Author: rattleyrow@gmail.com

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Meditations

IMPRISONED SPLENDOR

 

 

Suggested Scripture Readings: Numbers 20: 1-20;
John 14: 1 – 14
Scripture Reference: NUMBERS 20: 11  Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.  (1)
This rock appears to be quite ordinary in every respect. It was just another large chunk of lifeless granite. It offered no relief, whatsoever, from the monotonous stretches of desert aridity, as far as the eye could see in every direction.
The landscape prompted a somewhat menacing suggestion of the Creator, who, having wearied of sharing lifelessness more uniformly throughout creation, had just left rocks and burning sand everywhere on this desert floor. Could this landscape veil an even more ominous fact?  Following unwittingly their self-acclaimed leader,  Moses, from Egypt to some ever-receding destiny, would not these travelers leave their fossilized remains on the desert floor, as one more stark reminder of the reward of foolhardiness?
It is not an entirely unknown phenomenon that humans often bear revealing evidence of the surroundings they experience, and the fortunes or misfortunes that reward them. Deprivation, here in this text, is the hallmark of the Hebrews’ present experience. Food and water are in dangerously short supply, and the daily vision of the lifeless desert does nothing to quench their thirst; to lessen their pangs of hunger or to provide an appropriate setting to talk about God! The ubiquitous whispers of death creep through their souls!
 I have observed the evidence of the environmental phenomenon on the faces of some of the residents of a large fishing community which I once served. Several sea disasters had left many families bereft of their loved ones. The pathos that follows such a disaster is captured forcefully in a poem by E.J. Pratt, a Newfoundland poet.
                    ”   Erosion” (1931)
“It took the sea a thousand years,
A thousand years to trace
The granite features of this cliff,
In crag and scarp and base.
It took the sea an hour one night,
An hour of storm to place
The sculpture of these granite seams
Upon a woman’s face.” (2)
Neither is it hard to imagine how vulnerable those Hebrews felt! What human resources can be mustered to meet the stark prospect of certain death, made visible by the stark nothingness of the desert!  Fearfully they turn to Moses, the leader of this expedition. ” Why did you not leave us alone, in Egypt?  Slaves, indeed we were there, but we were slaves who had food and water! There we had life, but here, there is nothing for us but certain death! You and your glib talk about ‘ God’ and a land of hope and promise somewhere ahead! What can even God do in the face of desert dryness? Tell us, Moses,  Can He reverse the onward march of death, towards us?”
Let’s face it with them! There are times when we do feel vulnerable, when we lift our eyes and behold the vast armies set to take us down, by mocking all the dreams that have kept us ardent in our search for our promise land. Then to “Talk” about God seems like adding insult to injury! The time for mere talk about God is past! Now the demand is, ” Show us the Father, and that alone will satisfy us, nothing less will do!”
In this day and age, we may be depending too much upon
‘ words’ alone.  It is why God decided,long ago, that Words are never enough!  And so ” THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US.” If words are not enough, and religious language fails to relieve the human dilemma, then what’s left? “From whence cometh our help?”
Continuing with the narrative of Moses and his Hebrew followers through the threatening desert of Zin, it bears witness to something reassuring, as well as to something awe-inspiring, in and of itself.
Further theologizing and philosophizing in answer to persistent arguments, are under ban by the Great Silencer, God Himself. Without further commentary, He commands,  ” Strike the rock, there in front of you, with the rod you have in your hand, which symbolizes My presence with you all!” Moses obeys. Forthwith there gushes life-saving water, as well as the gripping evidence that God’s resources are available to the obedient. Resources are available, even though the senses strenuously deny that possibility!
Do not ever suppose that God’s imprisoned splendor shown in this inanimate object, ends with this incident in ancient history. Even more relevant for us are the words of Jesus, in the New Testament, ” Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he also do; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” ( John 14: 12).  Words and deeds must never be divorced from the reality of the ” Imprisoned Splendor” of the Holy Spirit in the souls of those who call Him Lord. Be not surprised at the life-giving stream that results from a renewed connection to the “Imprisoned Splendor” in your life, waiting to flow forth, to bless the world. The only retardant to that life-giving flow is unbelief.  All attempts to do anything less, than wait upon the Lord for the fulfillment of His promise to produce through us His Life-giving water, are like pointing to a mirage in the death-ridden desert, as a way to satisfy the thirst of a dying person!
“For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”(3)
PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
O God, of our awe-struck wonder,
Come ever closer to us now as, in this solitude, we seek to focus our shot-spanned attention upon ‘The Wonder Of It All”, as it pertains to You.
We wonder how it is possible that those same hands that formed the complex intricacies of this magnificent universe, took the time to create a baby’s smile, that fills a mother’s soul with love.
How is it possible that the clod of earth from which we are formed develops a personality and bears the likeness of God?
How is it possible that Your hands worked upon that same clod of earth turning it into ” A Temple Of The Living God?”
How can it possibly be, that even when the influences of this world turn that clod of earth into a heartless stone, You make sure that within there is a hidden splendor that will one day burst forth?
We praise You, O God, that with the tenderness and the patience that forever characterizes our Heavenly Father, You make Jesus available to be present with us. We experience all kinds of wonders. We are somewhat like children returning home from kindergarten after our first real encounter with life.  Keep us wondering and keep us curious to the end of our journey. Keep our faith in Jesus strong, for to such belong the Kingdom of God. Amen.
HYMN:  The Wonder Of It All  ( Click)
EDITORIAL NOTES
1. It is strongly recommended that a reading of both scriptures prior to the reading of the meditation be undertaken since  the story will enhance one’s understanding of the meditation
2. EROSION. poem by E.J. Pratt
      E.J. Pratt: Complete Poems. ed. Sandra Djwa and R.G. Moyles.     Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.
3.’Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 414
4. PHOTO: MUSKRAT FALLS, Newfoundland And Labrador
Categories
"BRIGUS MY BRIGUS"

