do it. It doesn’t matter if you fail; the attempt will bless you. It is not a task that will get you into heaven, merely a device to keep the Gospel before your eyes.
If you are a preacher you will no doubt have heard the story of the young man who asked his mentor what he should preach about and received the reply, “Preach about Jesus and preach about 20 minutes.” I wouldn’t worry about the time limit, but otherwise it’s good advice. The Gospel is God’s remedy; never leave it out.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A history lesson and Galatians 3:6-14
1066 is the date that most people take as the beginning of the English nation but I'm not sure why. It was merely the date when the French Vikings beat the English Vikings in what was effectively an internecine battle for the crown. There was an largely English province of the Roman Empire - Britannia - and it was from here that the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, came. When the Romans left in about 410 AD there were invasions by Angles, Jutes, Frisians and Saxons, though Roman influence persisted to some degree for another 200 years.
Anglo-Saxon England until the 9th century was dominated by the seven kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. Alfred the Great of Wessex united the kingdoms in the ninth century and defeated the invading Vikings who gave up and dispersed in the summer of 896 AD. After his death in 899, Alfred's son Edward, and his grandsons Æthelstan, Edmund I and Eadred, continued the policy of resistance against the Vikings. Edward's son, Æthelstan, annexed Northumbria, and forced the kings of Wales to submit; then, at the battle of Brunanburh in 937, he defeated an alliance of the Scots, Danes and Vikings to become King of all England.
In 973 Alfred's great-grandson, Edgar, was crowned King of England and Emperor of Britain at Bath. King Edgar only survived for 2 years and Æthelred II was crowned, and although he reigned for thirty eight years, one of the longest reigns in English history, he earned the name "Æthelred the Unready", as he proved to be one of England's most disastrous kings and was succeeded by the Viking Canute who could not control the tide coming in!
When King Canute died in 1035 another dispute arose over the succession which led to intermarriage between Viking and Saxon (mainly Godwin) nobility. Edward the Congessor eventually became King as Canute's step-son and he offered the succession to William of Normandy, himself the son of Viking/Saxon parents. Harold Godwinson's claim to the throne was fairly dubious and having fought off one of Canute's descendants at Stamford Bridge (not the Chelsea FC ground) he was defeated at Hastings by William. There were later wars of succession and it would seem to me to be equally sensible to talk about the history of England from 1485 or 1603 or 1688.
The whole point of this history lesson is to point out that the History of Israel does not begin with Moses but with Abraham. Abraham was not saved because he kept the Law - it wasn't given until centuries after he died. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness Galatians 3:6. Those who believe are children of Abraham v7.
This is a stupendous statement! The Jews believed that they were children of Abraham by descent, but Paul is saying it is nothing to do with who your parents were - it is through believing God. Worse than this (as far as the Jews were concerned) The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith! v8. The Gentiles! Gentile dogs! Yes, Gentiles! "All nations will be blessed through you." v8 and Genesis 18:18.
Elsewhere Paul emphasizes the source of our salvation, "By grace are you saved, through faith" Ephesians 2:8
How was the thief on the cross saved - by keeping the law? Because he believed.
How was Cornelius saved - by his good works? Because he believed.
Was your salvation because you kept the law? or because you gave to charity? or because of your good behavior?
How would you ever know you were good enough? Have you been through Numbers and Leviticus and kept every law? Have you always honored your parents? Since your last confession have you erred? Supposing you died in between confessions? Think of the last time you cursed a bad driver. Supposing it led to your fatal car crash. Would you go to hell for the sake of a moment's indiscretion?
But have you believed God when he said that anyone who believed in his son should not perish but have everlasting life? You were saved by believing in Jesus and that life would not be everlasting if it could be forfeited by a moment's bad temper or a wrong hand signal. Or even by playing ball on a Sunday.
There is a craze for DIY. We like to watch a TV program called Homes under the Hammer. Three derelict houses go to auction and the purchasers recondition them. It is wonderful to see Victorian terraced houses restored to better than their former glory. We know the ritual - new central heating, PVC windows, new kitchen, new bathroom, knock down the dividing wall between kitchen and dining room, redecorate throughout in neutral colors. Generally the new owners are builders or get the builders in. Sometimes they decide to do it themselves. Sometimes the job is botched by the DIY attempt. As far as our salvation is concerned, attempting DIY is always going to be a botched job.
But trusting in the Law is worse than that for verse 10 tells us that all who rely on observing the law are under a curse. "Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” Deuteronomy 26:27 Paul is quoting the Judaizers' words back at them and is subtly completing them: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law" It's not good enough to obey the law in general, Paul is saying that every 't' must be crossed and every 'i' dotted. And no-one is that good at it. He goes on to quote from the prophet Habakkuk (2:4) “the righteous will live by faith.” So, he surmises, clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because the law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”
But Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Deuteronomy 21:33)
Here is substitutionary atonement. We were cursed by the Law because we couldn't keep it. Christ could. He swapped his righteousness for our curse. Can you credit it? No wonder people find it so hard to believe. Why should anyone go through that for me. I heard a story today about the floods in Brisbane. Among those who lost their lives was a 13 year old boy. He insisted that the rescuers save his 10 year old brother first, but when they returned for him, he had been swept away. You might perhaps risk your life for a brother, but for someone who didn't know you, someone to whom you owed no obligation, someone who had even cursed you?
