Getting into the Swing                    Word on the Week              1^st June 2019.

I invariably find it difficult to select a topic for the weekly blog.   It’s not the shortage of material that is the problem but the volume!   So much happens in a week and, believe it or not, the Bible always has a view which could be expressed.     In this case, an insignificant incident, given the oxygen of publicity, has seriously damage a political career.

Normally in this life what you loose on the swings you can regain on the roundabouts but, alas for Maria Bailey, the roundabout is not working.    In fact, Maria in her various media interviews this week, has fared badly on the swings also!    So who is this Maria?

Maria Bailey is an Irish Fine Gael politician for the Dún Laoghaire constituency who was appointed Chair of the Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government; a seat which she is in danger of losing.    It’s not the only chair where she has found it difficult to hold onto her seat.   Her best known was when she fell off a swing near a hotel bar when she was holding a bottle in each hand.    Her case against the hotel, which goes back to July 2017, claimed she couldn’t run after the accident.    However, within three weeks of the incident she won a 10 km race in the same time which she clocked up in the same race the previous year.   

Details from her claim to the Circuit Court (where the maximum award is €60,000) were published last week, causing significant embarrassment for her Government. The latter are on a crusade to drive down insurance personal injury claims in the run-up to elections.   

In order to get to the bottom of the matter the Taoiseach has called for a report.    This being the usual tactic by government when things become uncomfortable.   Her case against the hotel has now been withdrawn.

Perhaps the biggest swing in Scripture was in public opinion.     One day the Jerusalem crowd were hailing Jesus as the Messiah and spreading their cloaks before him, the next they were calling for his crucifixion (St Matthew chapter 21 verse 9).    The swing could not have been greater.     The fickleness of the mob, so easily influenced by the Chief Priests and the Elders and blinded by a blood lust for a crucifixion.     They even preferred the release of a notorious criminal and took the guilt of Christ’s upon themselves and their children (St Matthew Chapter 27 verses 22 to 26).

With the benefit of hindsight, we see through Joseph’s eyes, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis Chapter 50 verse 20).    And that salvation commenced at Pentecost has continued to draw people into the Kingdom to this day.

“What are you like”             Word on the Week                          25^th May 2019

The phrase can have either an exclamation or a question mark.   An exclamation at something you have done or a question of where you come from.    The Bible says: – Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens anover the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creep on the earth.”    So God created man in his own image, the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them (Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26/7).

It is plain that we come from God’s creation.   We were made in his image to be creative beings living in a love relationship to each other modelling the Trinity.  

Since the fall the image has been marred but in Jesus we see it as it should be.  “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians Chapter 1 verse 15a).

When on earth Jesus told a story concerning images.   It arose out of a plan to trap him with a question.   No one likes to pay taxes so the Pharisees seized an opportunity to gain popularity over Jesus by asking him whether or not it was right to pay taxes to the Roman occupying powers?    If he answered in the affirmative, he was in trouble with his followers but if he answered negatively he was in trouble with the Roman authorities!

Jesus did neither but asked for the coin used in paying tax.   He then asked them whose image was on the coin.   It was Caesar’s.   “Therefore give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” was Jesus reply (St Matthew Chapter 22 verses 15/22).

The answer confounded his enemies who gave up their questioning.  

His followers may have thought more deeply into “give to God the things that are God’s”.   

To be human is to bear the image of God.   We are his by creation.   We come from God.   We bear the divine image.    The secular view with its evolutionary overtones parodied by Gilbert and Sullivan

“Darwinian man, though well behaved,

At best is only a monkey shaved”, –  sees us as animals.

We then begin to see the value system being skewed in favour of the fittest at the expense of the elderly, chronically sick or the baby in the womb.

It all depends on whether we are in God’s image and therefore of infinite value or go down the secular path with its diminished value system.

“What are you like!”   The Bible says we are sinners.   Not because we have sinned but that is our fallen nature (Romans chapter 5 verse 12).   But by God’s grace and the work of Jesus as our sin-bearer on the cross everyone who turns to Jesus believing that “He died in my place” will be saved.

Putting your faith in the risen Jesus brings you into the family of God where you can become a living image-bearer of our risen Saviour.

Thy Kingdom Come                         Word on the Week                   18^th May 2019.

It is the first time Jesus was asked by his followers to teach prayer so what he asked for should be of primary importance.    Like others they got it wrong.   They thought ‘kingdom equals territory’ – and much of our debate is slanted in that direction today.   Whether in Ireland or the UK the conflicts comes down to turf.  The notion that God owns the land is seldom heard.

