tellout

Loaves and Fishes

2011-07-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Let us look at this story of the miraculous feeding of the 5000 or as it is sometimes called “the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes.” It is obviously very important to the Gospel writers as it is one of the few miracles that are retold by all four Gospel writers in the Bible. (1) Few of Jesus' miracles are so revealing as this. Here are some important lessons that we should note from this miracle.

Five small loaves and two fish

Galilee was a small country, only 50 miles from north to south and 25 miles from east to west, but Josephus (a Jewish-Roman Historian in Jesus’ day) tells us that within that small area there were 204 towns and villages, none with a population of less than 15,000 people. (2) It was very difficult for Jesus to be alone in a place like Galilee.

One of the few quiet places was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It is only 8 miles wide, at it’s widest and shaped like a “harp” which gives it its original name “Kinnor.”(3) Jesus' friends were fisher folk, and it would not have been difficult to embark on one of their boats and land on the east side of the lake.

Jesus like all of us needed to rest. He was tired from his healing and teaching ministry and he was mourning the loss of his friend and cousin, John the Baptist. Matthew writes, “When Jesus heard what had happened, (the news of the death of John the Baptist) he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. (probably Bethsaida) Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.”(4)

Jesus was seeking rest for his body and strength for his soul in these lonely places, but he was not to get it. The crowds flocked round the top of the lake and were waiting for him when he arrived. So Jesus healed them. (5) When evening came, he decided to feed them before they took the long road home.

You and I may feel worn out and tired from the pressures of life. To his disciples Jesus makes an offer concerning rest. He says, “Come unto me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (6)

People on lakeside

When Jesus saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion to the depths of his being. That is a very wonderful thing. Jesus had come to find peace and quiet and loneliness, instead he found a vast crowd eagerly demanding what he could give. He might so easily have resented them. But Jesus was not like that. Far from finding them a nuisance, he was moved with compassion for them.

Premanand was a wealthy high-caste Indian who became a Christian. He says in his autobiography: "As in the days of old, so now our message to the non-Christian world has to be the same, that God cares." (7) If that be so, we must never be too busy for people, and we must never even seem to find them a trouble and a nuisance. We must never deal with people with one eye on the clock as if we were anxious to be rid of them as soon as we can. Jesus never found any person a nuisance, even when his whole being was crying out for rest and quiet. Neither must his followers.

Matthew tells us, “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus gave thanks and broke the loaves.” (8) Jesus took the food and said a blessing. The Jewish grace before meals was very simple: "Blessed art thou, Jehovah our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth." That would be the grace which Jesus said, for that was the grace which every Jewish family used. Here we see Jesus showing that it is God's gifts that he brings to men and women, boys and girls. Gratitude is rare enough towards other people, it is rarer still towards God.

Open Hand

“Then Jesus gave them (the bread and fish) to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.”(9) Archbishop Lewis Garnsworthy once asked the clergy of the Diocese of Toronto to each take into their care twelve disciples. In the same way, Jesus could easily have himself taken the broken bits of bread and the little fishes directly to the people but instead he gave it to the disciples. He gave to the disciples and the disciples gave to the crowd. Jesus worked through the hands of his disciples that day, and he still does. The disciple is helpless without his Lord. If Jesus wants something done, if he wants a child taught or a person helped, he finds a person to do it. He uses open people through whom he can act, and through whom he can speak.

As a young man, Premanand came into contact with Bishop Whitley at Ranchi. He wrote, "The Bishop read the Bible with me daily, and we talked together in Bengali. The longer I lived with the Bishop the closer I came to him, and found that his life revealed Christ to me, and his deeds and words made it easier for me to understand the mind and teaching of Christ. I had a new vision of Christ, when I actually saw Christ's life of love, sacrifice and self-denial in the everyday life of the Bishop. He became actually the epistle of Christ to me."

When Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd, they told him that all they had was five loaves and two fishes. Yet with what they brought to him, Jesus wrought this miracle. Jesus says to us, "Come to me as you are, however ill-equipped, bring to me what you have, however little, and I will use it greatly in my service." Little is always much in the hands of Christ. As one of the Bill Gaither songs says, “Little is much when God is in it.”

“They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basket full of broken pieces that were left over. “ (9) Even when a miracle could feed people until they were full, there was no waste. To the Jew, bread was precious and never to be thrown away. Jesus and King David before him were born in Bethlehem or in Hebrew “Bet Lehm” which means the “House of Bread.” (10) Jesus says of himself, “I am the Bread of Life.” (11) A wasteful extravagance is never right. God's generous giving and our wise using must go hand in hand.

The feeding of the 5000 is not some isolated event in history, but a demonstration of the constant, day to day operating power of Jesus Christ in our lives. Jesus applies these principles of life saying, “he who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”(12) If only we would take up this generous offer of Jesus!

That's what I think anyway,

Rev Ron

(1) Parallels can be found in Matthew 14. 13-21, Mark 6.32-44, Luke 9.10-17 and John 6.1-13.(2) Wikipedia “Josephus” (3)Wikipedia on “Galilee” (4) Matthew 14:13 (N.I.V.) (5) Matthew 14:14 (N.I.V.) (6) Matthew 11.28 (N.I.V.) (7) Dr. William Barclay, "Barclay's Daily Study Bible (N.T.)" on Matthew 14.13-21 (8) Matthew 14. (N.I.V.) (9) Matthew 14:13 (N.I.V.) (10) Matthew 14:20 (N.I.V.) (11) Wikipedia “Bethlehem” in modern Hebrew. (12) John 6.35a (13) John 6.35b

The Mighty Mustard Seed

2011-07-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

Mustard Seeds in Hand

Jesus told the people another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." (1)

Today’s Gospel reading contains the parable of the mustard seed.

I have in front of me a little package of mustard seed from the Holy Land that Madeline, brought back in 1992. Its seeds are indeed like grains of fine sand. If you examine a pot of Dijon Mustard from your fridge, you will see among its contents “mustard seeds.” They are very small but still visible in the yellowish paste.

Mustard Seed

But which kind of tree and seed is Jesus talking about? Experts think that Jesus was talking about was the black mustard (sinapis nigra L) because it was cultivated in gardens in New Testament times for its seed oil as well as for culinary purposes.

Others however think that Jesus was referring to the white mustard (sinapis alba L) Like the black mustard, it also grows to a height of about 15 feet. A different plant (salvadora persica L) which grows to about 10 ft. near the Dead Sea has also been suggested, but it is not found in Galilee where Christ spoke of this parable. The seeds of this plant are also fairly large in comparison.

Drop of Blood

Whichever mustard seed is intended, the mustard seed is still in the eastern world, "a proverb for smallness." For example, the Jews talked of a drop of blood as small as a mustard seed, or if they were discussing some tiny breach of the ceremonial law, they would speak of a sin as small as a mustard seed. Jesus used the phrase in this way when he spoke of faith as a grain of mustard seed. Like faith, the seed of a mustard plant can produce a great tree.

Mustard Tree

Jesus said, “when it has grown, it is the greatest of trees.” (2)

Thomson in “The Land and the Book” writes, "I have seen this plant on the rich plain of Akkar as tall as a horse and his rider." In another place he says, “A mustard tree was more than twelve feet high." (3) In this parable, there is no exaggeration at all. The mustard tree grows quite large. The greatest of movements often have a small beginning.