You would only do that if you loved them. And if you loved them like that you'd want to hold on to them, you'd do what you could to make them perfect. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
I can see some of you saying that we have no problem with the atonement. Of course salvation is all of grace and none of works, but we are talking about sanctification and for that you have to work at obeying the rules.
Beloved, can't you see that it is all one. "So that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." Everyone who is saved receives the Holy Spirit and sanctification is the job of the Spirit, not us. It is his work not ours. Our work is to believe and in some miraculous way this itself is a gift, lest any man should boast.
Sanctification hurts sometimes. We are refined as if by fire, but the Spirit gives us grace to bear it.
I will write more about keeping the Law, but for now lets rejoice in the wonderful gift of grace that rescues us from the curse of the Law.
Anglo-Saxon England until the 9th century was dominated by the seven kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. Alfred the Great of Wessex united the kingdoms in the ninth century and defeated the invading Vikings who gave up and dispersed in the summer of 896 AD. After his death in 899, Alfred's son Edward, and his grandsons Æthelstan, Edmund I and Eadred, continued the policy of resistance against the Vikings. Edward's son, Æthelstan, annexed Northumbria, and forced the kings of Wales to submit; then, at the battle of Brunanburh in 937, he defeated an alliance of the Scots, Danes and Vikings to become King of all England.
In 973 Alfred's great-grandson, Edgar, was crowned King of England and Emperor of Britain at Bath. King Edgar only survived for 2 years and Æthelred II was crowned, and although he reigned for thirty eight years, one of the longest reigns in English history, he earned the name "Æthelred the Unready", as he proved to be one of England's most disastrous kings and was succeeded by the Viking Canute who could not control the tide coming in!
When King Canute died in 1035 another dispute arose over the succession which led to intermarriage between Viking and Saxon (mainly Godwin) nobility. Edward the Congessor eventually became King as Canute's step-son and he offered the succession to William of Normandy, himself the son of Viking/Saxon parents. Harold Godwinson's claim to the throne was fairly dubious and having fought off one of Canute's descendants at Stamford Bridge (not the Chelsea FC ground) he was defeated at Hastings by William. There were later wars of succession and it would seem to me to be equally sensible to talk about the history of England from 1485 or 1603 or 1688.
The whole point of this history lesson is to point out that the History of Israel does not begin with Moses but with Abraham. Abraham was not saved because he kept the Law - it wasn't given until centuries after he died. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness Galatians 3:6. Those who believe are children of Abraham v7.
This is a stupendous statement! The Jews believed that they were children of Abraham by descent, but Paul is saying it is nothing to do with who your parents were - it is through believing God. Worse than this (as far as the Jews were concerned) The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith! v8. The Gentiles! Gentile dogs! Yes, Gentiles! "All nations will be blessed through you." v8 and Genesis 18:18.
Elsewhere Paul emphasizes the source of our salvation, "By grace are you saved, through faith" Ephesians 2:8
How was the thief on the cross saved - by keeping the law? Because he believed.
How was Cornelius saved - by his good works? Because he believed.
Was your salvation because you kept the law? or because you gave to charity? or because of your good behavior?
How would you ever know you were good enough? Have you been through Numbers and Leviticus and kept every law? Have you always honored your parents? Since your last confession have you erred? Supposing you died in between confessions? Think of the last time you cursed a bad driver. Supposing it led to your fatal car crash. Would you go to hell for the sake of a moment's indiscretion?
But have you believed God when he said that anyone who believed in his son should not perish but have everlasting life? You were saved by believing in Jesus and that life would not be everlasting if it could be forfeited by a moment's bad temper or a wrong hand signal. Or even by playing ball on a Sunday.
There is a craze for DIY. We like to watch a TV program called Homes under the Hammer. Three derelict houses go to auction and the purchasers recondition them. It is wonderful to see Victorian terraced houses restored to better than their former glory. We know the ritual - new central heating, PVC windows, new kitchen, new bathroom, knock down the dividing wall between kitchen and dining room, redecorate throughout in neutral colors. Generally the new owners are builders or get the builders in. Sometimes they decide to do it themselves. Sometimes the job is botched by the DIY attempt. As far as our salvation is concerned, attempting DIY is always going to be a botched job.
But trusting in the Law is worse than that for verse 10 tells us that all who rely on observing the law are under a curse. "Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” Deuteronomy 26:27 Paul is quoting the Judaizers' words back at them and is subtly completing them: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law" It's not good enough to obey the law in general, Paul is saying that every 't' must be crossed and every 'i' dotted. And no-one is that good at it. He goes on to quote from the prophet Habakkuk (2:4) “the righteous will live by faith.” So, he surmises, clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because the law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”
But Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Deuteronomy 21:33)
Here is substitutionary atonement. We were cursed by the Law because we couldn't keep it. Christ could. He swapped his righteousness for our curse. Can you credit it? No wonder people find it so hard to believe. Why should anyone go through that for me. I heard a story today about the floods in Brisbane. Among those who lost their lives was a 13 year old boy. He insisted that the rescuers save his 10 year old brother first, but when they returned for him, he had been swept away. You might perhaps risk your life for a brother, but for someone who didn't know you, someone to whom you owed no obligation, someone who had even cursed you?
