the good way

I love history. For several years I had the privilege of lecturing on Church History at Tilsley College in Motherwell. At the beginning of the first lecture I always stressed that life is too short to live by experience alone. We need the collective wisdom of centuries of thought and reflection on how to live well as followers of Jesus in this world. I imagined that all of this insight was like standing on the shoulders of giants. We might be able to see further than they could but if it wasn’t for them we would not be able to see at all! 

Over the last couple of weeks I have embarked on a journey through the Old Testament prophecy of Jeremiah. It’s not an easy read but it is full of precious statements that have guided and blessed the people of God over the centuries.

One such pronouncement invites us to find our direction for today from the insight of the past.

Here is what Jeremiah says,

“Stand at the crossroads and look, 

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is, and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls”. 

(6:16)

Jeremiah invites us to a moment of decision: 

“Stand at the crossroads and look…”

What he points to here appears to be a moment of crisis. He urges us to stop and not to make a hasty or rash decision on which route to take. The weight of the verse suggests that the wrong course could lead us down a dangerous path. Indeed, the reality for the people of Jeremiah’s day is that “each pursues his own course” (8:6).  

We make decisions, big and small, every day of our lives. Most of them are of little consequence to our way of living (e.g. what will I wear today?). Some can be quite momentous (e.g. will I accept this job, or not?). 

My commitment to follow Jesus Christ as a teenager has been the seminal decision of my life. He declared, “I am the Way” (John 14:6) and urged his followers to choose the challenge of walking the narrow road above the ease of walking on the broad road (Matthew 6:13-14).

As we step into each new day, we face afresh the call to walk the way of Christ before our own misguided sense of direction. “Let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

The (daily) moment of decision leads to a request for direction:

“…ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it…”

Jeremiah urges us to reject the prevailing trends of contemporary culture and seek the paths that the ancients have trod. It’s the way that Abraham, Hannah, David and Daniel walked. It is the path of grateful obedience to Word of God. They were sure-footed because the ground on which they stood was level, firm and secure. It was “the good way”. It was God’s way.

I begin each new day by reciting the words of the Apostles' Creed in a spirit of praise and gratitude. It reaches back to the second century and has been a summary of orthodox Christianity ever since. When the Christian faith is being undermined in some quarters I would rather trust what the centuries say against the hours.

The journey for Jeremiah leads at last to a promise of rest:

 “…you will find rest for your souls”. 

Those words echo down until centuries until the Word made flesh declared:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). 

Because of Christ, the Way, we can travel light as we walk through this world.

(picture - The Hermitage, near Dunkeld)

a house of prayer for all nations

Over the last 25 years I have derived tremendous enjoyment from exploring many of Scotlands hills and mountains. One of the early mountains I climbed was the Ben Cruachan horseshoe in Argyll. The climb begins from the edge of Loch Awe before ascending up to a reservoir. From that point the path leads towards ‘a ‘saddle’ or bealach between two of the tops. I will never forget the moment we reached the saddle and were greeted to a tremendous vista stretching up to Glencoe and beyond. However, it did not end there. We then made our way to the summit of Ben Cruachan with its 360 degree panorama of Scotland’s incredible Western side.

Those memories have filled my thoughts over the last week as I have read the towering prophecy of Isaiah in the Hebrew Scriptures. The foothills contain some difficult terrain as Isaiah brings some sobering warnings to God’s disobedient people. However, even in these early approaches we catch glimpses of a better and bigger landscape. Isaiah speaks from “the Valley of Vision” (Isaiah 22:1,5) and anticipates the moment when, in chapter 40, he tops out and is favoured with a grander vision of the glory of God and his purposes for humanity. The breathtaking scope of what he sees 700 years before the coming of Christ is magnificent and fills time and eternity.

Viewing the purposes of God through Isaiah’s eyes, my focus has come to rest on one aspect that has given me much to ponder and enjoy.

From the narrow confines of the land of Israel Isaiah pictures a day in which people from every nation will worship in the house of God (Take time to read Isaiah 56:3-7). Those who were once excluded from God’s covenant people (foreigners and eunuchs) are brought near and welcomed into the family of God as his beloved children. The six marks of the foreigner provide a beautiful description of true godliness:

binding themselves to the Lord,

serving him,

loving him,

worshipping him,

keeping the sabbath,

holding fast to the covenant (verse 6).

And what is promised to the foreigner and eunuch is truly wonderful. “…these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (verse 7).

…joy in my house of prayer…

 

… a house of prayer for all nations.

Centuries later Jesus would underline this marvellous description of the role of God’s people on earth (Mark 11:17). And the writers of the New Testament would address the body of Christ, the church, as the great household of God (e.g. Ephesians 2:19). In our age of individualism it is all too easy to lose sight of the collective vision of the church in nurturing the faith of God’s people and of being a light in our dark world - a house of prayer for all nations.

Someone once said, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of”. If ever there was a time for the church to grasp the significance of its calling to be a house of prayer to the 195 countries in our world, then surely it is today, this very moment! 

(Picture - Ben Cruachan)

"what3words" describe you?