RATTLEYROW

 

From the earliest days of memory, I have been curious about the meaning of the name given to the street where I was born and lived and the place I proudly call home.  That name’ Rattlyrow ‘ rolls of the tongue with poetic beauty. I have never permitted it to fade from my mind, and to this day, it remains part of my e-mail address! I have sought its meaning, unsuccessfully for the most part, but I have heard suggestions concerning its derivation. Our next-door neighbour gave me the most memorable explanation.
He was an old retired sea-captain. I can still feel my child’s hand being swallowed up in his massive weather-beaten one as we took another of our many trips to the waterfront. “Skipper Affie, why do they call where we live ” Rattleyrow”? I inquired of my best friend. From our short walk down Barrett’s Lane, the old skipper tired sat down on a gump at the wharf head and looked out towards the Squid-Jigging ground! The activity on the waterfront this morning was considerable. But above the noise of the crowd and the call of a hundred seagulls, one sound is audible above all others, and it came from the direction of my friend’s gaze. There, a schooner is weighing anchor, and the rattling chains bring a visible mist to my dear friend’s eyes.” Little buddy,” my skipper friend, following a long pause,  finally ventures, “that sound is music to me! and that music is what’s behind why people call the place where we live, ‘Rattleyrow.’ I remember this harbour being full of schooners, and sometimes, all night long, you’d hear the chains rattling as they got ready to put out to sea or they might be moorin’ there, after their voyage home.”
Sights and sounds relating to the sea enter into many a man’s soul as unforgettable music and brings a tear to the eye of those who have finally disembarked.  My old ‘skipper’ friend was only one of the many from ‘Rattleyrow’ swelling the numbers of men from Brigus, who could not escape the mysterious lure of the sea. And many of them joined the crew of Captain Bob Bartlett’s famous arctic expeditions on The Effie M Morrisey. They then continued their own saga,  still fraught with danger but ever with unremitting courage.
As unavoidable as the sea call is, there is another call that echoes through the hills of this old town and finds its way throughout its streets. It is the call of God to Christian Service. That ‘Call’ meets with a fantastic response as well, from every corner of this town. But let me record the rather remarkable facts of this matter, as they relate to “Rattleyrow,”  since this is my present undertaking.
At the top of “Rattleyrow,” directly across the road from the house once occupied by my grandfather Curtis and his family, there was the house of George and Mary Meaden. On February 16, 1892, a son JOHN ALFRED was born to them. John was a man of outstanding intellectual ability. He became an ordained minister of The Church Of England and in 1956 was elevated to be Bishop of Newfoundland, a service he discharged with distinction.
In later years a very devout Roman Catholic family that lived next door to our house on “Rattleyrow” saw two of their daughters leave home to pursue callings within their church.
In 1974, I became an ordained minister of the United Church Of Canada.
In 1976 our beloved neighbours, Richard and Ethel Rose, who live directly across the road from our home on Rattleyrow, celebrated their son Melvin’s ordination to the ministry of The United Church Of Canada.
The fact that amazes me here is in consideration of the number of young women and men who chose, or more accurately were chosen to serve, from this small segment of our town!
The total number of those chosen throughout this town from various Christian Communions, however, is most remarkable for a township of its size.
In the final analysis, everything I have written here is further confirmation of the significant role the Christian Faith plays in establishing the lasting beauty of any place. Let us ever remember to offer prayers of thanksgiving for St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, St. George’s Anglican Church, and The United Church Of Canada, that their guiding light will continue to shine upon the path that leads us all to our Eternal Home!
EDITORIAL NOTE
The Photo: is a stock photo  from the House- Of- Mirth: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/house-of-mirth.html
It is meant to capture something of the day I felt the meaning of ” Rattleyrow.”
                                             ___________________________
Categories
Meditations

FOR WHOM DOES THE BELL TOLL?

 

Suggested Scripture: Luke 16:19 – 31.  It is strongly recommended that you read this portion of Scripture in its entirety to gain a clearer image of the meditation that follows.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Luke 16:19-21: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

This story told by Jesus may well offend our refined and carefully polished sensitivities. We never take well to lines of demarcation so rigidly drawn as to reveal our social differences. Jesus considers it essential to emphasize it in His day, and God knows the message demands amplification in this our day!
It was a social custom, in the town of my childhood, that when a person died, a particular church bell would toll the age of the deceased. I distinctly remember being sent to inquire ” for whom the bell tolls.” This custom was undoubtedly a tradition brought by our English ancestors. It is the subject of a moving poem by the English poet, John Donne: ” Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls, It Tolls For Thee.”