You would only do that if you loved them. And if you loved them like that you'd want to hold on to them, you'd do what you could to make them perfect. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
I can see some of you saying that we have no problem with the atonement. Of course salvation is all of grace and none of works, but we are talking about sanctification and for that you have to work at obeying the rules.
Beloved, can't you see that it is all one. "So that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." Everyone who is saved receives the Holy Spirit and sanctification is the job of the Spirit, not us. It is his work not ours. Our work is to believe and in some miraculous way this itself is a gift, lest any man should boast.
Sanctification hurts sometimes. We are refined as if by fire, but the Spirit gives us grace to bear it.
I will write more about keeping the Law, but for now lets rejoice in the wonderful gift of grace that rescues us from the curse of the Law.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Christians are not very nice people
I agree. There is, however, a comprehensive misunderstanding about what the church is about. It is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. I know plenty of non-religious people with higher moral standards than some Christians. In fact many people from other religions have manifestly higher moral standards than many Christians. It is what you would expect. Muslims frequently live their lives trying to be good enough for Allah. Buddhists and Hindus live lives so as to raise themselves to a higher plane. On the other hand true Christians are people who have realized that they can never be good enough for God.
Christopher Hitchens (who I'm sorry to say is dying from esophageal cancer) wrote a well-known book called God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He gives as examples the troubles in Belfast, Beirut, Belgrade, Bethlehem and Baghdad. "Religion has been an enormous multiplier of tribal suspicion and hatred," he writes. You have to agree with this. Christian nations institutionalized imperialism, the Inquisition, and the transatlantic slave trade. The totalitarian and militaristic Japanese empire grew out of a culture deeply influenced by Shintoism and Buddhism, Islam is the basis of much of today's terrorism and Hindu nationalists carry out atrocities against both Muslims and Christians in India.
However, such a one-sided view is unfair. Communist Russia, China and Cambodia did everything they could to stamp out all organized religion, yet the Marxists murdered more of their own citizens than any religious organization in history. It seems that this says something about the human condition rather than about any particular religion or philosophy. In 1793 when Madame Roland went to the guillotine on trumped-up charges in the aftermath of the French Revolution. she bowed to the Statue of Liberty in the Place de la Revolution as said, "Freedom, what crimes are committed in your name."
When considered in numerical terms, the Spanish Inquisition was responsible for fewer than 5000 deaths, Joseph Stalin was responsible for more than 20 million, Mao Zedong for 70 million and Pol Pot, more than one and a half million. Adolf Hitler was responsible for perhaps 42 million deaths. Although Germany was ostensibly a Christian country, Hitler despised Christianity and invented his own religion based on blood and race.
Here Hitchens has a problem. Just who is a Christian. Many who call themselves Christians are only nominally so. They perhaps belong to an established church, yet only darken its doors for Christenings, weddings and funerals - the hatch, match and dispatch brigade. Even among those who attend church, perhaps a majority around the world only do so for superstitious reasons. This is often the case in Roman Catholic countries where catechism and confession is the price they pay for belonging. The Irish republic was one such place until the story about the abuse of children by priests became widely publicised, and many South American states are still priest-ridden, with few true believers.
On the other hand there are many who are fanatical about their faith and among these are the most obnoxious individuals; overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive and harsh. Jesus called such people Pharisees. Such people may be fanatically zealous and courageous, but they are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, empathetic, forgiving and understanding as their supposed leader was. Not much of "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone," about them.
There are many sinners in the New Testament - prostitutes, renegades, sabbath-breakers, collaborators and adulterers - but it is not these whom Jesus condemns, in fact he welcomes them; rather it is the judgemental and condemning Pharisees that he calls names: "You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You neglect justice and the love of God. You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry and you yourselves will not lift a finger to help them." In fact Jesus was only echoing the voice of the prophets before him (Read Isaiah 58:2-7).
It is a fact that people use religion as a lever to gain power of others. In history this has been the role of state churches, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran or Anglican, and we can see it today with tele-evangelists; and certainly with Ayatollahs. Many atrocities committed in the name of religion were atrocities committed by power hungry men.
The truth is that God is only reached by giving up power. Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all."
Most pre-christian societies were honor/shame based societies. They might have a strict moral code. They might not mug old ladies, but they would not do so because such an act would demean their honor. In contrast a Christian would not mug an old lady because of the harm it would do the old lady and her family - not self-regarding but other-regarding in its motive.
Christians from northern Europe supported the Crusades because they though they were protecting God's honor. Much of how the secular world criticises Christian history stems from the self criticism of Christians.