William Wilberforce

The great Christian reformer William Wilberforce was responsible for the freeing of slaves. The idea came to him after he read an exposure of the slave trade by a certain Thomas Clarkson. He was at the time a close friend of William Pitt, then Prime Minister of Great Britain. One day, Wilberforce was sitting with him and George Grenville in Pitt's garden at Holwood. It was a scene of beauty, with the Vale of Keston opening out before them, but Wilberforce's thoughts were elsewhere. Suddenly Pitt turned to him. "Wilberforce," he said, "why don't you give a notice of a motion on the slave-trade?" An idea was sown in his mind, and that idea through "The Slavery Abolition Act" of 1833 (which took 26 years to accomplish) as an Act of Parliament, changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Small things do sometimes have great outcomes. I remember one day waiting in the municipal building in Norwood, Ontario to receive an N1H1 flu shot. As it happens, a man came and sat beside me and we started chatting. He asked me what I did for a living and I explained that I was an Anglican Minister. He said that he was a retired real estate agent who had owned a company in Peterborough, but he was interested in what I believed.

N1H1 Flu

Later, he wrote me a letter, "Reverend Ron, I was the fellow sitting next to you in the H1N1 clinic in Norwood. God was with us that day too! Thank You Lord! I am enjoying your website. May God continue to bless you and your work (and your lovely helper who He sent you)." A chance meeting became an opportunity to share my Christian Faith with someone else. A small seemingly insignificant event brought blessing in the hands of God.

Telemachus

The Kingdom of Heaven starts from the smallest beginnings, but no one knows where it will end or how large it will become. One of the great stories of the Christian Church is that of Telemachus. He was a Christian hermit in the Early Church who lived in the desert, but the small inner voice of God told him that he must go to Rome. He went. Rome was nominally Christian, but even in "Christian Rome" the gladiatorial games went on, in which men fought with each other, and crowds roared with the lust for blood.

Telemachus

Telemachus found his way to the games. Eighty thousand people were there to spectate. He was horrified. “Were these gladiators slaughtering each other not also children of God?” He leapt from his seat, right into the arena, and stood between the gladiators. He was tossed aside. He came back. The crowd were angry, they began to throw stones. Still he struggled back between the gladiators.

The prefect's command rang out and a sword flashed in the sunlight, and Telemachus was dead. Suddenly there was a hush as the crowd realized what had happened. A holy man lay dead. Something occurred that day in Rome, for there were never again any gladiatorial games. By his death on the 1^st January 404 AD, one man had let loose something that cleansed an empire. By an edict of the Emperor Honorius, there was never again gladiator fights held in Rome. Someone must begin a reformation. It need not begin in a nation. It may begin in a home or a workplace. Once it begins, no one knows where it will end.

Mustard Tree

The mustard tree was of great importance to the birds in Israel. Mustard bushes and trees were often surrounded by a cloud of birds, for the birds loved the little black seeds of the tree, and settled on the tree to eat them. In the Old Testament, one of the commonest pictures of a great empire is the picture of a great tree, with the subject nations depicted as birds finding rest and shelter within its branches. The Kingdom of Heaven may begin very small, but in the end many nations will be gathered within it. It is a fact of history that the greatest things must always have the smallest beginnings. As the tiny seeds provide food for the birds, so faith gives the disciple of Jesus the strength for the work that he has given us to do.

Mustard Tree

Jesus said, "and the mustard seed becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches" The parable of the mustard seed is one of the most personal parables Jesus ever spoke. Sometimes his disciples must have despaired. Their little band was so small and the world was so large to them. How could they ever change it? Yet in Jesus, an invincible force entered the world.

A wise man once said, "Jesus is easily the dominant figure in history.... A historian without any theological bias would find that he simply cannot portray the progression of humanity honestly without giving a foremost place to a penniless teacher from Nazareth." (4)

Jesus is saying that there must be no discouragement, that his disciples must serve and witness each in his or her place in his or her own way, and that each one must be the small beginning from which the Kingdom grows until the kingdoms of the earth finally become the Kingdom of God.

Mustard Plants

There is one other interesting thing about the mustard seed. Unlike many seeds, it is so small that it contains in itself very little nourishment. It needs to be planted near the surface in rich fertile soil if it is to flourish. As soon as the tiny shoot emerges, it must obtain immediate food and strength from another source. It is totally reliant not on itself but on outside resources.

In this parable, Jesus is saying to his disciples and to his followers today, that he will provide the resources for the Kingdom of Heaven to happen in our lives. Of that we can be sure.

That's what I think anyway,

Rev Ron

(1) Matthew 13:31-33 (N.I.V) (2) Dr. William Barclay, "Barclay's Daily Study Bible (N.T.)" (3) Matthew 13.32 (N.I.V.) (3) Thomson in “The Land and the Book” (4) H. G. Wets

The Parable of the Soils

2011-07-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sowing Seed

Saint Mathew tells us, "Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.Then he told them many things in parables." "Listen!" said Jesus to get the crowd's attention. "A farmer went out to sow his seed."

Jesus probably looked around and saw a farmer sowing seed by hand in a field on the hillside behind the people. Maybe the crowd turned around to get a look as Jesus motioned spreading the seed from his hand on to the land.

This was a familiar scene for these country people. Jesus spoke in words and word pictures that the people could understand as he does to us today. So we have, "The Parable of the Sower," or as I would call it, "The parable of the Soils" for it is much more about the types of soil the seed falls into than the farmer who does the sowing. The seed is the Word of God, God's voice in our lives and in the Bible. There are different types of soil as there are different types of hearers and different responses to God's Word amongst us.

There was the seed that fell upon the path around the field."As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up." Jesus explains that the path represents the kind of people who hear God's Word and do not understand it and as result Satan comes and snatches away what is sown in their hearts. The birds represent the Evil One, who aims to harm us. The Evil One does not wear red horns and a forked tail but comes in subtle disguises to lead us astray.

Tight Rope Walker

Several years ago, a young Frenchman captured the attention of the world by walking a tightrope between the towers of New York's famous World Trade Center. It scares me just to think of walking along a thin wire 1350 feet in the air. A few months later however, while practicing in St. Petersburg in Florida he fell 30 feet and was injured. As he lay waiting for help, he reportedly beat his fist on the ground saying, "I can't believe it! I can't believe it! I never fall." He had become careless.

Mother Teresa of India, the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize recipient said, "The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everyone. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, the terrible indifference towards one's neighbor."

Thorns

Jesus then talked about the rocky places with little soil between them."Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root." Jesus explains that this is the person who hears the Word of God and immediately receives it with joy yet he has no root in himself and endures for a while but when pressure comes, he folds.

John Nesbitt writes in "New Directions - Transforming our Lives" "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." We can know a lot about Jesus without actually knowing Him personally as our friend and Savior.

A Crane

Next, Jesus talks about the thorns, "Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants." Jesus explains that the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. A new car, overtime at work, a holiday cruise, savings for retirement, pay off the mortgage, a boat, trailer, or a cottage. The delight in riches chokes the word and it proves unfruitful.

