Joseph Hart Word on the Week 29th July 2017.
Have you noticed that among the words which have dropped out of circulation or have lost much of their original meaning is the word ‘sin’. When it is used it usually restricted to trivia and is associated with excess or unwise eating or drinking.
Joseph Hart who lived in the 17th century had a good start in life coming from Christian parents but went his own way and ended up, like so many, blinded by pride. His conversion came at age 45 when he had a vivid impression of the scene in Gethsemane where Jesus went with his Disciples (St John Chapter 18 verses 1 and 2) and particularly where He went to pray before his betrayal (St Matthew Chapter 26 verses 36 to 46).
Later when as an established Preacher he wrote many hymns around this theme, the most famous taking the name of Gethsemane and running to 23 stanzas! It was as if Hart saw Jesus in the garden kneeling near the brook Kedron – the sewer of Jerusalem – wrestling with the fact that he was to be the sin-bearing lamb of God.
The full enormity of his sins dawned on him and also the enormity of God’s grace in providing in Jesus the only Saviour who could substitute his perfect life for his. It was out of deep repentance that he turned from his pride and arrogance to serve the risen Saviour. Out of gratitude for being
forgiven he wrote the following great hymn putting the Gospel invitation so powerfully to those holding back from coming to Christ.
1. Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus, ready, stands to save you,
Full of pity, joined with power.
He is able, He is able;
He is willing; doubt no more.

2. Come ye needy, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.
Without money, without money
Come to Jesus Christ and buy.

3. Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Bruised and broken by the fall;
If you tarry ’til you’re better,
You will never come at all.
Not the righteous, not the righteous;
Sinners Jesus came to call.

4. Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requires
Is to feel your need of Him.
This He gives you, this He gives you,
It is the Spirit’s rising beam.

5. View Him prostrate in the garden,
On the ground your Maker lies!
On the awful tree behold Him,
Hear Him cry before He dies,
It is finished!
Sinner, will this not suffice?

6. Lo! The Incarnate God, ascended;
Pleads the merit of His blood.
Venture on Him; venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.
None but Jesus, none but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good.

A recent reading of the ‘High Priestly Prayer’ (St John Chapter 17) reminded me of the first time I heard it explained. It was back in the mid 1960ies and I had recently been converted when George Young, then a retired missionary, spoke on the Chapter over four evenings. I still have the notes from those meetings!
George Young was a Civil Servant working as an assistant to Winston Churchill when he answered the call to become a missionary. Churchill’s initial anger turned to a grudging admiration as he bade his promising assistant farewell.
In China George was assigned to a Confucian Priest for language study. As a text book they used the Gospel of Luke. The Priest left George in no doubt that he thought it much inferior to the writings of Confucius! His contempt for the Gospel continued until they reached the crucifixion when the words of Jesus “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (St Luke Chapter 23 verse 34) broke through his defences and he was converted to Christ.
The love of Christ for his enemies who were in the act of torturing him to death had trumped the teachings of Confucius! There was no contest! The Priest, by God’s grace, became George’s first convert.
When I heard him speak it was to encourage us to a life of sanctification (set apart to serve God) St John Chapter 17 verse 17. He enabled us to understand who Jesus was speaking about when he prayed for “these” and “those” (“them” in some translations of verse 20). “These” are the Apostles who are referred to in verses 6 to 19). It was to be by their teaching as St Luke records in Acts Chapter 2 verse 42 that the “those” who Jesus prays for (verse 20) are the people who heard the word and became believers.
These two groups, these Apostles who taught the message of a crucified and risen saviour and those who heard down through the ages to the present day and on to the end of the age, are to be one united by faith in Christ. This Apostolic succession, where believers are united by their faith in the Apostles teaching, passing on this same teaching down through the generations in answer to Jesus’s prayer and also reflecting the unity of the Father and the Son (verses 20 and 21).
I think it was John Stott who said that this unity is not primarily one with each other but one with the Apostles and second that we may be one with the Father and the Son. The first shows that doctrine unites in the truth (verse 17) and the second models relationships in the life of the church. Both contribute to unite the church.
There is purpose in this linear unity, ‘so the world may believe’ (verses 21 and 23). And I suppose that is seen by God’s grace in George Young, to me, to you!

I was reminder this week of the pyromaniac who burned down the old mews house which formed part of our church complex in Pearse Street about 20 years ago. He then contacted the fire brigade to come and put the fire out! The antics of one of our TD’s were not all that dissimilar.
The TD was Paul Murphy who has been able to get people behind him in support of common causes, such as not paying for water, where he has had some success. On this occasion two ladies, one a former Tánaiste Joan Burton and her assistant Karen O’Connell, were leaving a function in a school in Jobstown, Dublin, when their car was surrounded by local residents preventing it from leaving the area for over 2 hours. During that time a certain amount of intimidation of the women took place and around 100 policemen were involved.
At the conclusion of their recent court case Paul Murphy and 5 other men were absolved from the charge of falsely imprisoning the two women and freed without charge.

Apparently they had organised the event and then when the police could not get the people to disperse they asked Murphy to lend them his assistance!
He addressed the crowd with a megaphone seeking their opinion as to whether or not the car should be allowed to drive off or be retained all night! This exhibition of people power was commented on by the Taoiseach who likened it to a scene from the book “Lord of the Flies”! (the book involves children marooned on a deserted island playing games which get out of control).
Eventually the police landrover led the car, with the two women still trapped in it, to safety. All this took place in November 2015.

In the Dáil this week Murphy tried to accuse the police of perjury during the course of the 8-week trial. This was rebuffed by the Taoiseach who emphasised that Murphy had had his time in court and was found to be not guilty. He was not a victim the implication being that he should stop behaving like one. Any case against the police would be handled by the appropriate watchdog – GSOC.