However bad historical Christianity may have been because it got its wires crossed over what it was supposed to be, there are some historical achievements that Christians should be given credit for. The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade was achieved by Christian activist of the Clapham sect - most famous of them being William Wilberforce, and later the abolition of New world Slavery can be laid at the feet of Christian activists like John Woolman. When the abolitionists were finally at the point of abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire, planters in the colonies foretold that emancipation would cost investors enormous sums of money. The Abolitionists agreed to compensate the slave owners for every freed slave. British people paid a sum equivalent to have the government's budget for 1833.
The Civil Rights movement of the mid-Twentieth Century owes its power to Dr King's invoking God's moral law. He did not say, "Truth is relative and everyone is free to determine what is right and wrong for them." Rather he invoked the prophet Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream."
The undoing of apartheid in South Africa might have resulted in a blood bath had not Christian leaders (however flawed) like Desmond Tutu not set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The end of communism in Europe had its genesis in Catholic priest Jerzy Popieluszko who was murdered by the Polish secret police. At his funeral 250,000 turned up. Christians marched past the secret police headquarters carrying a banner which read "We forgive".
Or we could think of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador or Dietrich Bonhoeffer in World War II.
There has been injustice done in the name of Christ, but there are many examples of others throughout history who have been true to the spirit of Christ. And they have done good.
Christopher Hitchens (who I'm sorry to say is dying from esophageal cancer) wrote a well-known book called God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He gives as examples the troubles in Belfast, Beirut, Belgrade, Bethlehem and Baghdad. "Religion has been an enormous multiplier of tribal suspicion and hatred," he writes. You have to agree with this. Christian nations institutionalized imperialism, the Inquisition, and the transatlantic slave trade. The totalitarian and militaristic Japanese empire grew out of a culture deeply influenced by Shintoism and Buddhism, Islam is the basis of much of today's terrorism and Hindu nationalists carry out atrocities against both Muslims and Christians in India.
However, such a one-sided view is unfair. Communist Russia, China and Cambodia did everything they could to stamp out all organized religion, yet the Marxists murdered more of their own citizens than any religious organization in history. It seems that this says something about the human condition rather than about any particular religion or philosophy. In 1793 when Madame Roland went to the guillotine on trumped-up charges in the aftermath of the French Revolution. she bowed to the Statue of Liberty in the Place de la Revolution as said, "Freedom, what crimes are committed in your name."
When considered in numerical terms, the Spanish Inquisition was responsible for fewer than 5000 deaths, Joseph Stalin was responsible for more than 20 million, Mao Zedong for 70 million and Pol Pot, more than one and a half million. Adolf Hitler was responsible for perhaps 42 million deaths. Although Germany was ostensibly a Christian country, Hitler despised Christianity and invented his own religion based on blood and race.
Here Hitchens has a problem. Just who is a Christian. Many who call themselves Christians are only nominally so. They perhaps belong to an established church, yet only darken its doors for Christenings, weddings and funerals - the hatch, match and dispatch brigade. Even among those who attend church, perhaps a majority around the world only do so for superstitious reasons. This is often the case in Roman Catholic countries where catechism and confession is the price they pay for belonging. The Irish republic was one such place until the story about the abuse of children by priests became widely publicised, and many South American states are still priest-ridden, with few true believers.
On the other hand there are many who are fanatical about their faith and among these are the most obnoxious individuals; overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive and harsh. Jesus called such people Pharisees. Such people may be fanatically zealous and courageous, but they are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, empathetic, forgiving and understanding as their supposed leader was. Not much of "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone," about them.
There are many sinners in the New Testament - prostitutes, renegades, sabbath-breakers, collaborators and adulterers - but it is not these whom Jesus condemns, in fact he welcomes them; rather it is the judgemental and condemning Pharisees that he calls names: "You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You neglect justice and the love of God. You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry and you yourselves will not lift a finger to help them." In fact Jesus was only echoing the voice of the prophets before him (Read Isaiah 58:2-7).
It is a fact that people use religion as a lever to gain power of others. In history this has been the role of state churches, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran or Anglican, and we can see it today with tele-evangelists; and certainly with Ayatollahs. Many atrocities committed in the name of religion were atrocities committed by power hungry men.
The truth is that God is only reached by giving up power. Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all."
Most pre-christian societies were honor/shame based societies. They might have a strict moral code. They might not mug old ladies, but they would not do so because such an act would demean their honor. In contrast a Christian would not mug an old lady because of the harm it would do the old lady and her family - not self-regarding but other-regarding in its motive.
Christians from northern Europe supported the Crusades because they though they were protecting God's honor. Much of how the secular world criticises Christian history stems from the self criticism of Christians.
However bad historical Christianity may have been because it got its wires crossed over what it was supposed to be, there are some historical achievements that Christians should be given credit for. The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade was achieved by Christian activist of the Clapham sect - most famous of them being William Wilberforce, and later the abolition of New world Slavery can be laid at the feet of Christian activists like John Woolman. When the abolitionists were finally at the point of abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire, planters in the colonies foretold that emancipation would cost investors enormous sums of money. The Abolitionists agreed to compensate the slave owners for every freed slave. British people paid a sum equivalent to have the government's budget for 1833.