An old fable tells about a crane that was wading in a stream looking for some snails when a beautiful swan landed nearby. The crane had never seen a swan before, so he asked, "What are you?" "I'm a swan," came the reply, "and where did you come from?" the crane inquired. "Heaven," the swan answered. "What is that?" asked the crane. The swan eagerly began to explain its beauty and glory. He spoke of the New Jerusalem, the city of pure gold, with a jasper wall and pearly gates. He described its "pure river of water of life, as clear as crystal." At this point the crane interrupted, "Tell me, are there any snails in Heaven?" "No, I'm afraid not," the swan said. "Then I don't care to go there," the crane stated decisively, "I like snails!"

"Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop - a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." Jesus later explains, "This is he who hears the Word, and understands it; he indeed bears fruit."

When someone is converted from sin and becomes a Christian, they affect other lives by the way they live. Selfless devotion, kindness and a deep love of God produces fruit in other people's lives 100, 60 or 30 fold. This may seem overstated to us but this past week I had an email from a Pauo Godson who had been on my website ( www.tellout.com) from Ibadan Oyo State in Nigeria. He had heard the Word and received it so he went out and told all his family and friends. He wrote, "I realized that I am a lost sinner so I repented of my sins and gave my whole life to Jesus Christ who is now my Lord and Messiah. I did not stop, I went ahead telling other friends about Jesus and to the glory of God 61 other brothers and sisters gave their lives to Christ."In the end there were 62 who were converted! Now they can't wait to get enough Bibles for everyone and start reading them and "lead other lost souls to Christ." What a wonderful thing. Praise God.

"He who has ears, let him hear." says Jesus. In other words, just do it!

That's what I think, anyway.

Rev Ron
from Matthew's Gospel Chapter 13:1-9 (N.I.V.)

The Yoke of Christ

2011-07-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, "Come unto me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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." (1)

This passage is amongst the special treasures of Matthew's Gospel. No sublimer words exist than this call of Jesus to the toiling and the burdened in a state of weariness to come to him. He assures us, "I will refresh you." Far more than mere rest, it is rejuvenation.

A Wooden Yoke

You may be puzzle by the expression, "For my yoke is easy." A yoke is a wooden harness that fits over the shoulders of a single ox or two oxen. It is attached to a plough or a piece of equipment the oxen are about to pull. Like the Pilgrim in "Pilgrim's Progress," it reminds us of the heavy burdens in life we often carry or pull behind us.The sins or wrongs we have committed and are ashamed of, the guilt we feel for sin, the bad conscience that lingers in our minds, or fears both real or imaginary. Then there are the hurts or pressures we experience from others or from our society.

Strangely, by taking Jesus' yoke upon our necks, he frees us from all these burdens. The rest that Jesus promises is love, healing and peace with God. Martin Luther writes in "Creation and Fall," "In the Bible, 'rest' really means more than 'having a rest.' It means rest after the work is accomplished, it means completion, it means the perfection and peace of God in which the world rests, it means tranfiguration, it means turning our eyes absolutely upon God's being God and towards worshipping him." (2) A relationship with God changes meaningless, wearisome toil into spiritual productivity and purpose.

Two Oxen with a yoke

So Jesus says ..."For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus offers refreshment in his partnership and promises to make the burden light, because he is a meek, a patient and a humble teacher.

I will always remember listening to Mr Hogarth, a teacher at the Bible Training Institute that I attended in Glasgow, Scotland, who was once a missionary in Argentina. He told us about a ploughing festival held each year involving oxen. Elders first brought out the oldest most mature ox draped in flowers and beautiful decor. He was led gently and easily to his place and a yoke was placed around his neck without a problem. As he stood patiently waiting, another young unbroken ox was dragged out bellowing and pulling on its ropes, resisting at every step. With great difficulty, a group of strong men forced his head down and the yoke was tied around his neck. Both oxen were then let go and off they went, the young one dragging the older around the field at a great pace, The older ox allowed this at first but then as time passed started resisting the younger and pulling him into line. At last, the young one was too tired to resist and submitted to the older and was ready to plough. We are often stubborn like this young ox and resist Jesus' yoke. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me," says Jesus.

Oxen pulling cart

When Matthew writes that Jesus says, "my yoke is easy," he uses the Greek word "chrestos" which can also mean, "well fitting." (3)

There is a legend that, as a village carpenter, Jesus made the best ox-yokes in all Galilee, and that people from all over the country came to buy yokes from him. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood, so the ox was brought, and measurements were taken. The yoke was then roughed out, and the ox brought back to have the yoke tried on. The yoke was carefully adjusted, so that it would fit well, and not chaff the neck of the patient beast. The yoke was tailor-made to fit the ox.

In those days, as now, shops had their signs above the door, and it has been suggested that the sign above the door of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth may well have read,

"MY YOKES FIT WELL"

Jesus may well be using the words over the his shop when he says, "My yokes fit well." What he means is, "The life I give you is not a burden to weigh heavily upon you, your task is made to measure to fit you." Whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly. We would be wise to do as Jesus suggests and, "Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Thats what I think anyway,

Rev Ron
(1) Matthew 11.28-30 (2) Martin Luther "Creation and Fall" (3) Dr. William Barclay "Daily Bible Study."

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

2011-04-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

Charles Darwin

On BBC Television recently, there was an interesting television program with the title, "Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life." The presenter sought to parallel the Biblical "Tree of Life" with the theoretical "Amniote Phylogeny presented as the 'Tree of Life'" of the evolutionary process (see Memorial University Diagram by Steven M. Carr.) In this theory, original life, whatever that was, moved from one primitive form through the apes to human beings.

Charles Darwin, in 1859 wrote, "The affinities of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree... As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these if vigorous, branch out and over top on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications."

Tree of Life on a flag

To use the term "Tree of Life" without reference to its source in Creation or the Last Days would not have made any sense to the Christian gentleman, Charles Darwin. He was well aware that God placed the first human beings not in an opulent palace but in a natural garden.

"The Tree of Life" is first found in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2.9, "And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."

Map of the location of the Garden of Eden

Eden is clearly located in Genesis 2.10-14 at the intersection of the Tigris River, the Euphrates River, the Pishon and the Gihon Rivers. "A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates."

Note that in the Garden of Eden there were two trees mentioned, the "Tree of Life" and the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." This second tree was the one that was forbidden of Adam and Eve by God and eventually was the cause of the Fall and the ejection of Adam and Eve from the Garden. Disobeying God and eating from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" turned into shame for the first humans as they realized that they were naked and tried to cover themselves from the sight of God with leaves. Note that this benevolent God, even at this time of great disruption, still clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins to keep them warm and maintain their dignity in God's sight.

The Garden of Eden Painting

"The Tree of Life" reappears at the end of time in the Book of Revelation. God says in Revelation 2.7, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the paradise of God."

Again the Tree of Life is pictured in the great street of the New City of Jerusalem where "the River of Life" runs. Thus Revelation 22.2 reads, "down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." There will be no more pain, tears or heartache for individuals there or the nations of the new earth whose differences will be healed.

