With the summer sun comes the attraction of a swim in a nice cool pond. Unfortunately for two lads this week their choice of a flooded quarry proved, for them, to be fatal. Tragically for these 15 year olds help came too late.
There was the temptation to swim across to the other side of the abandoned quarry, a feat which the boys thought they could accomplish with all the energy of youth to drive them. It appears that when the first got into difficulties the second boy went to his aid and both were drowned.
Fresh water lacks the buoyancy of salt water which can be an asset when it comes to an emergency. The normal thing is to roll onto your back and float. This is easier in the sea than in a pond. It becomes especially difficult if the person gets cramp. Rescue by another is difficult as a degree of panic sets in and the simplest instructions can be easily ignored.
This incident brought to mind the drowning of Isobel Keith. A number of us went swimming in the sea near the Ythan estuary in Scotland. We were told to go beyond the Salmon nets, along the coast, which would take us away from the influence of the river’s flow. It may be that the nets had been moved nearer the estuary (there was always some dispute between the anglers on the river and the netters who wanted their salmon nets to be as close as possible to the river where the catch would be much larger) but all I can recall was a strong current. This was aided by an off-shore wind which carried the shouts of my cousin away from me. I was the youngest and had a tyre tube to play with at the water’s edge. It was this tube that my cousin wanted to assist Isobel who was in difficulties. Despite his best efforts Isobel was panicking and unable to hold onto the tube. She was swept out to sea and drowned.
A healthy respect for water is required. This was not evident in the abandoned quarry as two people were seen swimming in the same area shortly after the lads were drowned and this despite the fire engines, helicopter and divers in the vicinity. There were also notices prohibiting swimming!
The speed at which it all happens and the irrevocable results of the drowning are indelibly etched on the mind. There is the parent’s grief at the loss – both boys were only sons. As far as I can recall Isobel’s mother was a widow. I remember my Aunt taking the bad news to her and the gloom that settles over the community as soon as the tragedy becomes known.
There is a similar incident recorder by St Luke when Jesus had compassion on the widow of Nain when Jesus brought the dead boy back from the dead and using the same words as Elijah uttered in a similar incident gave the boy back to his mother (St Luke Chapter 7 verses 11 to 17 and 1 Kings chapter 17 verses 19 to24). The gloom turned to joy as the people recognised the God had visited his people.
The other case is where the Father in an Abrahamic like sign offers his only son up as a sacrifice on the Cross for sinners that all may have hope even in heart-breaking grief. (Genesis Chapter 22 verses 1 to 18 and Romans Chapter 5 verse 8).

The people have given a clear mandate to government to proceed with the legislation to introduce termination of pregnancy to Ireland. So away with the badges and down with the posters! We are now entering a new landscape where the majority of people believe that a woman has a right to an abortion on demand.
This right is part of the new moral authority. I was reminded this week that it includes Gay rights. We added Same Sex Marriage and now Abortion. For some these have been introduced at a snail’s pace; for others the pace has been breath-taking. Have we reached the end of the line? Not at all! This century has seen the removal of so many ethical boundaries that there must be a temptation to remove the lot!

Perhaps on this day of jubilation for women, who see their quest granted for control of the unborn in the womb, we might spare a thought for the child. The weakest in society always have difficulty being heard but were given a voice in this campaign. Unfortunately, it was not amplified by the media although there was some attempt at even-handedness.
The government have said that they want to see abortion become “rare”. This laudable desire has not yet happened in the Western world but they are to be commended on their wish. They must have faith in women not having so many crisis pregnancies in the future.
This is a possibility as we now have a pill for everything except salvation!

Some have recognised that the inclination of every sinful human heart is to find its security and salvation in something apart from Christ. If only pills, therapy, or a surgical procedure could fix our problems then we would not have to deal with the reality of our sins. Our tendency is to try everything else rather that trusting Christ. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life no man comes to the Father but by me” (St John Chapter 14 verse 6).
He accomplished on the cross the salvation so many are looking for today. It offers that peace of mind which comes from the forgiveness of sins and the promise of his presence in the life surrendered to him. As the Rev. Jonathan Edwards reminded us that, “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

This is not a call to be more moral. I am not saying that by the right behaviour you can be saved. Salvation is the gift of a gracious God to the repentant person (Ephesians Chapter 2 verses 8/10). Behavioural changes flow to those who receive the gift.
In the light of this enormous truth, whether or not the result of the Referendum makes you happy or sad pales into insignificance.

As we move into the last week before the Referendum to repeal the 8th amendment to our Constitution, clearing the way for the introduction of a law on abortion, various things are becoming obvious.
Healthcare has become selective. It is to be denied to the unborn child at the mother’s choice. It is enshrined in the slogan “My body my choice”. The unborn baby has no choice!
The unplanned pregnancy has become the crisis pregnancy but no-one asks who created the crisis. Babies are not created without “choice”!
To create legislation to cater for the result of what the Bible terms ‘sexual immorality’ may seem to be a good thing i.e. it helps to clean up the mess – until you realise it sets a new norm for society. The bar is lowered to accommodate what Scripture censures.
For the believer who has the Holy Spirit within him or her the pollution is clear. The practical advice is “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians Chapter 6 verse 18). This despair need not be permanent. There is a way back through the provision of God’s mercy in providing a Saviour suited to our prodigal needs (St Luke chapter 15 verse 21).
But we live in a hedonist age where instant gratification trumps responsibility. It was for a good reason that the Taoiseach was concerned to pitch the date of the Referendum in university term time to garner the student vote which would favour his introduction of abortion. The current preference for secular humanism was also present in “Sodom…which indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