The Civil Rights movement of the mid-Twentieth Century owes its power to Dr King's invoking God's moral law. He did not say, "Truth is relative and everyone is free to determine what is right and wrong for them." Rather he invoked the prophet Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream."
The undoing of apartheid in South Africa might have resulted in a blood bath had not Christian leaders (however flawed) like Desmond Tutu not set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The end of communism in Europe had its genesis in Catholic priest Jerzy Popieluszko who was murdered by the Polish secret police. At his funeral 250,000 turned up. Christians marched past the secret police headquarters carrying a banner which read "We forgive".
Or we could think of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador or Dietrich Bonhoeffer in World War II.
There has been injustice done in the name of Christ, but there are many examples of others throughout history who have been true to the spirit of Christ. And they have done good.
Monday, December 21, 2009
The real meaning of Christmas John 1:14
Oliver Cromwell abolished Christmas. Sometimes I can see his point. His problem was that the story of the Nativity had been stirred up with pagan tradition to provide a Christmas pudding that was neither nourishing nor true. He blamed the Roman Catholic Church for this and in part he was right in doing so. Many people would agree that the ‘conversion’ of the Roman Emperor Constantine was a mixed blessing. It might have placed Christianity as the state religion, but this involved adopting the existing pagan beliefs and producing a synthesis that they thought would be acceptable to the multitudes.
As I have stressed before, Father Christmas is a purely Pagan figure, who probably owes most to Odin’s December character, Jul, with a seasoning of Lord Winter from the Saxons and Saturn from the Romans. In fairly recent times he has merged with Santa Claus. St Nicholas himself was a rather murky figure derived from Bishop Nicholas of Myra in modern Turkey. The real Nicholas attended the Council of Nicea in 325 AD and certainly supported orthodox Trinitarian Christianity, but many legends have grown up around him including one of bringing back to life some pickled children. He was only named as a saint in the Nineteenth Century, although, of course, according to the Bible, all Christians are saints.
Our current Christmas celebrations have their recent origins in the Victorian era. Prince Albert brought us Christmas trees from Germany, although there are some that say that they were taken there by a English missionary from this part of the country, Winfrith, who later became St Boniface. Christmas cards are also Victorian and some believe that the whole Christmas tradition really began with Charles Dickens and ‘A Christmas Carol’. The poem by the American Clement Moore, “Twas the night before Christmas” gave us the sleigh and reindeer and Santa coming down the chimney and the American artist for Harper’s Weekly, Thomas Nast, gave us the red coat and white beard.
The commercialisation of Christmas really began in a big way with the appropriation of Santa by Coca Cola in 1931 and it is this that people object to when they ask us to remember the real meaning of Christmas. The whole of December has become one long Christmas celebration (the Romans had the same problem with Saturnalia – Caligula tried to restrict it to 5 days). But what is the ‘real story of Christmas’?
The nativity story that we garner from Sunday School and carols is almost as bogus as the Oxford Street one. ‘We three kings’ says the carol, only they weren’t kings or even wise men by today’s reckoning. Magi – primitive sorcerers or astrologers – are what they were. This little Lord Jesus who ‘no crying he makes’ must have been a strange baby since this is how babies let us know that they want food or changing. The holy couple going from door to door being rebuffed by innkeepers has no basis in Scripture and there was no ox or ass witnessing the holy birth. Manger there might be, but no mention of a stable. And the Magi might have come as late as two years after the shepherds, since Herod killed all the little boys aged two and under, when he calculated when the star first appeared. They came to a house where Mary and Joseph were living. There was no ‘little donkey’ mentioned although a heavily pregnant Mary probably didn’t walk all that way. She may have come in a cart – carpenter Joseph ought to have had the skills to build one.
In any case it certainly didn’t happen on 25th December 1 AD – the December bit was a crude attempt to Christianize a pagan festival and the year a mathematical mistake by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk. We have two statements about Jesus’ age in the Bible. Luke 3: 23 tells us that he was ‘about thirty years old when he began his ministry’ and John 8:57 has the Jews telling Jesus “you are not yet fifty years old”. In order to accommodate known facts about Jesus’ life – born before Herod died in 4 BC and began his ministry in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius – we have to make ‘about thirty’ mean thirty-something. Lots of thirty-somethings will tell you that they are about thirty. In truth, despite some interesting delving into 2 Chronicles, we do not know precisely when Jesus was born.
Shepherds would not have been out tending their flocks in December, even in Palestine, so ‘See amidst the winter’s snow’ and ‘In the bleak midwinter’ are wrong, and it wasn’t a ‘Silent night’, not with all that angelic singing. We have no evidence of a ‘lowly cattle shed’ and I have never heard a mother giving birth, ‘how silently, how silently’.
So what is the true meaning of Christmas once we strip away the accretions and come to terms with the fact that December is a dark and dreary month in the Northern hemisphere and we could all do with a bit of cheering up? In John’s gospel, there is no Christmas story; no shepherds and angels, no Magi and Herod, yet a marvelous truth is told: ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’.