The greater mistake however lies in the substitution of the personal pronoun ‘My’ for the original ‘Thy’!    It is ‘my kingdom’ that we want to come – and the quicker the better!    Selfishness has always afflicted humankind but this generation has raised it to new heights.    It is seen in the lack of consideration of the rights of the infant in the womb in favour of the mother in abortion.     

There is the deliberate confusion of our God-given identity in same-sex marriage and transgender experimentation.   Those who oppose these things are said to have a phobia.    There is a systematic move to dismantle Christian values and replace them with what Scripture prohibits (Romans Chapter 1 verses 18 to 32).

So what was Jesus speaking about when he used the word ‘kingdom’ (St Matthew Chapters 3 verse 2 and 4 verse 17)?   It is where king Jesus rules.   It could be as near you as in your heart, your family, your church, your workplace, your town and on and on into the glories of heaven (St Luke Chapter 17 verse 21 to 22 verse 16).     

Jesus the ruler, rules by the word; “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world…Thy word is truth” (St John Chapter 17 verses 14 and 17).    It is this truth that sanctifies us, sets us apart for the Lord ‘s business.

To pray that the Kingdom comes is, for the believer, a present possession.    The ‘not yet believer’ requires the born-again experience.   It involves repentance for past sins and the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith to enter the Kingdom (St John Chapter 3 verses 3 to 5).    This will come by a turning away from sin and a simple prayer of faith to Jesus.

Lastly there is future inheritance in the final coming of the Kingdom.   “I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.  And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation Chapter 12 verses 10 to 11).  

May “Thy Kingdom Come” soon.     

The Saviour died, and rose again

triumphant o’er the grave;

and pleads our cause at God’s right hand,

omnipotent to save.

This verse takes the reader through ‘dead man’s cross and live man’s tomb’ and onwards and upwards to Christ’s heavenly session and present redeeming work.

The first two lines, ‘The Saviour died, and rose again; triumphant o’er the grave’

are what St Paul’s declares to be of the utmost importance in 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 verses 3 and 4: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

The second two lines, “and pleads our cause at God’s right hand, omnipotent to save,” deal with the Lord Jesus Christ’s present work at the right hand of the Majesty.   This is referred to in Psalm 110 verse 1, “The LORD says to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”   This is quoted by the writer to the Hebrews in Chapter 1 when the triumphant Christ, now seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (verse 3) has an authority which exceeds that of angels (Verse 13).

The fact of Christ being seated indicates that the work of redemption has been completed.  What continues is the filling out of salvation by the distribution of gifts to the people of God- “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?  He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is at the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians Chapter 4 verses 9 to 16).   i.e. a people who love!

Notice – there are no black holes in God’s economy!

It is many years since the peace loving Basking Shark came to mind but there in today’s newspaper the species gets two whole columns to itself.   What prompted the article was not their presence but their relative absence from our waters.

In the middle of the 20^th century they were to be seen off the Aberdeenshire coast.   At that time, I was involved in line fishing approx. 6 miles off-shore opposite a line of rock known as the Scars of Cruden.   During the summer holidays we could go fishing in a 24 foot half decked ‘Yole’ (a sailing boat converted to diesel with a twin cylinder engine).   My neighbour, the boat owner, his two sons and myself were the crew.

In those days, before purse netting, the fishing was good and inshore fishermen could make a living.   They operated out of small coastal villages, each with its harbour and small ‘fleet’ of boats.    The lines were 500 metres long and they had hooks at metre intervals.    These were usually baited with lugworm and set just before the turn of the tide.    The fish feed mainly during the half hour of slack water so lifting the line took place after this period of ‘tiding’. 

It was then when we had time to observe things that we would see the fin of a basking shark.   They were different from the porpoise whose fin described a cart wheel, the shark’s fin was a small triangle.   If there was a shoal, we would sustain some line damage – perhaps 6 consecutive hooks (presumably with their fish) would be missing.     The Basking Shark supposedly eat only plankton but I expect many things are scooped up by its wide mouth!

The most exciting times were when we were finished fishing and heading home.   We would occasionally be accompanied, for a short time, by a few of these fish.   They were not the 33 foot monsters that they get on the West coast but as they swam parallel to the boat, but 6 feet below us, they measured the length of the boat.   Fortunately, none were sufficiently curious to take a closer look!

This was our Leviathan.   Always representing a powerful monster that conquers man but can be handled by God.   “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?   Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?” (Job Chapter 41 verses 1 and 2).   “In that day the LORD with his fierce and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, he will slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Isaiah Chapter 27 verse 1).   

The only other power like it on earth is inside us.   And the only One who can handle it is the Lord –  Hear St Paul “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans Chapter 7 verses 21 to 24).