Pangea the original continental land mass

The River of Life, the Tree of Life and entrance into the Holy City are reserved for the redeemed. In Revelation 22.14 we read, "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." This privilege is reserved according to 22.19 for those who do not add to nor take away words from this Book of Prophecy i.e. The Book of Revelation. "And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." It is a serious crime to add to the words of Scripture or cut pieces out to suit our own fancies and such a travesty will not remain unpunished by our all knowing God.

In a strange sense, the television program drew the archeological record closer to Biblical truth in the assertion of one single continental mass, called the Pangea (see the numerous videos on You Tube showing the presumed movement of the continents over 400 million years from the Pangea to the Present day.) From this one land mass, all living beings and presumably human beings came. This conforms to an interesting and ancient Jewish tradition that after the flood, the three sons of Noah, that is Ham, Shem and Japheth were of the three distinctive racial groups who went out from the Tigris/ Euphrates region to populate the world (i.e. Pangea). Thus the descendants of Japheth (white people) went into Europe, the descendants of Shem of the yellow species migrated towards china, and the descendants of Ham (the Black skinned group) moved into Africa.

Maybe this has given you some pause for thought. I hope so. That's what I think anyway,

Rev Ron

St Patrick’s Day

2011-03-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

Saint Patrick

March 17th 2011 is the 1550th. Anniversary of the death of St Patrick, Bishop, Missionary, the Patron of Ireland, New York City and Engineers in AD 460. Patrick was born on the west coast of Britain probably near the present day city of Dumbarton in Scotland around AD 387 to a Christian family.

His father was a town councilor and a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the church of the day. We know about his life from three books that he wrote, “The Confession” (his autobiography in 62 paragraphs), “Letter to Coroticus” (against British Slave Traders) and “Lorica“ or “Breastplate,” from which comes the hymn. “I bind unto myself today, the strong name of the Trinity, By invocation of the same, The Three-in-One and One-in-Three.…" ("Common Praise" Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada #436.)

Shamrock

Patrick has been associated with the Shamrock (or the three leaf clover) and is reputed to have used it to illustrate the Trinity, the “three faces of God” in his arguments with the Irish Pagan Leaders. Let me use these three faces to illustrate this very gifted and energetic Christian missionary’s life.

The Father speaks to me of Saint Patrick's family life and how he learned of the Christian Way through his father, mother and his family as a child and young man. Growing up he experienced many Christian truths which he tucked away and came back to later in his life.

Many of us have had the same experience. I grew up in a non-Christian home and first learned about Jesus through two insurance sales persons, Miss Church and Miss Butt, who also ran a local Sunday School for St Catherine’s Church of England Church in Birkenhead, Cheshire. I not only learned the books of the Bible by heart there but I saw the love of Jesus in these two beautiful caring people. I also recall a scout leader named George Hoffman who cared for me to the point of buying me some hiking socks which my parents could not afford. George was later ordained and served as the Director of a Christian Aid Agency until a sudden and very tragic accident took his life.

St Patrick's Bell

St Patrick was captured while still a young man by Irish Pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave and herdsman for six years. He used the time alone in the fields to pray, unlike his earlier years of which he said, “I knew not the true God” and “I did not heed clerical admonitions for our salvation.” He had found the God of his fathers in general and the God of his own father in particular. (See St Patrick's Bell to the right.)

As a child and in my teens, I also thought of the Bible as a collection of nice stories until while on a journey to Birmingham from Liverpool by motorcycle, I felt the hand of God on me. I said to God, “Lord, if you are real come into my life and change me.” I had always questioned, “why did Jesus die on the cross?” and Jesus told me, “I died for you.” He convinced me and he changed me in that moment. The Bible became alive and real for the first time, God’s word speaking personally to me. The foul language which had been part of my life on those building sites was washed away and Jesus himself came to live in my heart. I was a new creation in Christ.

St Patrick Icon

In a similar way, after six years of slavery Patrick was told by God in a dream he would soon go to his own country. He ran away from his slave master and walked some two hundred miles to the coast where there was a boat waiting for him. After many adventures in his native land including near starvation he returned home a changed man. He received some informal training including a knowledge of the Latin Bible, which he came to know very well, though his own Latin writing was described as “inelegant even at times rustic.”

He was made a priest and eventually a Bishop and sent back to Ireland as its second Bishop to preach against the Pagan religions which were prominent at that time and to convert the Irish people. Pagans worshiped all kinds of terrible, nightmarish and monstrous gods and practiced human sacrifice. These times were very cruel. (The snake by the way was one of the Pagan gods which Patrick preached against.) His missionary work with a group of colleagues was very successful and thousands were converted to Christianity and many churches built, some of which still survive today.

God Bless Ireland

As a slave out in the fields, Patrick spent many cold and wet days and nights praying “a hundred prayers during the day and a hundred prayers during the night” often waking cold and shivering in the snow. But he said that he didn't feel the cold for “the Holy Spirit was burning in me.”

The Holy Spirit lives in, burns and invigorates every Christian. St Patrick knew it and I know it. St Paul also knew it for he wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5.17)

That's what I think anyway.

Rev Ron

Coming of Age

2010-08-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Roman Toga

"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."

This Epistle to the Galatians (4.1-7) speaks of our growing out of childhood and becoming fully mature as Christian men and women. This can happen at any age when we give our lives to Christ by faith. Then, we come into a new relationship with God through Jesus Christ as sons and heirs to all his abundant riches in our lives; the love, joy and peace and patience we long for.

In the ancient world, the process of growing up was different. Even though an infant was an heir to a great fortune, there was no difference between him and a slave, he was under the control of the stewards and overseers. When he was old enough, he became the heir and was regarded differently, honored and obeyed. Different communities at that time had their own coming of age ceremonies.

1. A Jewish boy, on the first Sabbath after his twelfth birthday, was taken to the Synagogue, where he became "A Son of the Law." There was a clear dividing line in the boy's life. Almost overnight he became a man.

2. In Greece, a boy was under his father's care from seven until he was eighteen. He then became what was called a "cadet," and for the next two years he was under the direction of the state. His long hair was cut off and offered to the gods. Growing up was quite a definite process.

3. Under Roman law, a boy came of age between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. At a sacred festival, he took off the boy's toga, which was a toga with a narrow purple band at the foot and put on the man's toga. He was then conducted by his friends and relations down to the forum and formally introduced to public life. On the day a boy or girl grew up, the boy offered his toy, and the girl her doll, to Apollo to show that they had put away childish things.

We too, when the fullness of time comes, and we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, are adopted as sons and daughters and become heirs. Consequently, we are no longer slaves or servants but a son and daughter; and heirs of God because God has made us so in Christ. We also are no longer children, we have become adult sons and daughters and have entered into our inheritance. The freedom of manhood and womanhood has come.

The proof that we are adult Christian sons and daughters of God comes from the instinctive cry of our hearts. In our deepest need we cry, "Abba, Father!" to God or "Daddy, Daddy!" "Because you are sons," says Paul, "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father.""

"Ab-bah" is the Aramaic word for Father. It must have been often on Jesus' lips, and its sound was so sacred that it was kept in the original tongue. Paul tells us that this instinctive cry of our heart to be the work of the Holy Spirit. If our hearts cry, "Abba, Father" we know that we are sons and daughters, and all the inheritance of grace is ours. Have you come of age as a Christian? Are you no longer a child but a son or daughter of God. What a wonderful gift from God!