This ‘Word’ or ‘Logos’ is a mysterious character. He (or it) was with God and was God. Without him (it is a him, then, not an it) nothing was made that has been made. Through him all things were made. He was there at the creation of all things when only God was there! In him was life and that life was the light of men.
How to unpick this! The Word is a person. The Word is Divine. The Word was there from the beginning. The Word is eternal. The Word took part in Creation. Is not God one God? Yet here we have God in two persons (and elsewhere we shall discover that there is a third person) One God, three persons. Blessed Trinity!
In him was (or is) life. The word ‘life’ in this context refers to the whole essence of Godliness: holiness, truth, love, omnipotence, sovereignty. This second person of the Godhead does not differ in his nature in the slightest way from God the Father. Yet, as we shall find elsewhere, he is subordinate to him. This ‘nature of God’ is what was breathed into Adam to give him life; it is the light of men. Since the Fall mankind has become occluded by darkness. Nevertheless the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome, comprehended, eclipsed it.
John the Baptist bore witness to the light. He himself was not the light, but he brought this message, “The light of the world was coming into the world!”
What was the good news? What is The Gospel? It is this: the Word became flesh.
How could it happen? How is it possible? How could the creator become subject to the whims of his creation?
He is in control – what limits him? He came, not like Superman, with X-ray vision, impervious to bullets and able to leap high buildings with a single stride; rather he came as a vulnerable baby who could have been slaughtered with the other innocents had Herod caught him. Here’s a carol that gets things right, ‘Mild he lays his glory by.’ And here’s another: ‘Thou who was rich beyond all splendor, all for love’s sake becamest poor’. As Paul put it in his letter to the Philippians: ’He did not consider equality with God something to be clung on to, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.’
The incarnation is what we celebrate at Christmas.
There are lots of stories of gods becoming human or even bovine or creaturely in some other way. We rightly hold them to be myths, like Santa coming down chimneys and circumnavigating the world with his magic reindeer in a single night. What makes Jesus different? It is the second half of the sentence. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
This was not a fleeting visit. He lived before clouds of witnesses. Other children knew him as a boy. He was a lost child in Jerusalem – people would have remembered how worried and panicky Mary and Joseph were when they had all returned a day’s journey back to Nazareth and suddenly found him missing. They would have known his brothers and sisters. He was well known in Nazareth, so much so that when he preached there, his neighbors despised him, “Isn’t this the carpenter?” much as we should say “Why should we listen to the garbage collector lecture us on nuclear physics?”
His brothers, James, Joseph, Judas and Simon were all named. His sisters mingled with the other women of the village. His ministry attracted thousands to follow him and a lot of important people to oppose him.
When these important people finally caught him and killed him people started saying that he had come back to life. At first it was a few women. Who can believe a few gossipy women? Even his friends thought it was a tall story. But then others claimed to have seen him; his close friends at first but then others among his followers until at last he appeared before 500. Mass hysteria? Have you ever been in a crowd of 500? There are always some who don’t go along with the ‘mass hypnosis’. Where were the skeptics?
Of all historical events there are few that are better witnessed. He was in the world and though he had made the world, the world did not recognize him for who he was. Even his close friends were confused. It was only when he conquered death that they began to understand. He was and is the Lord of Glory. And to those who believe he gave the right to become Children of God.
We understand all about birth. We have no need for lectures about the birds and bees. But this birth is different. Jesus called it being born again. John calls it being born of God.
Finally, we have it! The true meaning of Christmas is that it was all a plot. Not the Passover plot that modernists have conjured up; a plot to steal the body and pretend a resurrection. No, this is a plot by God to deceive the Devil. John tells us later in his gospel that Satan entered into Judas to lead him to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities. “Let us kill the son and take his inheritance”. Jesus had signaled it in the parable of the tenants, but Satan swallowed the bait and got his head crushed as a result.
For us, it was not a plot but a plan; a rescue plan for those who were lost. Christmas was the first step in an audacious salvation. Who but a helpless baby could sneak under the radar; even then it was a close run thing, but Herod’s assassins arrived too late.
The Angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest!” Glory indeed!
For men they also sang, “Peace!” Not just peace among men, but peace with God. Jesus was the instrument of peace, the one who made it possible. John tells us about what happened when John the Baptist baptized Jesus. John recognized Jesus as the Son of God and pointed him out, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” It is the death and resurrection that remove the guilt and power of sin from all believers.
“Now ye need not fear the grave;
Jesus Christ was born to save.
Calls you one and call you all,
To gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save.
Christ was born to save.”
As I have stressed before, Father Christmas is a purely Pagan figure, who probably owes most to Odin’s December character, Jul, with a seasoning of Lord Winter from the Saxons and Saturn from the Romans. In fairly recent times he has merged with Santa Claus. St Nicholas himself was a rather murky figure derived from Bishop Nicholas of Myra in modern Turkey. The real Nicholas attended the Council of Nicea in 325 AD and certainly supported orthodox Trinitarian Christianity, but many legends have grown up around him including one of bringing back to life some pickled children. He was only named as a saint in the Nineteenth Century, although, of course, according to the Bible, all Christians are saints.