The March 29^th deadline for the UK leaving the EU has passed.   Eight separate votes were taken in the UK parliament this week, each motion exploring an alternative to the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal.   All failed.  Then the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal was voted on for the third time and it also failed, by 58 votes.

No one can accuse the UK of not being democratic!  

The missed deadline has been moved to 12^th April with the consent of the EU. 

As previously the Irish Border presents an impossible problem for those Brexiteers wishing to leave the European Customs Union behind.   Remaining in the Customs Union would remove the need for a border but is a bridge Brexiteers will not cross.

One Brexiteer asked the question, “What is liberty for if not to govern ourselves?” 

It is a good question but approx. 44 years too late!   He did not appreciate his Prime Minister giving him the very limited choice of her deal or no deal!    Even the Prime Minister’s offer to resign after her deal is passed failed to carry any impact.

With her ‘Brexit means Brexit’ slogan she allowed leaving to be defined in the hardest possible terms. She activated article 50 (giving a time line of two years to exit date) without knowing what she wanted. She set down red lines that locked Westminster into a deal that her party opposed.  She did not show any flexibility in creating a cross party consensus in the British national interest.   Instead she hoped to ‘run down the clock’ using the pressure of a deadline to get her deal passed.

Of course the numbers were against her from the start.   Reliance on other parties to vote for you is always problematical and without them she did not have a majority.

Did you ever ask yourself why things seem to be stacked against you?   It’s not God’s redemptive plan that is in difficulty but life in this old broken world is designed to remind us that we are not in heaven yet.

Don’t expect things to go right.   Our frustrations are there for a purpose.  They call us back from relying on ourselves to dependency on the living God (Romans Chapter 8 verses 18/21).   Flowers wither, food spoils, things decay.   God lets pieces of his creation go against us so increasingly we are freed from asking earth to give us what only He can give (1 Peter Chapter 1 verses 3/9).

By God’s grace he ages our bodies also so that we may be weaned from the notion that this is our home.    This world will never function right until the Lord returns and in the meantime we are to “live out our time here as foreigners in reverent fear” … “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot “(1 Peter 1 verses 18/19).  

Lent is the period of 40 days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending at Easter. It has traditionally been seen as a time of repentance and a more frugal lifestyle. The Ash is a reminder of “from dust you have come and to dust you will return” (Genesis Chapter 3 verse 19). Ash depicts our own morality and spiritual condition.
I had not been I Ireland very long when at a business lunch during lent the host bemoaned the fact that he was ‘off the drink’ for lent. He then realised that I was ‘off the drink’ for life’ and reckoned he had not so bad a religion after all!
While we may smile at the inconsistency the origins of Lent lie in Jesus, as part of his spiritual preparation, going into the wilderness and fasting for 40 days and 40 nights (St Matthew Chapter 4 verses 1 to 11). The culmination of Lent is the celebration of Easter with the empty tomb of Jesus and the triumphant shout “He has risen” (St Matthew Chapter 28 verse 6).
There should be no outward show. The practice of the ultra-religious is to be avoided. “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity” (Joel Chapter 2 verses 12 and 13).
There are places in the world where calamity hits the church. One of these is in China where, after a period of toleration, Christians and other faiths are being persecuted. One church which has suffered is the Early Rain Covenant Church in the province of Chengdu, China. Their leaders have been imprisoned for their faith and their congregations are subjected to increasing harassment. The church members have been arrested in their homes, workplaces or on the streets in a series of coordinated raids.
In these circumstances the practice of Lent is over-taken by a faith which exists in the hearts of the people of God and which triumphs in adversity. Part of one of their prayers which is reproduced here gives a flavour of their circumstances: –
“Lord, today we worship you in police cars
We worship you in police stations.
We worship you in detention centres.
We worship you in prisons.
And we worship you in homes.
We have no other goal but to worship you alone.”
Perhaps during this Lenten period, we could remember what the writer to the Hebrews said
Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering (Chapter 13 verse 3).