“No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”(2)

In the penetrating story of ” The Rich Man And Lazarus” told by Jesus, He means for us to hear the somber funeral bells toll.

On the first occasion, the bell’s tolling announces the death of a town’s resident, whose name is Lazarus. Imagine this scene on that day when a resident arrives to make the inquiry, ” For Whom Does The Bell Toll?” ” Lazarus,” comes the response. ” Who?” replies the inquirer. “Lazarus,” comes the cold, detached response. ” Never heard of him! Who is he?” Oh, he is that old beggar, who was always around town begging for a bite to eat. I suppose he finally  starved to death!”
It is NOT INCONSEQUENTIAL that Jesus gives him the name LAZARUS, meaning, ” God Has Helped.” Lazarus never owned much of this world’s goods. But Jesus recognizes him as a human being whom He graces with a name, and thereby identifies the humanity that they share; Jesus, the Saviour, and Lazarus, the beggar!

The funeral bell sounds throughout the town once again. Scarcely is it heard above the din in the streets! The expressions of sorrow are profuse. The town’s ‘rich man ‘ is dead! Indeed, if there is anyone in this story deserving of a name, is it not the’ rich man’? But, Jesus suggests that by this man’s failure to recognize the common humanity he shares with all, unwittingly he gives eloquent expression to his desire to be an island unto himself. It is not his wealth that lies at the root of his undoing. It is his attitude towards himself, towards others, and most especially towards God! Looking through the windows of his mansion, all that the rich man can see on his border is a bothersome bump with no name; a blip that is marring his landscape. He does not see a fellow human being; a child of God’s creation. Empathy towards the beggar does not stir him in the least, to remember that ” But for the grace of God, the roles could have been reversed, as one day they are destined to be.

The more somber tones of the funeral bell, on the occasion of ‘the rich man’s demise, are but echoes of the bell tolling earlier in heaven for the death, of an immortal soul. I suspect that the bell previously sounded many years before.

I am deeply troubled at present by the rampant wholesale-condemnation of immigrants, that is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, and is finding such virulent expression in our social media.

Many of these immigrants wear different style clothing from ours and hold to different ideologies from ours, and can tell of hardships we can never even imagine. Whether you like what you see or not, or whether you understand their religious expressions or not, they are not undeserving of respect and pity. They are not to be treated as unwelcome blips on our borders; they are not islands unto themselves. They are God’s Children, and just like you, they have souls that hope and dream. It’s time to make the tolling bells cease, and it’s time to bid the bells of Heaven and earth ring out in songs of jubilation. Let us build bridges, not walls! Let us strive to connect the many Islands that are fragmenting God’s beautiful earth! Believe that God will fulfill His promise to make one of all nations. The Book of Revelation unveils God’s vision of ‘The New Heaven and The New Earth:” Between the city street and the river was the tree of life. It produced twelve kinds of fruit, each month having its own fruit. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him.”Amen, So let it be!              (Rev.22:2-3)

 

A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

O God of compassion,
make our hearts acutely sensitive to understand what Your feeling of Compassion towards us humans, demanded of You! ” God so loved the world, that He sent His Only Begotten Son.”Forgive our willful blindness and our lack of faith, that dares us to accept a new definition of ” the world,” into which You unleashed the Power of Your love to redeem. Forgive the tamed reality of our love, now appearing like a domesticated pet that is led around where it feels comfortable. Teach us to know that our limited understanding of ‘love’ will never change anything, but before the ” Cross Of Christ,” nothing remains unchanged!
Save us, in this day from becoming so accustomed to the sound of bells tolling out other people’s pain and sorrow, that we are thankful that we are separated from the actual event, as though we lived like an island, disconnected from it all! “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin,”  (1 John 1:7-10).

” May the Christ who walks on wounded feet, walk with you to the end of your road;
May the Christ who serves with wounded hands, teach you to serve each other;
May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart, help you to love each other;
When you go out, may you see the face of Jesus in everyone you meet, and may everyone you meet see the face of Jesus in you.” Amen. (3)

HYMN: When I Needed A Neighbor!https://youtu.be/y0AVOs-V_BE

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. The Scripture references in this post are found in the New International Translation, (NIV)

2.For whom the bell tolls a poem
(No man is an island) by John Donne                                                                    http://www.famousliteraryworks.com/donne_for_whom_the_bell_tolls.htm

3. The italicized portion of the Prayer is a traditional Celtic prayer.

4.PHOTO: ” Row Houses” in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

 

 

Categories
"BRIGUS MY BRIGUS"