That's what I think, anyway.

Rev Ron

Be Prepared

2010-08-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

Burning Heart

Luke or "Loukas" came from Antioch in present day Syria. Antioch incidentally had "the very first Gentile Household Church" and also where the followers of Jesus were first known as "Christians." Luke was a doctor and known for being observant, analytical and careful in his records.

There are two themes in Luke 12 concerning "financial responsibility." Jesus takes the opportunity to lay down what his followers' attitude to money and possessions should be.

2 Gold Coins

He had something to say both to those who had an abundant supply of material possessions and to those who had not. Both were "to lay up treasure in heaven." It is however not the money that is very often the problem but the love of it. A Roman proverb says, "money is like sea-water; the more a person drinks the thirstier he becomes." It's more a question of how we use what we have been so graciously given by God.

The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, had a rule of life. It was to "save all he could and give away all he could." When he was at Oxford he had an income of 30 British pounds a year. He lived on 28 pounds and gave 2 pounds away. When his income increased to 60 pounds, 90 pounds and even 120 pounds per year, he still lived on 28 pounds and gave the balance away.

You think we have too many taxes. In Wesley's day, there was a tax on windows and another on silver dishes. The "Accountant-General for Household Plate" demanded an annual return from Wesley. His reply was, "I have two silver tea spoons at London and two at Bristol. This is all the plate which I have at present; and I shall not buy any more, while so many around me want bread."

Jesus speaks in Luke 12 of the servant's preparedness in waiting for the master to return. The "master's return" refers here either to the Second Coming of Christ or to the time of our own death when we are summoned to meet our Maker. There is praise for the servant who is ready. Jesus says "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning." "Be dressed ready for service," refers to the long flowing robes in the east which were a hindrance to work so when a servant prepared to work he hitched up his robes under his belt to leave himself free for activity.

"Keep your lamps burning" said Jesus. The eastern lamp was like a cotton wick floating in a sauce-boat of oil. The wick had to always be kept trimmed and the lamp replenished with oil or the light would go out. So this theme of preparedness permeates the second half of Luke 12. It begs the question, "How would we like God to find us?"

We would like God to find us with our Christian work completed.Life for so many of us is filled with loose ends. There are things undone and things half done; things put off and things not even attempted. Our evergreen list may never be completed but our Christian work should. We are called upon to "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness."
We would like God to find us at peace with our fellow human beings. It would be a haunting thing to pass from this world with bitterness towards someone in our hearts.

We should like God to find us at peace with God himself. It will make all the difference whether we feel that we are going out to meet a stranger or an enemy, or going to fall asleep in the arms of Jesus. No one can tell the day or the hour when eternity will invade our time and our summons will come. How, then, will God find us?
That's what I think anyway.

Rev Ron

Magnificat Dynamite

2010-08-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

Manger Scene

In Luke 1.46ff Mary says, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name."

Here we have a passage which has become one of the great hymns of the church called the Magnificat. It is saturated in the Old Testament, and is specially close to Hannah's song of praise in 1 Sam 2:1-10. (N.I.V.) which says in part, "Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."

Stanley Jones has said, "the Magnificat is the most revolutionary document in the world." There are three great revolutions brought about by God in people's hearts. Verse 51 says, "He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts." Christianity is the death of pride, and the greatest of sins is pride. That is a Moral Revolution. Why? Because if a person sets their life beside that of Christ the last vestiges of pride are torn away. Sometimes something happens to shame a person with a vivid, revealing light.

O. Henry tells a story about a lad who was brought up in a village. In school, he used to sit beside a girl and they were very fond of each other. Later in life, he moved to the city and eventually became a pickpocket and a petty thief. One day, he snatched an old lady's purse. It was a clever piece of work and he was pleased with himself. But then he saw coming down the street the girl whom he used to know, still sweet and radiant with innocence. Burning with shame, he leaned his head against a lamp standard and said, "God, I wish I could die!" He saw himself for what he was.

Christ enables a person to see him or herself for what he or she can be. It is the death blow to pride. The moral revolution in the heart has begun.

Then there is a Social Revolution, the Magnificat in Verse 52 reads, "He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble." He casts down the mighty and he exalts the humble. Christianity puts an end to the world's labels and prestige. Upper class, middle class and working class any kind of prejudice or pride melts away.

A scholar named Muretus wandered around Europe during the Middle Ages. He was very poor. In an Italian town, he took ill and was taken to a hospital for waifs and strays. The doctors were discussing his case in the upper class language, Latin, never dreaming Muretus could understand. They suggested that since he was such a worthless wanderer they might use him for medical experiments. He looked up and answered them in their own learned tongue, "Call no one worthless for whom Christ died!"

When we realize what Christ has done for us, it is no longer possible to speak about a common person. The social grades are gone. We are all special and unique and equal in God's sight.

Then there is an Economic Revolution. The Magnificat in Verse 53 reads, "He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty." The hungry are fed ... the rich are sent empty away. That is an Economic Revolution. Our society is a society where each person is out to amass as much as he or she can. A Christian society is a society where no one has too much while others have too little. Everyone must get in order to give away.

There is a loveliness in the Magnificat but in that loveliness there is dynamite. Christianity gives birth to a revolution in each one of us and that in turn brings revolution to our local community, our country and eventually to the world.

That's what I think anyway,

Rev Ron

A Queen and a Little Native Girl

2010-06-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Queen Elizabeth, now aged 84, was on a state visit to Canada and as she visited Halifax was presented with a bouquet of flowers by a little nine year old First Nations Mi'kmaq girl named Tyeisha Jordan also known as Angel. As she waited the sweet voices of the Conne River Se't Anewey First Nations Choir sang "Amazing Grace" in the Mi'kmaq language. The Queen, gracious as ever, made her way over and received the floral tribute.

I was both touched by this story and also moved as I remembered another Queen, a relative of Queen Elizabeth known as Queen Victoria, meeting with a First Nations Child. The story is told by the late Captain Ray Lewis, an American Church Army Officer, recorded in his autobiography "Glory" on the website http://www.tellout.com. Here's how Ray told it.

"I met a wrinkled one hundred and two year old lady wrapped in a tasseled shawl. She told me in a very thin voice of a trip she had made as a child to Europe. In England, she had performed in a Wild West Show before Queen Victoria. With a twinkle in her eye she related that the whole cast was lined up to be introduced to Her Majesty. Everyone else bowed or curtsied but this five year old adamantly refused."

"The Queen was curious and spoke to her father, 'Why doesn't your little girl curtsy like the others?' The Indian Gentleman replied, 'She's a very independent child, madam, why don't you speak to her yourself?'"

This little girl was called forward and gently asked why she would not observe this courtesy. "No," she blurted out, "you are not my God! My God's in the United States of America!" Warmed by her directness, Queen Victoria leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "God bless you, my dear! You know where you belong!" This frail child knew where she belonged. She belonged to a great God and knew it.

How quick we are to bow the knee and leave behind our highest principles because everyone else does it. How I wish that more young people and older people too had the courage of their convictions and the courage to stand up for what is right.