A newspaper story caught my attention a wee while back. It was about a young woman called Jess Tinsley. She and her 3 friends decided to do a five mile circular walk in Hamsterley Forest in Count Durham one Sunday evening. After 3 hours they were hopelessly lost. At 10.30pm they called 999 and the the call handler told them to download an app called what3words. 

The friends followed that advice and with the information the call handler received the Search and Mountain Rescue Team found the soaked and freezing walkers. 

I need to explain! what3words is an app that you can download to your mobile phone. The developers of the app have divided the world into 57 million squares, each measuring 3m by 3m and each square has a unique, randomly assigned three-word address. If you find yourself trouble or danger then communicating what3words to the rescue services has the potential to lead to your rescue.

I have found myself reflecting on this fantastic resource and in my thinking broadened the idea out to all of life, especially to the development of our characters. And so if you were to send your exact life location to friends what3words would describe you?

The Apostle Paul’s teaching in Colossians chapter three brings with it this challenge - the '3m by 3m square' we could be standing in today might contain the following words:

◻︎greed, impurity, lust

◻︎anger, rage, malice

◻︎slander, gossip, envy

Alternatively, it could contain the following what3words:

 
◻︎Compassion, kindness, humility
◻︎gentleness, patience, love 

what3words describe you? 

A life yielded to God; one dependent on the Holy Spirit will exhibit:

◻︎ love, joy, peace

◻︎ patience, kindness, goodness

◻︎ faithfulness, gentleness, self-control 

(Galatians 5:22)

(picture - Eaglesham Parish Church)

travelling on the nightsleeper

Over the last three weeks I have been gripped by the BBC drama Nightsleeper. Set on a train travelling from Glasgow to London, two strangers work together to try and avert a disaster after it has been “hack-jacked”. As the train hurtles out of control towards Paddington Station in London one of the employees calls out, “Everything is gone. The only thing we have now is prayer.”

Someone famously said, “There are no atheists on a sinking ship!” Or in this case, a runaway train! That scene from the drama has cause me to reflect that it is often after we have exhausted every option at our disposal that we turn to God in prayer.

That seems such a low bar! What if we raise the bar? What if we move prayer from the extremities of life; the place of utter desperation, to the centre; the place heartfelt devotion? 

Over the last few months I have had a renewed appreciation of the place of quiet at the start of each day. To quote William Booth from last week’s reflection, I endeavour to “rise every morning sufficiently early to wash, dress, and have a few minutes, not less than five, in private prayer.” I hold a cup of good coffee in my hand, have an open Bible on my lap, and seek to reorientate my life, through prayer, in a Godward direction for the day ahead. 

And if we are looking for inspiration on how to raise the bar in prayer, then I have personally found it in Ann Lamott’s book in which she outlines three essential prayers which she refers to as, Help, Thanks, Wow. 

Of course, those three essential prayers are woven into the greatest of all prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, that forms part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:5-13). I repeat that prayer at the beginning of each new day and it continues to move me; the words contain an abiding relevance in every circumstance of life.

Observe how the bar slowly rises in Ann Lamott’s writing, beginning with:

Help

O God, do not be far from me; O my God, hasten to my help" (Psalm 71:12).

Thanks

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6).

Wow

Who is like you -
    majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
    working wonders? (Exodus 15:11).

May I humbly suggest that although that outline is helpful, Jesus’ teaching on prayer begins with the bar already set very high. 

He invites us, first of all, to be caught up in the wonder of God’s character - “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:5). Wow.

From that height a spirit of gratitude develops. Thanks. 

Until we finally fall facedown acknowledging our need of his grace and mercy. Help.

Putting the essential prayers in that order enables us to focus on God above all else.  

(picture - Paisley Abbey from Sauchil Hill)

 

life long resolutions!

On December 6th 1849, William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army wrote his “Resolutions”. He was 20 years old. They became for him a measure by which he judged the fruitfulness of his Christian life over the next six decades. They are worth pondering and, in my humble opinion, emulating…

1. That I will rise every morning sufficiently early to wash, dress, and have a few minutes, not less than five, in private prayer.

2. That I will, as much as possible, avoid all that babbling and idle talk, in which I have so lately so sinfully indulged.

3. That I will endeavour in my conduct and deportment before the world and my fellow servants especially to conduct myself as a humble, meek and zealous follower of Christ, and by serious conversation and warning endeavour to lead them to think of their immortal souls.

4. That I will read no less than four chapters of God’s Word every day.

5. That I will strive to live closer to God, and to seek after holiness of heart and leave providential events with God.

6. That I will read over this every day or at least twice a week.

He concluded his “Resolutions” in the following way, “I feel my own weakness, and without God’s help I shall not keep these resolutions. The Lord have mercy on my soul.”

I believe that every Christian who has ever grown in their knowledge of God and become effective for him in this world has had a similar aim as William Booth. How should we then live?

We ought to aspire to the Apostle Paul’s teaching to the Colossians believers:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (2:6-7).

(Picture - short ferry crossing to the Island of Easdale)