“The Christmas tree comes to us from Martin Luther, who is credited with being inspired by the starry heavens one night and expressing his feelings to his family by bringing a fir tree into his home and attaching lighted candles to its branches. Fir meant fire—and fire is an ancient symbol for spirit. The tree also pointed toward the heavens. Eventually, decorative balls represented the planets, while the star that radiates from the top reminds us of Bethlehem. The entire tree with its decorations teaches us that the universe is witness to the Incarnation. In fact, the Christmas tree is just one more sign of Jesus’ birth. It is a means of retelling a miracle in a colourful and beautiful way, so that we can further understand and appreciate Jesus entering our world.”
St. Aldate’s Christmas Letter
Archives for 2008
The Peace of Wild Things
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret
Hudson’s Taylor private dictum: To move man, through God, by prayer alone.
He expresses his spiritual secret which turned his life to joy in a long letter to his sister, which I’ve reproduced below.
CHIN-KIANG, September 6, 1869.
MY DEAR SISTER-We had a very happy day here yesterday.
I was so happy ! A letter from Mr. McCarthy on this subject has been blessed to several of us. He and Miss Faulding also seem so happy! He says : ” I feel as though the first glimmer of the dawn of a glorious day had risen upon me. I hail it with trembling, yet with trust.”
The part specially helpful to me is : ” How then to have our faith increased ? Only by thinking of all that Jesus is, and all He is for us : His life, His death, His work,-He Himself as revealed to us in the Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts. Not a striving to have faith, or to increase our faith, but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need.”
Here, I feel, is the secret : not asking how I am to get sap out of the vine into myself, but remembering that Jesus is the Vine-the root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit, all indeed. Aye, and far more too! He is the soil and sunshine, air and rain-more than we can ask, think, or desire. Let us not then want to get anything out of Him, but rejoice in being ourselves in Him-one with Him, and, consequently, with all His fulness. Not seeking for faith to bring holiness, but rejoicing in the fact of perfect holiness in Christ, let us realise that–inseparably one with Him–this holiness is ours, and accepting the fact, find it so indeed. But I must stop.
Returning to Yang-chow to see his patient, Mr. Taylor became the bearer of his own glad tidings.
” When I went to welcome him,” recalled Mr. Judd, ” he was so full of joy that he scarcely knew how to speak to me. He did not even say, `How do you do ? ‘ but walking up and down the room with his hands behind him, exclaimed
” ‘ Oh, Mr. Judd, God has made me a new man! God has made me a new man! ‘ “
That midnight conversation and the change that had come over his beloved leader greatly impressed the younger missionary. He too had seen these things theoretically, as so many do, without really apprehending them.
” I have not got to make myself a branch,” he could never forget Mr. Taylor saying. ” The Lord Jesus tells me I am a branch. I am part of Him, and have just to believe it and act upon it. If I go to the bank in Shanghai, having an account, and ask for fifty dollars, the clerk cannot refuse it to my outstretched hand and say that it belongs to Mr. Taylor. What belongs to Mr. Taylor my hand may take. It is a member of my body. And I am a member of Christ, and may take all I need of His fulness. I have seen it long enough in the Bible, but I believe it now as a living reality.”
Simple as it was, the new point of view changed everything.
” He was a joyous man now,” added Mr. Judd, ” a bright, happy Christian. He had been a toiling, burdened one before, with latterly not much rest of soul. It was resting in Jesus now, and letting Him do the work which makes all the difference! Whenever he spoke in meetings, after that, a new power seemed to flow from him, and in the practical things of life a new peace possessed him. Troubles did not worry him as before. He cast everything on God in a new way, and gave more time to prayer. Instead of working late at night, he began to go to bed earlier, rising at five in the morning to give two hours before the work of the day began to Bible study and prayer. Thus his own soul was fed, and from him flowed the living water to others.”
Six weeks after these experiences, when Mr. Taylor wrote to his sister, Mrs. Broomhall :
October 17, 1869: So many thanks for your long, dear letter…: I do not think you have written me such a letter since we have been in China.
I know it is with you as with me -you cannot, not you will not. Mind and body will not bear more than a certain amount of strain, or do more than a certain amount of work. As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. The last month or more has been perhaps, the-happiest of my life ; and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul. I do not know how far I may be able to make myself intelligible about it, for there is nothing new or strange or wonderful–and yet, all is new! In a word, ” Whereas once I was blind, now I see.”
Perhaps I shall make myself more clear if I go back a little. Well, dearie, my mind has been greatly exercised for six or eight months past, feeling the need personally, and for our Mission, of more holiness, life, power in our souls. But personal need stood first and was the greatest. I felt the ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living nearer to God. I prayed, agonised, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for retirement and meditation–but all was without effect. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me. I knew that if I could only abide in Christ all would be well, but I could not.
I began the day with prayer, determined not to take my eye from Him for a moment ; but pressure of duties, sometimes very trying, constant interruptions apt to be so wearing, often caused me to forget Him. Then one’s nerves get so fretted in this climate that temptations to irritability, hard thoughts, and sometimes unkind words are all the more difficult to control. Each day brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power. To will was indeed present with me, but how to perform I found not.