SCHOOL-DAYS

The temperature was 18 below that morning as I set out from Rattleyrow to go to ‘The Ole Brigus Academy,’ up the harbor, next door to the Court House, the post office, the jail-house, and the town’s police residence.
The snow made my ears happy to hear the crunch beneath my feet as I crossed over ” Kings Bridge.”My warm mitts designed to keep my fingers from freezing, today served the dual purpose of preventing icicles from forming on my running nose. My steps became slower as I approached Aggie Spracklin’s house on the left.  The big tin ice-cream advertising Dickey Burke’s newsstand and variety store shivered in the frosty morning air. Just a couple of hundred yards remained. …and then, and then, the school! And today, of all the other challenging days of the week, this was Wednesday, and that meant the jumpin’ spelling-bee!
With a concerted effort, I forced myself deeper into my extra long stocking cap, knit for me by my dearly loved older sister, Louise, my commiserator in chief on all such occasions. From deep inside my stocking cap I tried to recall all the instructions she gave me the night before. Then I heard the be lying sound of the School Bell, wanting me to believe it was as far away as it sounded inside my stocking cap. But a quick peek confirmed it, Murray Moores was standing one side of the open door, shaking that brass colored bell that I hated like nothing else!
A sharp turn to the right brought me into Miss Irene Bartlett’s classroom that housed grades five, six and seven. The pot-bellied stove was blushing red, and the kettle on its top was already singing; thereby announcing the promise of hot chocolate ( Cocoa Malt) later in the morning! It was kind of comforting gesture, like that a prisoner receives just before his execution! I knew this pattern well. As soon as the last dregs of “cocoa malt” were drained, and the mugs tucked away for household cleansing, came the dreaded announcement. ” Grade five class will now come for their spelling-bee. The perky ones, who bristled like roosters making ready to crow, pushed themselves to the front of the line. I was not one of them! Miss Bartlett identified my position as number seven. Not bad I comforted myself, there are eight others below me! The only thing is; anyone who drifts south of his present location was blackballed and relegated to the realm of the less popular among his peers! There were scarcely any changes in positions in the upper half as the trial proceeded. Then  Number SEVEN is on the witness stand.  ” Spell “RECEIVE” came the command! I froze! What was the rule Louise rehearsed with me last night? Was it “i” before “e” or was it ” e” before “i”? The agony was palpable, and the perky ones just above me began to twitch and shake and excitedly wave their hands in the air! The silence was excruciating! ” RECEIVE” Miss Bartlett’s voice insisted!  With determination, I began ” R-E-C-I-E -V-E.” Before the last vowel was out of my mouth, the girl next in line spelled it correctly. And slowly I moved to position number eight!
This childhood memory finds a most eloquent expression by one who shared a very similar experience in his childhood. John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “IN SCHOOL DAYS”profoundly moves me still.. An audio version of that poem follows.

EDITORIAL NOTE

1.           The Poem ” In School Days” is written by                                         JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45487/in-school-days

2. I apologize for the quality of the audio presentation.  As is plainly evident, no technical assistance was sought!

 

Categories
Meditations

WHEN FRUSTRATION KNOCKS

 

 

Suggested Scripture Reading: John 9: 1 -41

Scripture Focus: John 9: 25 Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I know. Whereas I was blind, but now I see.

Frustration. What is it? What is its origin? Why are humans so subject to its iron grip? And most importantly; Is there any escaping it?
Here is an appealing episode in the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a promising revelation for minds, inquiring about the true identity of this Man who has recently come among them. Jesus opens the doors of Heaven to make known to earth-bound creatures, the imminence of Heaven’s power to solve earth’s impossibilities; like opening eyes which were destined never to see earth’s beauty, or sadly, to see first hand the evidence of earth’s pain. We, along with the other characters in the narrative are taken to the very threshold of participation in an impressive victory performed by Jesus.

Without warning, there is a rude interruption in the ecstasy of the moment. Frustration, with her illegitimate brood known as fear, cynicism, timidity, and rigor mortis of the soul, demand entry into every soul present.

The initial onslaught of ‘frustration’ comes from a source, from which the young man was expecting jubilation, over the victory of sight won for him by Jesus, namely, from the leadership of a community of faith. ‘ What if the religious aristocracy could be enlisted to diminish or to destroy this so-called miracle of restored sight? Then two challenges facing the religious community would be dealt a fatal blow. On the one hand, the challenge was to give a reasonable explanation for this” MIRACLE,” in a day that had long since ceased to believe in miracles! On the other hand, the challenge was to deal with this “Jesus of Nazareth” who was stirring chaos in the Synagogues throughout the region.

Heart-wrenching frustration is threatening the solidity of the young man’s fortress! A tender soul, just barely out of the shadow of perpetual darkness, is the victim of frustration and her evil crew. What does one do, and where does one go, when the religious community turns its back upon a person who is in the ecstasy of some positive experience of God acting in his life? And as stunning as it seems, it is a tragic reality to this present hour. “Frustration’ still finds committed allies in pulpits and pews! Some announce from the pulpit their shrunken image of God and boast of their abandonment of the Christian ethos. Sadly, from many in the pews a supportive ” AMEN ” echoes. Little wonder the church, once vibrant with the life of the Spirit is creeping along at snail pace!

But to return to the narrative!
Not yet is ‘frustration’ finished with its malicious intent to stifle the sounds of praise from a grateful young man, whom God has touched with a miracle of restored vision. Therefore, the leaders begin to pressure the people, who have watched this man grow from birth, to provide substantiating evidence in order to further develop their scheme. What a blow to a heart, newly born into the excitement of the world of sight, to listen to his own neighbors and friends deny him! Too strong a commitment to the truth concerning this boy’s health status had the potential of implicating others into something undesirable. So why get involved? So the neighbors choose the safest path of non-committal. ” We are not sure of this man’s identity,” they concocted. This fellow looks much like the one who traveled the streets of our community for years, but we can’t be sure it is he. They make every effort to assuage their guilty conscience. “What is going on here in this community now is not normal. We never saw anything like this before! Who knows where all this is going to end? It’s better to stay out of it!” They cowardly convince themselves.