Our current Christmas celebrations have their recent origins in the Victorian era. Prince Albert brought us Christmas trees from Germany, although there are some that say that they were taken there by a English missionary from this part of the country, Winfrith, who later became St Boniface. Christmas cards are also Victorian and some believe that the whole Christmas tradition really began with Charles Dickens and ‘A Christmas Carol’. The poem by the American Clement Moore, “Twas the night before Christmas” gave us the sleigh and reindeer and Santa coming down the chimney and the American artist for Harper’s Weekly, Thomas Nast, gave us the red coat and white beard.
The commercialisation of Christmas really began in a big way with the appropriation of Santa by Coca Cola in 1931 and it is this that people object to when they ask us to remember the real meaning of Christmas. The whole of December has become one long Christmas celebration (the Romans had the same problem with Saturnalia – Caligula tried to restrict it to 5 days). But what is the ‘real story of Christmas’?
The nativity story that we garner from Sunday School and carols is almost as bogus as the Oxford Street one. ‘We three kings’ says the carol, only they weren’t kings or even wise men by today’s reckoning. Magi – primitive sorcerers or astrologers – are what they were. This little Lord Jesus who ‘no crying he makes’ must have been a strange baby since this is how babies let us know that they want food or changing. The holy couple going from door to door being rebuffed by innkeepers has no basis in Scripture and there was no ox or ass witnessing the holy birth. Manger there might be, but no mention of a stable. And the Magi might have come as late as two years after the shepherds, since Herod killed all the little boys aged two and under, when he calculated when the star first appeared. They came to a house where Mary and Joseph were living. There was no ‘little donkey’ mentioned although a heavily pregnant Mary probably didn’t walk all that way. She may have come in a cart – carpenter Joseph ought to have had the skills to build one.
In any case it certainly didn’t happen on 25th December 1 AD – the December bit was a crude attempt to Christianize a pagan festival and the year a mathematical mistake by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk. We have two statements about Jesus’ age in the Bible. Luke 3: 23 tells us that he was ‘about thirty years old when he began his ministry’ and John 8:57 has the Jews telling Jesus “you are not yet fifty years old”. In order to accommodate known facts about Jesus’ life – born before Herod died in 4 BC and began his ministry in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius – we have to make ‘about thirty’ mean thirty-something. Lots of thirty-somethings will tell you that they are about thirty. In truth, despite some interesting delving into 2 Chronicles, we do not know precisely when Jesus was born.
Shepherds would not have been out tending their flocks in December, even in Palestine, so ‘See amidst the winter’s snow’ and ‘In the bleak midwinter’ are wrong, and it wasn’t a ‘Silent night’, not with all that angelic singing. We have no evidence of a ‘lowly cattle shed’ and I have never heard a mother giving birth, ‘how silently, how silently’.
So what is the true meaning of Christmas once we strip away the accretions and come to terms with the fact that December is a dark and dreary month in the Northern hemisphere and we could all do with a bit of cheering up? In John’s gospel, there is no Christmas story; no shepherds and angels, no Magi and Herod, yet a marvelous truth is told: ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’.
This ‘Word’ or ‘Logos’ is a mysterious character. He (or it) was with God and was God. Without him (it is a him, then, not an it) nothing was made that has been made. Through him all things were made. He was there at the creation of all things when only God was there! In him was life and that life was the light of men.
How to unpick this! The Word is a person. The Word is Divine. The Word was there from the beginning. The Word is eternal. The Word took part in Creation. Is not God one God? Yet here we have God in two persons (and elsewhere we shall discover that there is a third person) One God, three persons. Blessed Trinity!
In him was (or is) life. The word ‘life’ in this context refers to the whole essence of Godliness: holiness, truth, love, omnipotence, sovereignty. This second person of the Godhead does not differ in his nature in the slightest way from God the Father. Yet, as we shall find elsewhere, he is subordinate to him. This ‘nature of God’ is what was breathed into Adam to give him life; it is the light of men. Since the Fall mankind has become occluded by darkness. Nevertheless the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome, comprehended, eclipsed it.
John the Baptist bore witness to the light. He himself was not the light, but he brought this message, “The light of the world was coming into the world!”
What was the good news? What is The Gospel? It is this: the Word became flesh.
How could it happen? How is it possible? How could the creator become subject to the whims of his creation?
He is in control – what limits him? He came, not like Superman, with X-ray vision, impervious to bullets and able to leap high buildings with a single stride; rather he came as a vulnerable baby who could have been slaughtered with the other innocents had Herod caught him. Here’s a carol that gets things right, ‘Mild he lays his glory by.’ And here’s another: ‘Thou who was rich beyond all splendor, all for love’s sake becamest poor’. As Paul put it in his letter to the Philippians: ’He did not consider equality with God something to be clung on to, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.’
The incarnation is what we celebrate at Christmas.