Then came the question, ” Is there no rescue ? Must it be thus to the end–constant conflict and, instead of victory, too often defeat ?
How, too, could I preach with sincerity that to those who receive Jesus, ” to them gave He power to become the sons of God ” (i.e. God-like) when it was not so in my own experience ? Instead of growing stronger, I seemed to be getting weaker and to have less power against sin ; and no wonder, for faith and even hope were getting very low. I hated myself ; I hated my sin ; and yet I gained no strength against it. I felt I was a child of God. His Spirit in my heart would cry, in spite of all, ” Abba, Father ” but to rise to my privileges as a child, I was utterly powerless. I thought that holiness, practical holiness, was to be gradually attained ‘by a diligent, use of the means of grace.’ I felt that there was nothing I so much desired in this world, nothing I so much needed. But so far from in any measure attaining it, the more I pursued and strove after it, the more it eluded my grasp until hope itself almost died out, and I began to think that, perhaps to make heaven the sweeter, God would not give it down here. I do not think I was striving to attain it in my own strength. I knew I was powerless. I told the Lord so, and asked Him to give me help and strength ;and sometimes I almost believed He would keep and uphold me. But on looking back in the evening, alas ! there was but sin and failure to confess and mourn before God.
I would not give you the impression that this was the daily experience of all those long, weary months. It was a too frequent state of soul ; that toward which I was tending, and which almost ended in despair. And yet never did Christ seem more precious-a Saviour who could and would save such a sinner! And sometimes there were seasons not only of peace but of joy in the Lord. But they were transitory, and at best there was a sad lack of power. Oh, how good the Lord was in bringing this conflict to an end!
All the time I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was how to get it out. He was rich, truly, but I was poor ; He strong, but I weak. I knew full well that there was in the root, the stem, abundant fatness ; but how to get it into my puny little branch was the question. As gradually the light was dawning on me, I saw that faith was the only pre-requisite, was the hand to lay hold on His fulness and make it my own. But I had not this faith. I strove for it, but it would not come ; tried to exercise it, but in vain. Seeing more and more the wondrous supply of grace laid up in Jesus, the fulness of our precious Saviour-my helplessness and guilt seemed to increase. Sins committed appeared but as trifles compared with the sin of unbelief which was their cause, which could not or would not take God at His word, but rather made Him a liar! Unbelief was, I felt, the damning sin of the world yet I indulged in it. I prayed for faith, but it came not. What was I to do ?
When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before. McCarthy, who had been much exercised by the same sense of failure, but saw the light before I did, wrote (I quote from memory)
” But how to get faith strengthened ? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.”
As I read I saw it all! ” If we believe not, He abideth faithful.” I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said,” I will never leave you.” ” Ah, there is rest ! ” I thought. I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me-never to leave me, never to fail me ? ” And, dearie, He never will !
But this was not all He showed me, nor one half. As I thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured direct into my soul! How great seemed my mistake in having wished to get the sap, the fulness out of Him. I saw not only that Jesus would never leave me, but that I was a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine now I see, is not the root merely, but all–root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit : and Jesus is not only that : He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for, or needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth! I do pray that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ.
Oh, my dear sister, it is a wonderful thing to be really one with a risen and exalted Saviour ; to be a member of Christ ! Think what it involves. Can Christ be rich and I poor ? Can your right hand be rich and the left poor ? or your head be well fed while your body starves ? Again, think of its bearing on prayer. Could a bank clerk say to a customer, ” It was only your hand wrote that cheque, not you,” or, ” I cannot pay this sum to your hand, but only to yourself ” ? No more can your prayers, or mine, be discredited if offered in the Name of Jesus (i.e. not in our own name, or for the sake of Jesus merely, but on the ground that we are His, His members) so long as we keep within the extent of Christ’s credit-a tolerably wide limit! If we ask anything unscriptural or not in accordance with the will of God, Christ Himself could not do that ; but, ” If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, and . . . we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him.”
The sweetest part, if one may speak of one part being sweeter than another, is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realise this ; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me ; for in the easiest positions He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. It little matters to my servant whether I send him to buy a few cash worth of things, or the most expensive articles. In either case he looks to me for the money, and brings me his purchases.
So, if God place me in great perplexity, must He not give me much guidance ; in positions of great difficulty, much grace ; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength ? No fear that His resources will be unequal to the emergency! And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me. All this springs from the believer’s oneness with Christ. And since Christ has thus dwelt in my heart by faith, how happy I have been! I wish I could tell you, instead of writing about it.
I am no better than before (may I not say, in a sense, I do not wish to be, nor am I striving to be) ; but I am dead and buried with Christ–aye, and risen too and ascended ; and now Christ lives in me, and ” the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” I now believe I am dead to sin. God reckons me so, and tells me to reckon myself so. He knows best. All my past experience may have shown that it was not so ; but I dare not say it is not now, when He says it is. I feel and know that old things have passed away. I am as capable of sinning as ever, but Christ is realised as present as never before. He cannot sin ; and He can keep me from sinning. I cannot say (I am sorry to have to confess it) that since I have seen this light I have not sinned ; but I do feel there was no need to have done so. And further–walking more in the light, my conscience has been more tender ; sin has been instantly seen, confessed, pardoned ; and peace and joy (with humility) instantly restored : with one exception, when for several hours peace and joy did not return-from want, as I had to learn, of full confession, and from some attempt to justify self.’