If a community chains itself to a narrow definition of ” normalcy” or ” the usual” it will never experience ” the new Heaven and the new Earth” Scriptures promise.

Frustration now attacks the last remaining stronghold of hope for the young man!
” The Jewish leaders did not believe the man had been born blind, so they sent for his parents. ” Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? If so, how can he now see? Notice the deliberate attempt of the recognized authorities to confuse the minds of the innocent. “Is this your son?” they asked. ” Is this the one you say was born blind?” frustration smiles her devilish smile, as fear causes the parent’s hearts to tremble. The parents see immediately where this is heading. To be seen to lend any credence, whatsoever, to their son’s avowed miracle at the hands of Jesus, would lead to expulsion from the religious community. “That this is our son, we know; that he was born blind, we know but, how he now sees, or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age, ask him!.” This time it is the angels in Heaven who laugh! “Give God the glory, young man,” came the self-righteous command of the leader,” we know this man, Jesus, is a sinner!” The young man listens for a moment, to what sounds to him like a mournful wind  blowing in leafless trees; then in a voice trembling with excitement he announces: ” WHETHER HE IS A SINNER OR NOT, I DO NOT KNOW; ONE THING I DO KNOW, ONCE I WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE!”
Frustration and her brood slink off into the darkness to await the arrival of the next victim. And  Jesus takes the young man’s hand and together they go to welcome the dawning of a new day!
There is no other antidote for the paralyzing effects of frustration upon any soul, but to permit the spiritual gift, which God already gives us in Jesus Christ, to fill the soul to overflowing! Then shall I arise and shine, for my light has come.

PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
O God, not until the sky grows dark,
thus heralding the end of day,
do I see the Evening Star, shimmering in all of its glory!
It is not until Your hand touches all that I treasure here on earth does my heart sincerely whisper its gratitude for the awesomeness of Your Everlasting Light, and the steadfastness of Your Unconditional Love.

Teach me to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom: for the eternal Day Star from on high imparts His glorious light each moment. In my darkest hours of frustration may I dwell in the blaze of Your sunlight, that my witness to Your victory may richer, fuller be. For the sake of Your Love for us in Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

HYMN:  AMAZING GRACE                         Andrea Bocelli

https://binged.it/2FYVXSa                             (Click on this link)

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

  1. It is recommended that you read the entire chapter of John: 9 in order to gain a fuller understanding of the story and of the meditation that is based upon it.
  2. Photo: Taken this summer (2018) The beautiful Joe Batt’s Arm, Fogo Island, Newfoundland.

 

Categories
Meditations

THE FAITH THAT INSPIRES

 

Genesis 15:6
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Matthew 17:20
Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

When you encounter a person, who is like a shelter from a fierce wind ; when you meet someone, who with speech that is punctuated with bitter sobs, tells you the story of an encounter with The One who changed tragedy into triumph; On the day you become aware, through facts relayed by a fellow pilgrim, that vast resources beyond all that appears to be, lie waiting for anyone who will believe, then on that day lift your eyes and rejoice, for on that day you see victories belonging to Faith. When God-consciousness takes the place of human consciousness, then is the world on the verge of a new and lasting rebirth.
The Old Testament personage, Abraham, owns the designation  “Father Of Faith.” Abraham, surrounded as he is by the verities of his historical setting, dares to lift his eyes and sees God.

The world is loud in its proclamation that no one transcends the laws that govern the natural world. However, Abraham sees ‘Eternity’ unshackled, in the ‘Face of God.’ Unspeakable treasures are waiting for him, just beyond the veil of the things that are. Accordingly, God’s promise to Abraham, that he is destined to be ”the Father of many nations’, might have been dismissed without further thought, since there was no heir and Sarai, Abraham’s wife was past childbearing age. Fate laughed in ‘ the Face of Providence,’ but in that same ‘Face, Abraham saw what was yet to be. Fate and Providence are often in conflict at the heart of many unsolved dilemmas of this world!
Abraham shows us Faith that inspires. To this very day, when we observe something of its kind, there is longing for the germ of that noble way of living, to be the possession of all, and thereby fulfill God’s initial plan to distinguish the human race from all other species.
Faith is that attitude that dares to look beyond the smug complacency of the world’s fatalistic conclusions and seeks for and finds God. Faith turns a deaf ear to the roar of the crowd, demanding that ” It is futile to try!” You may be left standing alone, but ever secure in the knowledge that the Eternal God is with you. That is what Faith is!

Abraham experiences the strain of a corrupt religion that is gaining momentum throughout the world of his day. Even some members of his own family likely abandoned the faith of their forebears, like Noah. Abraham never left Jehovah for the idolatry of Ur. He and Sarai were willing to stand out as different from that idolatrous community. If we are to develop genuine faith, we need a similar spirit. We too must be willing to stand alone and to be different.
The demand for faith is the hallmark of the Old Testament! It’s prophets, priests, and kings make its claim their mantra. The effulgent rays of their faith light the pathway of many of its participants, right to Bethlehem’s manger, where there lies before the world the very epitome of faith become flesh!