Thats what I think anyway.

Rev Ron

Truth and Reconciliation

2010-06-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

I would like to offer for your interest the following account from the autobiography of The Rev Canon P.L. Spencer, of his trip to the Residential Schools across Canada in 1892. This has impact upon the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation process in Ottawa Canada. I have added a number of lantern slide pictures from this period to illustrate the text. (Picture of Sitting Bull's Camp #1856 to right)

Canon Spencer emigrated with his family from England to Hamilton, Ontario as an eight year old boy in 1853 and became one of the five founding clergy of the Diocese of Niagara. He had a great interest in photography and left a legacy of over 2300 glass lantern slides (many of them hand painted) of his visits and experiences all over the world. He became a popular speaker and writer and gave lectures before the advent of cinema on topics such as "Ship and Shanty in the Early 50's", "Olden Days", and "Around the World in an Hour and a Half" illustrated by these same magic lantern slides. He served in Parishes for over half a century in Niagara Diocese before passing away on May 25th 1932 at the age of eighty six. (see his biography at http://www.tellout.com/finalwebsite/biography.htm) (Photo of Canon Spencer in Egypt at right.)

It is not often that we can read the actual accounts, hear the thoughts and see pictures of the Residential Schools and native peoples in Canada from 118 years ago. These extracts are offered without comment on my part, but it seems to me that they do illustrate the deep concern that Canon Spencer and other supporters in England had for native people in the Canadian mission field at that time. Here is a partial transcription of Canon Spencer's autobiography, (p. 115-122) provided courtesy of his family. (Photo #1826 "Indian Passenger and Conductor" at right.)

"In 1892, I was able to carry into effect a long-cherished desire to visit my native land (England). Having by correspondence with the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel learned that I could be useful in England if I could give the latest information regarding the churches' mission among the Indians and Orientals of Western Canada, I resolved to make a journey through the prairie region and go as far as the coast of British Columbia in order to see with my own eyes the chief mission establishments situated within convenient reach of a passenger traveling by the then slow trans-continental, The Canadian Pacific Railway." ( Photo #1862 "Touchwood Hill Boarding School" at right)

"Having explained my object to the officials of that great railway corporation, I obtained a remarkably favourable concession, the favour enabling me to travel at a minimum cost and allowing me to break the journey at any desired point. At several places, I gave a lantern lecture on Eastern Canada. I also took a fairly large number of photographs of natural scenery, mission-buildings, Indian men, women and children, besides some views of Chinese life and worship." (Photo #1867 "Young Crowfoot" at right.)

"Among the places to which I gave attention were: Winnipeg and St. Peter's Reserve, Broadview and Grenfell villages, Crooked Lake Reserve, Fort Qu'Appelle, and the Touch Wood Hills Reserves, Calgary City and the Sarcee and Black Foot reserve, Lytton with its Christian Indian settlement, Vancouver and Victoria, each with its Chinese mission and Nanaimo, my farthest point of observation, with its relic of a Hudson' Bay Fort and its coal-mines of untold value." (Photo #1799 "Blackfeet School at Study" at right.)

"In Broadview I met "old auntie", a well-known Indian woman of many summers. She looked like a walking mummy, except that her garments and hair were not as tidily arranged as those of a real mummy. How old she was could only be guessed, but an approximation of her age was afforded by the fact that she had a daughter who was known to be 80 years old. I was able to obtain a photograph of this poor degraded relic of paganism, but not with my own camera, for I should have feared to point the eye of that little box towards her, lest she in anger, suspecting the presence of "bad medicine" in the instrument might have attempted its destruction." (Photo #1800 "Old Auntie" at right)

"I procured the photograph from the local artist who, in order to secure the negative, entered into a secret agreement with the local butcher that the latter should lure "old auntie" into his shop with the promise of a liberal present of bones, the man with the camera setting up the instrument in the street and awaiting the exit of the ancient dame at the shop's front door. This arrangement worked admirably, for an excellent likeness of "old auntie" was obtained without her being aware of the clever artifice of the white man with the "bad medicine" box. " (Photo # 1863 "Touchwood Hills at Study" at right.)

"The picture which I purchased and which afterwards served as a basis of a lantern slide, has never failed to produce amazement, and oftentimes it has created sincere pity. It shows better than words that depth to which paganism allows its adherents to sink in the slough of ignorance, misery and repulsiveness. Such a spectacle is the strongest possible argument in favour of the elevating and purifying influence of Christian missions. The condition of "old auntie" saddens and disgusts the beholder, while the clean tidy and bright appearance of the girls in the mission-schools produces satisfaction and thankfulness." (Photo #1791 "Aged Indian Woman" at right.)

"... A few days afterwards when the C.P.R. train was waiting at Swift Current, I saw on the station platform several Indian women engaged in the mercantile pursuit of exchanging highly polished Buffalo horns for their equivalent in silver coins, proferred by the interested passengers. I thought the scene worthy of a snapshot; and, accordingly, I took a position on a step of the car to which I belonged and which at the moment was opposite the group. Taking aim with care and deliberation, I was about to press the button when a final glance directed towards the women of the Wild West revealed the fact that they were not willing partners in the intended photographic enterprise, their unfavourable mental attitude being indicated by the concealment of their heads in the folds of their gaily coloured blanket shawls." (Photo #1860 "Swift Current Indian Women" at right.)

"Baffled but not discomfited I made a flank movement to the last car of the train and, raising a window-sash, sat down and awaited an opportunity for obtaining my desire without attracting the attention of the merchant princesses of the prairies or arousing their fear of the influence of "bad medicine". As the train slowly moved away from its stopping-place, my car and then my window came into proper position for action. The camera was handled, pointed, and operated. As I took a farewell look at the group I perceived that faces had emerged from folds; and I returned to my former carriage and seat, hopeful of success. A day or two later I developed the film in the mission-house in Yale, B.C. and learned with much satisfaction that I had indeed succeeded in my harmless endeavour, the negative showing several particulars of great interest." (Photo #1821 "Indian Head (Portrait)" at right.)

"Lest I forget, I will here state that when returning from the coast a fortnight later, I made a closer acquaintance of the same buffalo horns vendors and purchased from them a pair of the prairie souvenirs, thus showing my good-will and assuring myself that no evil had happened to the open-air traders by reason of my previous unappreciated effort to obtain a permanent memento of them." (Photo #1864 "Who's Afraid" at right.)

The Lantern Slide Photographs described here and many others can be viewed in the HiVu Photos Gallery in the my collection (100 Native Indian pictures displayed) at http://www.tellout.com/ and go to HiVu Photos Gallery. The titles, by the way, are the exact ones written on the magic lantern glass slides by Canon Spencer himself, and I have not edited the autobiographical account in any way, not even to modernize some of the quaint English terms no longer in use and strange views expressed as typical of the Victorian era. I wanted it to be as authentic as possible. I hope that this is both enlightening and helpful to us all in our own quest for truth and reconciliation. (Photo #1807 "Chief Pash-I-Pa Ho" at right.)

That's what I think anyway.