Ireland is reputed to have 40 shades of green in its fields and forests. On the patron Saint Patrick’s day, the 17th March, this transforms into the greening of 450 landmarks around the world. Not a bad showing for a relatively obscure figure who lived around 390/461AD.
History has not always been kind to the Irish. Occupied for the last 800 years by the English there were a number of risings against the oppressor. The ringleaders of these failed rebellions were occasionally sent into exile in various parts of the world.
It seems that “the further away the better” was the judicial line when sentencing and Irish men and women settled in places as far afield as Australia.
In addition, famine in Ireland in the mid 1800’s created mass immigration. This time America was the place where they went to carve out a new life. This established a population of some 50 million who claim to be descended from Irish stock. So successful have they been in making their mark on their country of adoption that a number of President’s claim forebears who have roots in Ireland.
Immigrants the world over bring their customs and festivals with them. As a result, Patrick’s day has been established in the calendars of many countries. This has provided our marketing people with ready-made access to leaders in many countries and gained priceless publicity. The icing on the cake must be the annual presentation of a bowl of shamrock by our Taoiseach to the President of the United States.
This humble weed owes its eminence to St Patrick. He is reputed to have used it as a visual aid to explain the Trinity. With the small green plant, a three leafed clover, Patrick showed the separate leaves yet one stem to reflect God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The three in one. The illustration only goes so far as it cannot emulate the personal relationship of the Godhead with each other.
As a symbol it indicates falsely that each member of the trinity is one third of God. In fact, each is total God yet not so as to produce three gods but acting in unity of purpose each carries out his own distinctive role.
This is best seen in the salvation of a sinner. The Father planned salvation, the Son accomplished Salvation and the Spirit applied salvation to the repentant sinner. The means by which the sinner receives salvation is faith. This faith is the gift of God to all who seek it (Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 – 9).
All this is by God’s grace, that is His giving to us what we do not deserve nor could we ever earn. By his grace He makes Saints out of sinners like Patrick and me!

It has been a bad week for the billionaire, Dennis O’Brien. Two court cases went against him. Both cases had involved the revealing in public what he considered his private affairs. One was to do with his money the other his reputation. The courts thought otherwise.
The problem of being rich and famous is that you apparently cannot choose what elements of your affairs can be made public and what can remain concealed. It matters not if you choose to spend some money on good causes, if how you earned the money in the first place will not stand up to public scrutiny.
Some countries, Norway for instance, publish all the tax returns. They are accessible to anyone with a computer. This degree of transparency might send the shivers down our back but in an equitable society perhaps it’s a goal worth working towards.
In the meantime, we prise open details of “public figures” using the freedom of speech permitted in the Dial and the reporting of investigative journalists. The latter must tread a fine line between revealing confidential information and serving the public interest. This is an area where reputations, usually of those being reported on and occasionally the journalist, become tarnished.
Jesus spoke about lighting a lamp to dispel the darkness. But it did more than that; it revealed what had been hidden. “The secrets will be exposed and seen by all.” No doubt the judgement was in view but during this Gospel era the Gospel exposes the secret things (St Luke Chapter 8 verses 16 to 18). There is also listening involved. It is like the Psalmist’s comment ‘The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130).

In proclaiming the Gospel to the church at Corinth St Paul combines both word and light to pierce the darkness.
“God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”
(2 Corinthians Chapter 4 verse 6).

And with that light in our hearts we need have no anxieties about who sees our bank account or who might damage our reputation. By the grace of God and the faith He has given us in the work of Jesus Christ we may live our life here in the knowledge of His glory.

It has been called my pet aversion. It disfigured the wooded landscape as far as eye can see. It wraps itself around the tree covering up its beautiful bark. It grows so profusely that it could be a candidate for the National emblem!
After all it is much easier to find than shamrock but perhaps a bowl of ivy wouldn’t go down as well as shamrock on the annual St Patrick’s Day presentation at the White House! It does manage to achieve fame in songs and Christmas Cards where it is usually joined to holly.
Equally at home on the ground as in climbing trees, walls and any building it can reach, this Hedera helix or common ivy is everywhere. No self-respecting cow will touch it although sheep value it for its medicinal properties. There is a song which declares “little lambs eat ivy” but I have yet to see it happen!
Situated in the Atlantic Ocean the Island of Ireland is prone to gales. When these occur ivy bound trees produce considerable wind resistance, the ivy growth acting like a sail. Ash trees, which are last in Spring to grow their leaves and first in Autumn to lose them, would present little wind resistance in a gale were it not for the ivy which festoons them. The result is road closures from fallen trees with the added complication of electricity and telephone wires being brought down.
When it comes to sawing the fallen timber much of it is encased in ivy is useless or requires a day’s work clearing and disposing of the ivy. Some would argue that it provides a good host for insects but there are plenty of places where ivy grows that could provide shelter for them without resorting to trees.
It is this clinging feature about the ivy that makes it so like sin. It looks good yet if left unchecked will completely entangle its victim. It continues to grow, disfiguring the tree and rendering it of little use. It finally brings it crashing down.
As St James wrote of this progressive factor: – “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Chapter 1 verses 14/15).
And the answer; Jesus said, you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life (St John Chapter 5 verse 40).
Go to Jesus.