Given that the life of faith finds such a remarkable expression throughout the Sacred Word of the Old Testament, how much more available is the ability to live the life of faith, in the Company of the One who is the very essence of faith. Jesus demonstrated throughout His life the victories of faith and finally at the moment of His death announced one final victory of Faith’s eternal reward: “Father into Your Hands I commend my spirit.” Herein is Faith herein is Hope, herein is Abundant Life!

Somewhere there is recorded a story of an elderly parishioner, who towards the end of his life sought his minister to help him prepare for the final journey. He informed the minister of the difficulty he experienced when he knelt beside his bed to say his evening prayers.” I sometimes fall asleep there on my knees”, the troubled man, confessed. The minister, a seasoned suppliant himself, felt the old man’s deep distress. ” John,” he offered,” why not place a chair beside your bed, and imagine Jesus sitting there beside your bed. John, talk to Him like you are now talking to me. Tell Him your longings, your sorrows, your sad times and your times of happiness, and the blessings for which you are genuinely grateful. Tell Him everything and listen to Him speak to you.” Sometime later, the minister made another pastoral call and was delighted to see that John had taken his suggestion. ” Yes,” John, eagerly relayed, “I practice His Presence every day, and especially at bedtime. You know, I am as sure of His being there beside me, as I am of you being there now beside me.”
It was sometime following that John’s distraught daughter came to inform the minister of his passing. ” I so regret that I wasn’t present with him when my dad died she said. He was obviously in need of something. He was reaching for something on the chair “.’ No, my child”, responded, the man of God,” not something, your dad was reaching out his hand to Someone.” Tenderly the minister related the story surrounding the empty chair that for some time occupied a place beside her father’s bed.” You see your dad through simple faith when the time was here, stretched out his hand to hold the hand of His Friend, and together they passed through the gates of death into the place prepared for him. That is righteousness born of faith.

A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
Open my eyes with the touch of Your Hand, so that I may see, how much I really need You, O Lord.

I do thank you for the gift of hearing, which permits me to listen to the caroling of the birds and the thunderous crash of the sea against the headlands of home. Thank you for the sound of a baby’s cooing, and the sound of words that reveals a loved one’s feelings of appreciation and love.

But Please, dear Lord, touch my ears so that I may hear, You speak to me of Your Eternal Love for all the members of the human race. Let me hear You say once more, as you look upon my effort to do my part to bring Heaven and earth closer together,” God saw that it was good.”

Lord, touch my heart that it might have a deeper capacity to hold more of You! Then in all that I see around me here on earth, will be lost in the brilliant light of Your Face everywhere I look. Then the only sound I will hear will be the sounds of love, like a symphony that is being played, under the direction of the only perfect conductor of life’s harmonies.
Lord, open my eyes to see,
My ears to hear,
My heart to Love,
So that in Faith, I may help fulfill Your dream of a Heavenly World Where Your Will is done as it is in Heaven.  And all for the sake of Your Love for us and the World! Amen.

Hymn: My Faith Looks Up To Thee

https://youtu.be/oGKLmThF2to

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

  1. The Scripture references are from the New International Version of the Bible
  2. PHOTO: Taken at our summer cottage, ( SHALOM)  at Michael’s Harbour, Newfoundland.

 

Categories
Meditations Save draft

A READING OF E. J. PRATT’S POEM ” EROSION”

 A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS READING

O Christ of tender compassion, come again to us amid our life’s storms, as once You came to your beloved disciples, who were caught in the fearful throes of a vicious storm on Galilee. It was Your love for them and the surge of human helplessness that often paralyzes the members of the human family that resulted in this memorable encounter with humankind. You thereby demonstrate, to all humans, what our Saviour’s Love can accomplish. By walking on water, the day of Your defiance of the natural law reveals the propulsive power of love for Your dear friends is far removed from this day of shrunken faith and artificial intelligence. But we are never removed from Your Love for us or from our helplessness and need for Your victories.

We cannot deny that the marred visages of starving people and the bitter vitriol of uncontrolled tongues are as terrifying as the boisterous waves of an angry sea.
It is Love, Your Love, coming to possess our lives that will bring calm to our troubled sea and restore hope for those who sit and wait and pray.
Please, Lord, make us brave enough to refute the so-called wisdom of scholars who seek to produce the catalysis that shrinks our faith and gives us half-baked beliefs. Help us to reclaim the simple principles which enable children to be such beautiful lights to shine upon the road that leads us into the Kingdom Of Our God. Lord, You chose twelve people to help You change the course of history. But, unfortunately, today’s diluted mixture of shrunken faith and half-hearted, personally selected beliefs is no match for the vicious sea of dark demonic forces. Even so, Lord Jesus, Come to us again.
We pray for all through Your love’s sake. Amen.

HYMN: Eternal Father, Strong To Save

https://binged.it/2F6Zxs9

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1   ‘ EROSION” .https://canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca/pratt/poem1.htm                          Poem by Newfoundland poet, E. J. Pratt

2 Prayer: Franklin D. Curtis

3 Hymn, ” Eternal Father, Strong To Save.”

 

Categories
UNCATEGORIZED

May The New Year Bring You Peace

 

 

May This New Year bring                                                                                          PEACE to your soul;                                                                                                    LOVE to your heart; and a                                                                                        VISION of HOPE, to lead you to                                                                Joyful service in His Name Amen.