Rev Ron

Time and Eternity

2010-02-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Someone should invent a "Lifetime Clock" that begins on the day you take your first breath (or maybe the day you were conceived in the womb) and stops at the second you take your last breath. At any moment, on my hypethetical Lifetime Clock, you would be able to read exactly how old you were in years, months, days, hours, minutes and even seconds. I googled "lifetime clock" and discovered there is such a thing, a Life Clock, (see the picture at right) with this comment added, "There's nothing more depressing than seeing your entire lifetime condensed down into something as small and contained as a clock." (Life Clock on Gizmodo)

With an insight into time, the LORD God told a youthful Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..." (Jeremiah 1.5 NIV) Before we were even born, God took a note of each one of us and decided what we were going to be!

I was reading Christopher Dewdney's interesting book about time called "Soul of the World" (from Harper Collins) and was thinking about time as a kind of fourth dimension. You don't notice that it is gradually moving on, tick by tick, until you come back from a holiday. Everything seems to be the same in the house until you see an apple left on the counter top by mistake three weeks before. It was perfect when you left it but now is shrunken and wizzened. In fact, everything around the house has changed too, even minutely, but only the apple shows it.

The great hymn writer, Isaac Watts, (1678 - 1727) captured this thought in the fourth verse of his famous hymn, "O God, our help in ages past..." which he wrote as a paraphrase of Psalm 90. "Time like an ever rolling stream, Bears all its sons away, They fly forgotten as a dream, Dies at the opening day." The ever rolling stream of time bears all sons and daughters away and stops for nothing and no one. Like a dream, which is so real while we are asleep, it evaporates and slips our memory when we wake.

Time has to be set in its context of eternity. The Creation is the beginning of time and the New Heaven and New Earth is its close but before and beyond that there is eternity. Jesus is called the Alpha and the Omega (the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet) because he was in eternity before the Creation and will be in eternity once time is no more. The Beginning and the End, we speak about, does not refer to the period of time only but way before and way beyond that in eternity.

I remember taking relatives from England to Niagara Falls and looking over the wall, as we all do, at the tremendous amount of water churning over the edge of the Falls. Like time, nothing can stop it, it just keeps on going. Also at that moment, the skin on my hand is imperceptibly flaking off, oh so gently. Time moves on and we all change.

There was one moment for me when time stood still. I was on a motorcycle trip to Birmingham from Liverpool on a very wet September evening. Time stopped for an instant. God pushed his finger through the curtain of eternity into my time and asked, "Why did Jesus die on the cross?" Before I could answer, "for me" God was gone.

"From everlasting to everlasting you are God." (Psalm 90.2)

That's what I think, anyhow.

Rev Ron

Florence Nightingale - the "Lady with the Lamp"

2009-05-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, the 12th. of May is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, who was called in her day, "The Lady with the Lamp." "The lamp" title comes from the fact that in the army hospital, she allowed no other nurse on the wards after 8 p.m. and at night patrolled the injured soldiers' beds with an oil lamp in hand. She is remembered today for her work in the establishment of the nursing profession as we know it, largely because of her strong and dedicated Christian commitment. The title "Lady of the Lamp" was the "symbol of selfless, caring, tireless service" (1) that she pursued.

This coming week in Peterborough is known as "Nursing Week." I remember with gratitude the many health professionals including nurses who have together on many occasions given me "the gift of good health." I also think of the sadness felt when talking with a colonoscopy nurse one day to discover that she had three jobs to make ends meet ie half time at one hospital, another half time at a second hospital and a third shift at a nursing home. Why can't we get enough nurses? This is called lack of job security. It is a modern curse.

Back to Florence Nightingale. Most people do not know that after only 8 months of basic training in 1853, she persuaded a team of 38 nurses and auxiliaries of whom 10 were Roman Catholic, 8 Church of England, 6 from the St John Institute and 14 recruited from hospitals to go with her in 1854 to the Crimean War in Turkey. In the oil painting at right, called "Mission of Mercy," she is shown tending an injured man near the gate of the military hospital in Scutari in 1856. (2)

In those days, hospitals were often dark and dirty and the nurses untrained. Nurses were regarded with little more respect than prostitutes and women were resented in the hospitals of the day. Florence was known for her "dislike of the lack of opportunities for women." Her mother begged her not to go to the Crimea, but she was determined. She had a call to serve and refused to marry, much to her parents anguish. Wounded soldiers in the Crimea were uncared for - but she had to do what she could to help them.

Florence had been born on the 12th May in 1820 to a wealthy English family while her parents were on a trip to Florence in Italy. She grew up in the family home, Embley House, in Hampshire, England (shown at right). In 1837, she "experienced a Christian divine calling." Later at Thebes, she wrote of "being called to God." A week later her diary reads, "God called me in the morning and asked me would I do good for him alone without recognition." (3)

Florence served faithfully in the Crimea, but then was confined to her home and bedridden for the second half of her life with what we call today, "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." Even as an invalid she influenced nursing standards. She changed British military medical care, dramatically lowered mortality rates, spearheaded the first Visiting Nurse Association in 1860 and set up model nursing schools. She was a Pioneer of the Red Cross Movement and an advisor to both the United States Government for the care of wounded civil war soldiers and to the Franco-Prussian war. Though confined to her bed, she continued to work for the betterment of society and the nursing profession in particular. She died suddenly on the 13th August 1910 at the age of Ninety. She had refused an offer of a ceremonial burial in St Paul's Cathedral, London and was laid to rest in her home parish in East Wellow. (shown at right)

Her dedication reminds me of the words of Etienne de Grellet,

"I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore, that I can do Or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, Let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, For I shall not pass this way again.

The writer to the Hebrews adds,

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers." (4) The nursing profession and every nurse deserves and is entitled to every respect and support for the wonderful work that they do. Thank you to each one and especially to Florence Nightingale.

That's what I think anyway,

Rev Ron

(1) Maryka Ford R.E.S.C.I.N.D. Inc. (2) "Florence Nightingale receiving the wounded at Scutary 1856" by Jerry Barrett 1824-1906 copyright London Fine Art Society. (3) Quoted by Edward Chaney in "Egypt in England and America - The Cultural Memories of Religion, Royalty and Revolution." (4) Hebrews 13:2

Dr Oz's Cadavers

2009-02-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

I recently watched an Oprah Winfrey program in which Dr Oz was explaining, in such an excellent way, how the human body worked. It was a truly enlightening experience. As the program continued, he wheeled out two corpses both standing upright and preserved (he said rubberized) one of a male and the other of a female. These were human bodies which had been donated to science after the individuals had died. There was a wave of an astonished, horrified gasp from the audience. It was a shock to Oprah and to many who watched and to myself and my wife as we looked on. The male torso had been split from the top of the scull to the bottom of the feet so that the internal bones and organs were revealed. The female torso seemed to be smiling, but her innards were opened outward for all to see.

This eerie experienced prompted me to think, "what if someone recognized the face of either one of these medical volunteers?" "What if a person was known to be some one's brother or mother?"