There are lots of stories of gods becoming human or even bovine or creaturely in some other way. We rightly hold them to be myths, like Santa coming down chimneys and circumnavigating the world with his magic reindeer in a single night. What makes Jesus different? It is the second half of the sentence. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
This was not a fleeting visit. He lived before clouds of witnesses. Other children knew him as a boy. He was a lost child in Jerusalem – people would have remembered how worried and panicky Mary and Joseph were when they had all returned a day’s journey back to Nazareth and suddenly found him missing. They would have known his brothers and sisters. He was well known in Nazareth, so much so that when he preached there, his neighbors despised him, “Isn’t this the carpenter?” much as we should say “Why should we listen to the garbage collector lecture us on nuclear physics?”
His brothers, James, Joseph, Judas and Simon were all named. His sisters mingled with the other women of the village. His ministry attracted thousands to follow him and a lot of important people to oppose him.
When these important people finally caught him and killed him people started saying that he had come back to life. At first it was a few women. Who can believe a few gossipy women? Even his friends thought it was a tall story. But then others claimed to have seen him; his close friends at first but then others among his followers until at last he appeared before 500. Mass hysteria? Have you ever been in a crowd of 500? There are always some who don’t go along with the ‘mass hypnosis’. Where were the skeptics?
Of all historical events there are few that are better witnessed. He was in the world and though he had made the world, the world did not recognize him for who he was. Even his close friends were confused. It was only when he conquered death that they began to understand. He was and is the Lord of Glory. And to those who believe he gave the right to become Children of God.
We understand all about birth. We have no need for lectures about the birds and bees. But this birth is different. Jesus called it being born again. John calls it being born of God.
Finally, we have it! The true meaning of Christmas is that it was all a plot. Not the Passover plot that modernists have conjured up; a plot to steal the body and pretend a resurrection. No, this is a plot by God to deceive the Devil. John tells us later in his gospel that Satan entered into Judas to lead him to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities. “Let us kill the son and take his inheritance”. Jesus had signaled it in the parable of the tenants, but Satan swallowed the bait and got his head crushed as a result.
For us, it was not a plot but a plan; a rescue plan for those who were lost. Christmas was the first step in an audacious salvation. Who but a helpless baby could sneak under the radar; even then it was a close run thing, but Herod’s assassins arrived too late.
The Angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest!” Glory indeed!
For men they also sang, “Peace!” Not just peace among men, but peace with God. Jesus was the instrument of peace, the one who made it possible. John tells us about what happened when John the Baptist baptized Jesus. John recognized Jesus as the Son of God and pointed him out, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” It is the death and resurrection that remove the guilt and power of sin from all believers.
“Now ye need not fear the grave;
Jesus Christ was born to save.
Calls you one and call you all,
To gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save.
Christ was born to save.”
Sunday, December 13, 2009
John Betjeman's Christmas
The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain.
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hooker's Green.
The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that villagers can say
'The Church looks nice' on Christmas Day.
Provincial public houses blaze
And Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'
And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.
And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad,
And Christmas morning bells say 'Come!'
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.
And is it true? and is it true?
The most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?
And is it true? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant.
No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was Man in Palestine
And lives to-day in Bread and Wine.
Betjeman was a strange man. In himself he was short and ugly, and he was a romantic dweller in the same imaginary world as Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton. But his poetry, while written in a traditional form had an immediacy that caught the imagination of ordinary people. We think of it now, as of a period, but it was written in that period and caught the atmosphere magnificently. He recognized the need to set it in real places, London shops, The Dorchester hotel, Slough that isn't fit for humans now, Aldershot sun, and anchor it in the experiences of ordinary people - who hasn't received a hideous tie, so kindly meant?
He was a High Anglican - typical of his social class and generation - with a simple faith, but in this poem in a gentle way he separates the nostalgia from the reality. Jesus Christ was God and he really did intervene in Time at a particular Place. We may not have the date right - December 25th in the year zero does not exist - but there was a Day and a Date.
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain.
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hooker's Green.
The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that villagers can say
'The Church looks nice' on Christmas Day.
Provincial public houses blaze
And Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'
And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.
And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad,
And Christmas morning bells say 'Come!'
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.
And is it true? and is it true?
The most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?
And is it true? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant.
No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was Man in Palestine
And lives to-day in Bread and Wine.
Betjeman was a strange man. In himself he was short and ugly, and he was a romantic dweller in the same imaginary world as Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton. But his poetry, while written in a traditional form had an immediacy that caught the imagination of ordinary people. We think of it now, as of a period, but it was written in that period and caught the atmosphere magnificently. He recognized the need to set it in real places, London shops, The Dorchester hotel, Slough that isn't fit for humans now, Aldershot sun, and anchor it in the experiences of ordinary people - who hasn't received a hideous tie, so kindly meant?
He was a High Anglican - typical of his social class and generation - with a simple faith, but in this poem in a gentle way he separates the nostalgia from the reality. Jesus Christ was God and he really did intervene in Time at a particular Place. We may not have the date right - December 25th in the year zero does not exist - but there was a Day and a Date.
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