 

Obedience
By George MacDonald
(1824-1905)

I said: “Let me walk in the fields.”
He said: “No, walk in the town.”
I said: “There are no flowers there.”
He said: “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said: “But the skies are black;
There is nothing but noise and din.”
And He wept as He sent me back –
“There is more,” He said; “there is sin.”

I said: “But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun.”
He answered: “Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone!”

I said: “I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say.”
He answered: “Choose tonight
If I am to miss you or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.
He said: “Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem so hard in heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town;
He said, “My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine;
And into my heart came He;
And I walk in a light divine,
The path I had feared to see.

MAY GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!

 

 

 

 

Categories
"BRIGUS MY BRIGUS"

” THE WALK AROUND JERUSALEM”

MAY THE BLESSINGS OF CHRISTMAS FILL YOUR HOMES, AND MAY BRIGUS CONTINUE  TO BE ‘ A LITTLE TOWN’ THAT  WELCOMES  THE SAVIOUR’S BIRTH.

 

I have wanted to make this post available for a long time, but I have deliberately put off doing so. There is a lingering fear that makes writing difficult for me. Because the I’s,  of necessity, must come so close together, I fear that it may be easy to reach conclusions, not at all my intention. But I must try now, nonetheless.

Tell me, if you possibly can, what it is about any place, pinpointed on a map with precise latitude and longitude markings, that makes claims of ownership on a person, thousands of miles from its center.

There is profound wisdom embedded in the Newfoundland Quip: ” You can take a boy from the bay, but you can never take the bay out of the boy.” But it is more than the salt spray and the unique perfume of the sea. It is the mystique of the people who lived there,  in days long gone and to this present.   Their unique essence, they pass on to others. There are things in that place a person calls home, which is more precious than all the money resulting from any journey far afield.
An observation abroad is that Newfoundlanders can be quickly identified in a crowd because their conversation soon expresses a longing for home.

I recall a line from Jack London’s famous short adventure novel “The Call Of The Wild,” which I believe comes into play in this conversation.
” There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which, life cannot rise.” Accordingly, I attribute the ecstasy of my own life to have had its origin in that place I call ‘ Home,’ Brigus, the place where I was born!

It seems to me that as a town, Brigus has that unique quality of topography, which from earliest times, sapped up the richness of good people’s lives, and in ways not entirely dependent upon human ingenuity, preserved it for future generations to know, and never permit to be forgotten.
It is at this point in my narrative that fears of being altogether too personal come into being. But as corroboration to what I have already written about the spirit of communities in Newfoundland that people call ‘Home,’ I can now do no other but to continue.

As is true in the vast majority of situations, the very first impact of the community, one calls’ home’, is transmitted by the parents to their children. In my case, it was exclusively from my mom that the first impressions of Brigus came. My mom was left a widow at 35 when my dad died after his ship, the ” SS EMPIRE BISON, was torpedoed by a German submarine somewhere in the North Atlantic. I am the youngest of seven children.

There are mainly two impacting factors that contribute to
” the ecstasy that marks the eventual summit of life,” for me. The first is my mom’s faith, and the second is the spirit of gentleness and grateful understanding of the residents of Brigus.
Let me very briefly mention a memory that I carry with me from my earliest childhood. It reveals something of my mom’s love of Brigus,  as well as her deep faith, both of which she shared with us.

A quarter of a mile, or so, from our house in Rattleyrow is a garden, consisting of slightly more than a couple of acres. This land was grandfather Curtis’s and became my dad’s inheritance. It ran north, away from all dwellings, to the foot of the Cupids Hils. Those Hills seemed always to provide a welcoming and peaceful embrace. Follow a narrow path from the top of the garden for about a mile, then loop down to join the road that leads to home again. I seem to hear my mom, even now, although I was, at that time, a child, suggest, usually on a sunny Sunday afternoon,” Come, my children, let’s walk around Jerusalem.” And away the four of us would go, two of my older siblings and me, my mom leading the way! To the best of my knowledge, this walk was known to her, alone, and then, of course to us, as “The walk around Jerusalem.”    I  know that my mom found comfort and strength in Brigus during what must have been the most frightening experience in a young woman’s life. I understand how the hills that surround this town reminded her that she was always in the embrace of God’s everlasting arms. And that she imagined the Cupids Hills to resemble in her mind the “‘Hills of Galilee’ where Jesus loved so much to be”! And, reading Psalm 48, I discovered what might well be the suggestion for the naming of our Sunday walks;
(Psalm 48: 12 – 14) reads:
” Walk around Jerusalem, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation, For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.

The understanding hearts and the empathy from within the boundaries of Brigus will never fade away as something ordinary. I remain eternally grateful for the encouragement the people of Brigus extended my mom and the whole family over the years.

Upon returning from school many a day, I experienced an afternoon tea in progress. Ladies from the community and various churches gathered to empathize and support the woman I was so blessed to call my mom.

The ecstasy that marks life and beyond which life cannot go‘ was not fully realized until some years following my boyhood in Brigus. That came the evening I, along with six other fellow Newfoundlanders, were ordained to the Ministry Of The Word, Sacrament and Pastoral Care at Wesley United Church in St. John’s. That evening with Vera, the love of my life, and two of our three beautiful daughters ( the third, Vicki Joy, barely one-year-old, was with the best babysitter in the world, Mrs. Ethel Rose, mom’s wonderful friend ), and in the presence of my mom, and my five sisters and my brother, I dedicated myself to the service of “The King”  for the duration of my journey. That was the ecstasy beyond which my life can never go!
It was” The Walk Around Jerusalem” and the people from home and my wife, Vera, and Vera’s wonderful family, my in-laws ( Pierce and Emma Rowsell), that helped determine my final destiny.