It reminded me of a true story I had read in a little book called "The Cemetery History Book" by Todd W. Van Beck, "tracing the history of burial and cremation practices from 62,000 B.C. to the present." It concerns John Scott Harrison, who was a President of the United States and who died in 1878 and was buried in the Congress Green Cemetery in North Bend, Ohio. "Soon after his death, a grave robber known as 'Dr Morton' stole the body and sold it to the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati. School officials, who regularly bought cadavers on the black market for use in training medical students, did not realize that they had a 'famous' Harrison body until one of John Scott Harrison's sons turned up at the school on other business and to his horror accidentally discovered his father's corpse dangling by the neck at the end of a rope hidden in a closet." (page 37). Soon after this incident, the state of Ohio made grave robbing a serious crime. (see the website www.findagrave.com for another intriguing account of this incident.)

My question here is how we should treat a human body after death? Leviticus states that "the life of a creature is in the blood." (Leviticus 17.11) So presumably, once the blood has gone then the life has gone. This is the verse, by the way, that Jehovah Witnesses use to refute blood transfusions and the reason why Jews carefully drain the blood from any meat they are to consume.

Paul, in regard to our bodies, reminds Christians when warning against sexual immorality, "do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." ( 1 Corinthians 6.19, 20),

Out of human decency, we should care for and honor our bodies both before and I believe to a lesser extent after we have died. The burial place for our body or its ashes should therefore be reverently marked with our name and the date of our birth and death. We are not just a creature but a human being made in the image of God.

I would also therefore urge the medical community to mark each corpse used in medical research with the identity of its former owner. Dr Oz could have introduced us to the man and woman he was to use to teach us about the human process. Giving one's earthly remains for the benefit of medical science would therefore be accompanied by respect, dignity and honor. I think its good that Dr Oz used these cadavers to explain human anatomy, but I would have been happier to have known who had so graciously donated them to medical science.

That's what I think anyway,

Rev Ron

The Spirituality of Charles Darwin

2009-02-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was born over two hundredyears ago (12th February 1809) in Downe House, Kent, England. He is famous for his development of the idea of evolution, though many claim that it was his followers after his death who developed this theory from his work. He was an English naturalist who wrote two books, "The Voyage of the Beagle" and "On the Origin of Species" After much thought about the fossils he collected on his voyage and discussions with several other naturalists he conceived his theory of natural selection together with a logical explanation of the diversity of life.

Many people neglect to realize that Charles Darwin was a deeply spiritual man who came from a wealthy Christian family. He was the son of a wealthy doctor and financier, Robert Darwin and grandson on his mothers side of Josiah Wedgwood, of Wedgwood pottery fame. He married his cousin Emma Wedgwood. His father who was a devout Anglican encouraged him to be a free thinker and enrolled him in the the Shrewsbury School as a boarder. In 1825, he spent time as an apprentice doctor with his father caring for the poor in Shropshire. He was sent to begin studies towards becoming a Priest in the Church of England at Christ College Cambridge, but was far more interested in plants and animals. He was impressed by Paley's book "Natural Theology" which"made an argument for divine design in nature" and "explained adaption as God acting through the laws of nature."

The Victorian era was one of great interest in all things natural. People were greatly interested in knowledge of the world stemming from a deeply Christian morality and belief. This was the backcloth to his epic journey on the Beagle and his subsequent writings. He never set out to create a theory of evolution which would be at odds with the Creation Theory, but simply to explain the natural world and its creation in his own words.

The Ship "The Beagle"

On the voyage of the Beagle, he did not doubt the literal truth of the Bible but sought explanations in the laws of nature and saw adaption of species as evidence of design. He remained quite orthodox and would quote the Bible as an authority on morality. Like the rest of us, he questioned the cruelty of nature when seen in the light of an all loving God. One such example was the ichneumon wasp which paralyzed caterpillars as live food for its eggs. Darwin still believed that God was the ultimate lawgiver.

Charles played a leading part in the parish work of his local church. In 1879, he said that he had never denied the existence of God. The importance of Charles Darwin lies not in the divide between Evolution and Creationism but more in the Christian atmosphere that enable him to think freely and challenge the assumptions of his day. He was brought forth by God to help us think more deeply about the environment in which we live and breath and have our being, and for that he should be remembered.

That's what I think anyway,

Rev Ron

The Order of Canada

2008-07-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

The highest civilian honor in this country is the Order of Canada. It is awarded every year to leading citizens and extra-ordinary people for outstanding service to the nation. Captain Ray Taylor, the late Director of the Church Army in Canada, received it for fifty years service to the poor, the lost and the unloved. This was most deserving.

This last week, the country was shocked when Henry Morgantaler, aged 85, the initiator of Abortion Clinics around the world, was named to the Order of Canada. What a sad reflection on our times that the Governor General, appointed by Her Majesty the Queen, should be persuaded to do such a thing. A man who came out of a Nazi Concentration Camp has himself "encouraged a culture of death and has thus attacked the most vulnerable, the unborn" (the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Edmonton, The Most Rev. Richard Smith).

One of the qualifications for the award is that the recipient should not have a criminal record, yet the authorities have chosen to ignore the 10 month term of imprisonment Henry Morgantaler served in prison for committing illegal abortions.

Joyce Arthur of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada says, "Dr Morgantaler upholds the Canadian values of democracy, human rights, equality of women." If this is were so, and it certainly is not, and we continue in this direction then there will surely be no democracy, no human rights and eventually no equality for women in Canada. Were we not all fetuses at one time, whether men or women? Does an unborn child have no rights? To its shame, Canada to this day does not have any legal limitation on abortions and a pregnancy can be terminated up to the ninth month, although Dr Morgantaler's Clinic only performs abortions, so he says, from "seven weeks up to approximately 19 weeks of gestation" (Morgantaler Website).

Dr Morgantaler does not have the qualities required to be a recipient of the Order of Canada. Every other person who has received this order is tarred with this brush and shamed by this decision. Will others give up their Order of Canada honors because of this bad decision?

As an Anglican minister, I think of the Early Church Christians in Rome picking up unwanted babies, mostly girls, who had been purposely left out for the wild animals at night and taking them into their own homes. I think of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her sisters collecting the dying from the streets and giving them a decent home where they could end their days. I think of Jesus embracing the children and telling us, "Let the little children come unto me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19.14) Later, "He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me ..." (Mark 9.36-37a).
I therefore hope, with all my heart, that the Governor General changes her mind and gives the award to someone more deserving than Dr Morgantaler. It's not how much we do with our lives but what we do with them that really matters. If Canada keeps going in this direction, we will indeed become one of the most morally destitute, criminally driven and uncaring peoples in the World. So much for democracy, human rights and equality of women.

That's what I think anyway.

Rev Ron

Jesus Phobia

2007-11-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine was asked to say a prayer at a formal official gathering some time ago. He was given a copy of the program and told that the prayer should only take so many minutes and then the official said, "and please don't use the name 'Jesus', it might offend someone."

On another occasion in Norwich, our Church Army Team was to be on local radio to talk about the Mission to the Norfolk Broads Holidaymakers. Prior to the recording, the Director of the show mentioned casually, "I hope you are not going to talk about Jesus."

It made me wonder why people are so afraid of using the name "Jesus" except as a curse, of course. Is there not something special about that name? Were people not healed "in the name of Jesus?" Will not every knee bend at the announcement of that name? It's worth thinking about.

Maybe we should use the name of Jesus more often.

That's what I think anyway.

Rev Ron