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.

In a week that has seen turmoil in places as distant as Venezuela and as near as the House of Commons in London it was a relief to see the orderly assembly of Cardinals and Bishops in Rome. All seemed to be under control. The chain of authority is understood.
In Venezuela there is a dictator in control. In London there is democracy hobbled by a strict interpretation of the people’s choice. In Rome there is no shortage of understanding of the problems of sexual abuse, the difficulty lies in implementing a solution which does justice to all those involved.

In each case difficult decisions are required. Usually people know what these decisions are, the problem is in their implementation! And it is at this point that ‘Authority’ comes into play. Who has it? Have they still got it? What is he/she going to do with it?
In most cases they do nothing – or rather continue to do what they have done in the past with some cosmetic alterations. But these situations will not wait any longer.

This abdication of authority is so unlike the One who gave it. “The powers that be are ordained by God” (Romans Chapter 13 verse 1). With the authority, God has given a manual – the Bible. It’s when a Leader, Nation or Church drifts away from the manual that difficulties occur.
The old negro spiritual, referring to Jesus, puts it well.
‘There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.’
In the Old Testament times there was no balm in Gilead. Only a remote Jehovah reflecting the situation we find ourselves in today. Then, with the coming of Jesus, healing now became a reality (Jeremiah Chapter 8 verse 22 and St Luke Chapter 17 verses 11 to 19). St Luke told the story of the healing of the ten lepers in the land of Gilead. It is told in the context of outcasts, cultural control, and nationalism all elements found in our present circumstances.
The risen Jesus used his authority to empower his disciples to make more disciples teaching them, amongst other things, to heal the guilty conscience by the forgiveness of sins (St Luke Chapter 24 verse 47).
For the wounded to be made whole there may need to be restitution St Luke Chapter 19 verse 8). Where this is not possible as in abuse cases where the law of the land has been broken, justice has to be done (Romans Chapter 13 verses 3 to 4).

Let us pray for the right exercising of authority by those who have been given it.

Perhaps the most common question asked among those of a certain age is “How’s the health?” With the older half of the population on blood thinners, stents and pace-makers the conversation flows into what the author Maeve Binchy described with delightful ambiguity as an “Organ Recital”!
The fact is, as the Psalmist puts it, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, God. That, my soul knows full well” (Psalm 139 verse 14). The expanding industry of spare part surgery testifies to the fact that we are not only well made but capable of undergoing the most complicated repairs!
Modern man maintains that we are simply sophisticated animals but this is not so. The creation of man was different. Genesis Chapter 2 verse 7 states “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature”. This was a creature like no other. In addition to physical and mental properties man had a spiritual dimension which made him unique.
This uniqueness is further explained by the fact of man and woman being made in the image of God. God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27). This special relationship is made plain in Christian marriage.
St Paul takes this special relationship in marriage and uses it to illustrate Christ’s relationship to his church. “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, (Ephesians Chapter 5 verses 28 to 29). It is this illustration that demonstrated the image of God which is most perfectly seen in man and wife in marriage. It’s this special relationship between man and wife that best resembles (images) our relational triune God.
So mankind is different from animals. It is wrong for the recent poster campaign to state that killing calves is murder. Murder in scripture is used exclusively for the unlawful killing of humans. Adam (and his descendants) have been made stewards over creation “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…” (Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28).
There is one part of our anatomy that resists instruction and is inclined towards sin – the heart. Jeremiah summed it up when he wrote “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (chapter 17 verse 9). He later was able to write more encouragingly of God taking the initiative of a new day when instead of writing the law on stone God would write it on human hearts “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Chapter 31 verse 33).
Titus 2:11 says it’s both here and not yet– “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ…
God has done his part. Our part is to have faith in God the master surgeon!

In previous blogs we have looked at the connections Dublin has with St Valentine but now as we anticipate the anonymous Valentine card with its ‘guess who’ in disguised handwriting let’s have a closer look at this thing called love.

Some call it chemistry that attracts one to another and certainly that could account for the occasional explosion! My own preference would be to call it magnetism where you get like poles repelling and unlike poles attracting each other. It would explain the glorious absurdity of the attraction of opposites, so that we don’t end up loving a carbon copy of ourselves.

Many things in life trigger a response but none are more life-changing than this thing called love. It has been said with a great deal of truth that ‘love begets love’. It is the completing of the circuit so that current may flow and light up two lives. It was there at the creation of the world, ‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness’. We might say this created light was earthed in Jesus as St John wrote in the prologue to his Gospel, ‘The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world’ (Chapter 1 verse 9).

Love arrived in the tangible form of the Son of God. St Paul writing to the church at Corinth explains how the Lord has opened the eyes of believers to make the connection with Christ, ‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ’ (2 Corinthians Chapter 4 verse 6).

So if the light of God is the conduit through which we see the love of God we could expect St John to mention it and this he does in his 1st letter. “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin’ (Chapter 1 verses 5 to 7).

It only remains for St John to spell out his definition of love and illustrate it which he does in Chapter 4 verse 10 – ‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins’. The hymn-writer puts it well –
Inscribed upon that cross we see
In shining letters “God is Love.”
He bears our sins upon the tree,
He brings us mercy from above.
And that is the measure of the love with which He loves us and from which we may find the strength to love one another.

The 2nd of February, traditionally called Candlemas Day, is located mid way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. It has long been associated with forecasting the weather as the Old Folk’s poem relates: –
If Candlemas Day be dry and fair
The half o’ the Winter’s to come and mair
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul
The half o’ the Winter’s gone at yule.
Today as we bask in winter sunshine it looks ominous! We have more than half of the Winter to come! Not that such considerations will impact on the crowds gathering at the Aviva Stadium to witness the gargantuan struggle on the rugby field between England and Ireland.
What takes place on the pitch in the combat between two nations comes at a time when the Brexit battle is reaching a climax. The conditions the UK have agreed with Brussels for leaving the EC have just one piece missing – that of the Irish backstop.

No I am not referring to the Irish full-back Robbie Henshaw, although he may well earn that title today! It is the earlier agreement to have no border checks between North and South of Ireland. This part of the withdrawl agreement the UK have reneged upon this week providing Ireland with yet more incentive to put their Rugby Team to the sword on the fields of Aviva!

Both teams have their anthems which are sung by their fans to provide encouragement during the game. The English side gain inspiration from a song about death! “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is a spiritual – a type of song created by African people enslaved in the US. It has a haunting melody as it depicts a chariot swing down and collecting the singers to take them home. I expect some if not all of the team may wish to be taken home if today’s game goes the way it is expected!

The Irish anthem is even more haunting as the heart wrenching strains of “The Fields of Athenry” a song full of anti-English sentiment, floats over the field. It depicts a young man, having stolen corn during the famine to keep his family alive, being deported to Botany Bay in Australia. He leaves behind the girl he loves and their child to fend for themselves.
Interestingly both songs were written in the recent past. Both deal with the human struggle. We need to take St Paul’s advice when he says we need Christ.
“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians Chapter 6 verses 10 to 12). As the old hymn tells it; “The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own”.