Categories
Meditations

HIDDEN HOPE

 

ADVENT

Romans 8:  18 -24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Scripture Emphasis: Psalm 65:5 You (God) are the hope of everyone on earth. Even those who sail on distant seas.

The words of David in Psalm 65, are addressed to the Almighty. They are not the utterances of some religious recluse. They come from the red-hot crucible of living. The Psalm reveals a soul that has been overwhelmed by sins and now, witnesses to the faithfulness of God, to answer his uttered prayers. On the foundation of those convictions, he makes this proclamation:

“God, You are the hope of everyone on earth,
Even those who sail upon distant seas.”

David  here makes the not so veiled suggestion:” If He did it for me, He will do it for every child born of woman and man!”

Now there are but two conclusions one can reach concerning David’s proclamation. Either it is hyperbole, an exaggeration, a simple case of poetic license; Or this is a profound theological truth that becomes: the glory of the lighted mind.”

” O glory of the lighted mind,
how dead I’d been, how dumb, how blind!
The Station Brook to these new eyes is babbling out of
Paradise. The waters gushing from the rain are singing:
” Christ is risen again.”(1)

If it is hyperbole, that” God is the hope of everyone on the earth”, then life on this earth is best described by William Shakespeare’s Macbeth:
(Act II, Scene I). “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”. (2)
It’s either that or else; it is the most glorious truth that a human being can hold on to until life’s brief candle goes out, and God ushers him into the brilliance of a new day’s dawning.
“God, You are the hope of everyone on earth,
Even of those who sail on distant seas.”

But what is to be said of those, in our increasingly secular society, who think it the hallmark of intelligence to announce to the world their absence of belief in God and Jesus Christ? There have always been those who boast about living by a Stoic Philosophy like that  William Henley expresses in ” Invictus.”

” Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”(3)
William Ernest Henley

Does that misguided assertion alter life’s equation which David elucidates, having Old Testament Wisdom alone?
” God, You are the hope of everyone on earth,
Even those who sail on distant seas.”

There is no mention made of any opportunity for any human’s assertion of either belief nor unbelief! David does not make the state of human understanding, the contingent factor for the activity of the Divine! God’s command: Let there be light” is not dependent upon whether or not a person believes it! The person may draw the shades to continue his desire to experience the darkness, but that does not change the universal truth of light ‘s existence.
“You, God, are the hope of everyone on earth,
Even those who sail on distant seas.”
David’s words convey the truth of universal inclusivity of everyone on earth, and ‘hope’ is the common binding force.

This thought may indeed have roots in the Theological doctrine of IMAGO DEI; the belief that from creation, God shares unique qualities of human nature which allow God to be made manifest.” The faculty of reason enables one to become most God-like when that person develops a capacity to partially grasp the nature of God’s ultimate reality.” (4)

The proclamation of David has its genesis in the Old Testament and relies upon Prophets and Priests for its transmission throughout the earth. As necessary and as revealing as that truth remains, it cannot compare to the enunciation made in the New Testament of the same fact. In the New Testament, “The Word Becomes Flesh and dwells among us.” It is through a vital and living relationship with Jesus Christ that God’s gift of ‘HOPE, ‘given at birth emerges from the deep places of one’s being to enter into our consciousness, and enables us to share in God’s hope for the world.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.(5)

           PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

When we consider the quality of  HOPE which  You have secretly hid deep inside these bodies of ours, we bow in awesome wonder, O God.

We are mere vessels of clay, subject to frailness and death!  What an invaluable treasure You choose to store in so frail a vessel. Hope is the very ethos of Your Heavenly Abode, and You hid its germ in us as a signature gift before we arrived here ! Father, we believe that the hope that springs eternal in the human breast, is Your way of using us as Your Co-workers, to work together to have Your Will done here on earth as it is in Heaven! Your Hope, Father, on that very first Christmas Day, was that the world would see in Jesus, Your Hope for the world’s future.

He came unto His own, but they did not receive Him then. A Cross looms alongside the manger, but Hope, Father Your Eternal Hope, and now ours are resurrected. And this very night millions of us will ask You to make this Christmas Night the occasion when there  will thunder throughout this weary world a heartfelt: ” Welcome  Blessed is He who Comes again  in the Name Of our God.” WELCOME, Jesus, to this world! Take Your Power and reign! Amen.

 

 

HYMN : O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

https://youtu.be/7xtpJ4Q_Q-4

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

The translation of Scripture used in this post is New Living Translation.
1. From ” The Everlasting Mercy’ by John Masefield e Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse > 337. From ‘The Everlasting Mercy’
2.The Tragedy of Macbeth
Shakespeare homepage | Macbeth | Act 5, Scene 5
3.William Ernest Henley, in ‘Invictus’ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4.Reference “IMAGO DEI” http://www.religionfacts.com/imago-dei
5.From ” Crossing The Bar” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45321/crossing-the-bar