The handling of a peaceful protest which grows into something larger and is then eventually brought under control by the one who organised it is more akin to revolutionary tactics than to observing the rule of law.

Jesus never tried to manipulate a crowd, quite the reverse. The crowd that welcomed him to Jerusalem one day with Hosannas (meaning save us now you Davidic Messiah) were calling to Pilate to crucify him the next day (St Matthew Chapters 21 verse 9 and 27 verses 22 to 25).
The crowd accepted responsibility for his death something which St Peter reminded them of a couple of months later at his examination (Acts 4 verses 8 to 12). But they were also given the clearest notice as to how they could be saved – through the name of Jesus (verse 12).
Lasting change does not come from people power but from faith in a risen Saviour.

Anne Sullivan was a survivor. She was one of two children born in Massachusetts to famine immigrants from Co Limerick. Following her mother’s death when she was age 8 her father could not cope and placed both herself and her younger brother into an almshouse. The brother died shortly afterwards and Anne, who had developed trachoma when she was age 5, had to deal with the additional burdens of painful eye problems and reduced vision.
Anne received her education at Perkins School for the Blind in Boston. While she was there she became friends with Laura Bridgeman, the first deaf blind person to be educated there. During this period in her life she learned sign language and had a number of operations which slowed her sight loss.

At her valediction she addressed her fellow students with these words, “Fellow-graduates: duty bids us go forth into active life. Let us go cheerfully, hopefully, and earnestly, and set ourselves to find our especial part. When we have found it, willingly and faithfully perform it.”
The year was 1886 and Anne was now age 20. In the providence of God, the Keller family in the State of Alabama contacted the school for someone to teach their 7-year-old deaf blind daughter named Helen. Anne was given the task and went to live with the family. By all accounts Helen was an unruly child but Anne was able to communicate with her. First she taught her letters by drawing shapes on her hands. Then words associated with objects. She was a fast learner and picked up sign language. She learned sounds from placing her hand on Anne’s face while Anne wrote the letters on her free hand.

Anne Sullivan served as Helen Keller’s educator for over a decade and accompanied her to Radcliffe College where she became the first deafblind person to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. They remained together for 50 years till Anne died in 1936.
During her life Helen, who lived till 1968, was a prolific author, a member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women’s suffrage, labour rights, socialism, anti-militarism, and other similar causes. She was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1971.
The ‘Miracle Worker’ is a cycle of dramatic works ultimately derived from Helen’s autobiography, The Story of My Life. The various dramas each describe the relationship between Keller and Sullivan, depicting how the teacher led her from an unruly childhood to an intellectual celebrity.
Of course Jesus was the real miracle worker. The problem he had was to stop folk from following him for the benefits of the miracle and to realise that each miracle emphasised that he was God incarnate and they were to believe in him (St John Chapter 6 verses 25 to 29). He then used his Father’s signature – the ‘I Am’ of deity and equated our spiritual hunger being satisfied by coming to him and our spiritual thirst being quenched by believing in him (verse 35).
Some who had seen him perform miracles would not take up this invitation but then comes the gracious promise “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (verses 36 and 37).
Miracles are of limited worth and, unless they lead to faith in Christ, are of no spiritual value for time or eternity. May it be that the women in this blog, who achieved so much, be found in Him on judgement day.

This week the news broke of legal charges filed against Cardinal Pell, formerly archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne, but for the last three years has been in the Vatican dealing with its finances. During his time away from Australia there appears to have been multiple complaints lodged against the Cardinal of “historical sexual offences” but so far it is unclear just what offences he has been charged with.
The Cardinal claims that he is innocent and looks forward to clearing his name in court on 18th July. As we know from the Irish experience of these cases it is difficult to hold to the adage “innocent till proved guilty”, the one charged finding himself on the defensive.

Sexual offences of varying severity are probably quite widely experienced and, if my own case is anything to go by, seldom spoken about. It was in my early teenage years that the offences occurred and they were of a minor nature.
We kept around 100 hens and one of my tasks was to provide them with chaff during the winter months when they were kept indoors in the deep litter shed.
The chaff (empty husks after the ear of oats has been threshed) was obtained from underneath the mill which was housed in a building on our neighbours farm. I would fill anything up to 14 sacks on a Saturday transporting them, two at a time, on my bicycle the 5-minute journey to the hen shed.
There were three sons on the farm but it was always the eldest one who would come to ‘help’ me gather the chaff. His advances were fairly easily repelled but he had the advantage of size and age. It was a bit like a cat and mouse game with the mouse frequently escaping!
Looking back over the years I recall that his father, the farmer, often came to the mill and I wonder if he had a suspicion about his son’s behaviour? Nothing was ever said about the incidents, which in fact were very few, but I certainly knew in my mind that this was a sexually warped person.

Why did I never speak about it? It is hard to analyse but perhaps not having reported it immediately to my parents I felt somehow complicity with what was going on.
It has given me a greater understanding as to why there seems to be an extraordinary long time between alleged offences and their being reported.

Jesus didn’t have much time for people who took advantage of their position to abuse believers under their authority (St Matthew Chapter 18 verse 6).
For the repentant who confesses his sins there is forgiveness (St Luke Chapter 24 verse 47).

St Paul wrote “Jesus came into the world to save sinners” and added that he was the foremost (1 Timothy Chapter 1 verses 15-17).
St Paul was probably implying that if he could be saved then there was hope for everyone. By God’s grace he could say that Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to us who believe, or are in the process of coming to faith in Jesus, for eternal life.

Then in a typical Pauline outburst which I can echo he adds “To the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever.” Amen.