Faith, I now see, is ” the substance of things hoped for,” and not mere shadow. It is not less than sight, but more. Sight only shows the outward forms of things ; faith gives the substance. You can rest on substance, feed on substance. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith (i.e. His Word of Promise credited) is power indeed, is life indeed. And Christ and sin will not dwell together ; nor can we have His presence with love of the world, or carefulness about ” many things.”
And now I must close. I have not said half I would, nor as I would had I more time. May God give you to lay hold on these blessed truths. Do not let us continue to say, in effect, ” Who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above.” In other words, do not let us consider Him as afar off, when God has made us one with Him, members of His very body. Nor should we look upon this experience, these truths, as for the few. They are the birthright of every child of God, and no one can dispense with them without dishonour to our Lord. The only power for deliverance from sin or for true service is CHRIST.”
“
Seedtime and Harvest. A blessing on labour. Genesis 8
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| Breughel, Corn Harvest |
A Blessing on Our Labour
“As long as the earth endures
Seedtime and harves,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night
Will never cease.”
After the devastation of the flood, a blessing on our labour.
Harvest will follow seedtime.
Our life will have rhythms which we are to ride through as Noah rode through the flood. There will be night and winter and cold, and we will see them through, rest and gather strength, and then there will, for sure, be summer too, and day and warmth, and all these will contribute to mould our characters as we live in this world which God has blessed!
“Then the Lord Shut Him In” (Gen. 7)
| The Gallarus Oratory in the Dingle Peninsula Places of withdrawal and Prayer |
This is the story we are reading aloud at present around the family dinner table.
God’s directions for the ark–450 ft by 75 by 45 feet. I used to find this part incredible. As I have lived longer, I don’t!
In my experience of running a small publishing company, I have experienced this sort of uncanny direction on several occasions: a clear insight into printers; books to publish; how and where to distribute; products to unroll.
God is a God of details, is interested in details, and we miss out on so much wisdom when we don’t seek him for insight on how to do the details….
Noah in the ark while the world is being flooded and destroyed outside. THEN THE LORD SHUT HIM IN.
What is this an image of? Of depression? Of abandonment? Aloneness? Sensory deprivation? Boredom?
Of God’s way of protection and safety.
It is a principle enshrined in God’s dealings with us. A period in the cocoon, in the ark, between great activity in the past, and great activity in the future. A winter like period to send one’s roots deep into certainties of who God is, and of his mighty power, a period to gather strength for the future.
What looks like abandonment is a period of rest and protection.
Thomas Merton’s Beautiful Prayer–You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Amen
(Thomas Merton)
Do not labour for food which perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life. John 6.27.
| Franz Snyders |
Do not labour for food which perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life.
Not all of us have choices about what labour we undertake. Many of us have our choices cut out for us by long years of training and experience.
But insofar as one does have a choice, here’s a principle for work which Jesus offers.
Do not work merely for money or food, which is spent and gone; work for things that will endure in eternity.
What will endure? Goodness will. Good deeds put into God’s invisible and run-proof bank. Helping other gravitate towards the same.
Doing whatever you do because it is the will of God for your life–that will endure.
As I return to writing after 2.5 years spent setting up house, and establishing a small business, I think I am going to use that as a principle for my work.
To write that which might endure to eternal life.
Thoughts on the Election of President Obama
I was proud of America. I feared that when it came to it, most white people wouldn’t vote for a black person. However, as the New York Times said, the economy was the overriding issue, and so many, no doubt, “swallowed hard” and did the deed.
Brilliant!
Race is a double edged sword. 13 percent of the voters were black, and, probably, would have voted for Obama even if his platform was far-fetched. And, in the final analysis, the people who voted for him because he was black, outweighed those who did not vote for him because he was black.
My friend Paul Miller used to say that 90 percent of wisdom lay in keeping your mouth shut, and saying as little as possible. We see that in Obama. While McCain’s reaction to the collapse of Lehman was to say that the fundamentals of the economy are strong (as except for the over-borrowing, I believe they are) Obama said nothing, and so, in contrast to McCain’s failed attempt to fix the credit crisis, came across as the better choice. His early off the cuff remarks got him into trouble, like saying that most small town Americans are bitter, clinging to guns and religion, and so he confined himself to jingly quotable slogans as the election progressed–like, Yes, we can.
His acceptance speech was brilliant and well-crafted. I have no doubt his inauguration speech will be as good as Kennedy’s.
Seeing black people with tears pouring down their faces as they voted for a black man and watched him win, was the most memorable and emotive moment of the campaign. What a heavy weight of love and expectation for Obama to carry!
Here’s a Presidency worth watching. I wish him well.