So what about ‘Healthcare in 2018’? Previously there was Physical health and Mental health. Now, following the UK, we have done away with the distinction which facilitates doctors prescribing abortion. In the UK where they have had many years’ experience of operating the system 98% of abortions come under this conglomerate health reason. In other words, ‘abortion on demand’ and the doctors, in most cases contrary to their Hippocratic Oath, do the killing of the infant in the womb.
No animal behaves in this manner! Sometimes a male swan will kill a cygnet in some bewilderment as to who is in the nest. But nothing comes near man’s premeditated killing of an innocent human life. The tragedy is that those who have had an abortion tend to go on to have others. It then becomes a last ditch form of contraception.
We have no reason to believe that God will answer our prayers for the retention of the 8th amendment. As a country we have turned our back on Him and certainly do not deserve to be heard. But in repentance and faith in Jesus we ask that whatever happens the outcome might be to His glory.

Just as it is the victors who write their biased view of history so it is that it is the Government allied to the media that produce their biased script for the referendum.

The word ‘repeal’ has become something of a mantra in the hands of those seeking to introduce abortion. ‘Repeal the 8th’ trips easily off the tongue but it is only part of the story. Their repeal not only involves the 8th amendment but the 13th (Right to Travel) and 14th (Right to Abortion Information). These came about as a result of the X Case where a young girl, who was claimed to be suicidal, had been prevented from having an abortion in Ireland. This was then catered for in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. It
made provisions for the finding of the court in the X Case, allowing abortion where the life of the woman was at risk, including a risk of suicide.
These changes permitted abortions in the ‘hard cases’ where medical intervention is required to safeguard the health of the mother. But what of the unborn child. What steps have out Government taken to attend to the child’s welfare? They had the Supreme Court comb the Constitution to see if the unborn child might have any other rights (other than the right to life) and when the answer was negative proceeded to produce this Referendum which attempts to remove from the unborn baby its right to life. So much for Pádraig Pearse’s declaration of the new nation’s resolve to cherish all its children equally!

Just as the word ‘abortion’ has been sanitised and has lost something of the horror which always attends that sad and bloody event so has the ballot paper been shed of any distracting text. We are to be asked a plain ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to approve or not to approve the 36th amendment. But even the sanitised ‘abortion’ word does not make it on to the paper.
We are being asked simply to do our duty and vote ‘yes’ so that the Government can deal with the rights of the mother and her unborn baby without having to trouble us again!
The only answer to all this is a resounding ‘NO’.
Of course the Government is not as insensitive as all that. They have been educated into believing that the child in the womb only becomes human after a certain period. About the length of this period there is a great deal of uncertainty but without any other terms of reference to guide them 12 weeks will do. The fact that science says that all the DNA is present at conception will just have to be ignored. After all humankind is more than a clump of cells!
Of course the Bible agrees with science! David the Psalmist recognised his sin and in psalm 51 we have his repentance. Without mitigating in any his own guilt he saw that he, like the rest of us, had inherited the sin of Adam. This did not happen after a certain period in the womb, and not after 12 weeks, but he writes “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”. David reckoned that he was present in the womb from conception. He also was given to understand that he, and we all, are a creative work of God. He writes in Psalm 139 verses 13/14 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

So what is all the fuss about? We have a tiny percentage of the female population who are pregnant and wish they were not. Surely the charitable thing is to assist both mother and the child to delivery when a decision for the child’s future can be made. The current offer of legally killing the child is not a Christian solution. Vote NO.

The rhythms of nature play out their familiar but often overlooked tune, “While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” Genesis Chapter 8 verse 22). By this promise we can be sure the sun will rise tomorrow, not because of the balance of probabilities but because we have a faithful God who is true to his word.
Our friends the House Martins arrived a couple of days ago and promptly started nest-building. The crumbling remains of last year’s nest were removed and fresh mud applied to the nest site. The Martin’s were out-flown by a couple of swallows who arrived in the yard before them. Until quite recently we called them all swallows – they fly so fast we couldn’t tell the difference. But now having recognised the distinctive markings we find it hard to understand how we could have thought they were all the same.
Along with the birds come the weeds and thorns, those emblems of the curse that make life on earth difficult and gardening such a chore (Genesis Chapter 3 verse 17/19). St Paul recognised the full extent of Adam’s sin and sees the curse as subjecting the creation to futility (Romans Chapter 8 verses 18/21).

But there are more distinctive markings in the Bible concerning God’s curse. It was made visible when a murderer was first executed then hung on a tree until sundown in demonstration of God’s disapproval of the criminal’s sin (Deuteronomy Chapter 21 verses 22/23). In the same way the whole of God’s law pronounced God’s curse on anyone who broke any part of it (Chapter 27 verse 26).

Come now to Calvary and look with fresh eyes at our suffering Saviour. The law had become a curse for those who rely on it to save them, because none could keep it – that is except Christ. By his death he redeemed us from its curse becoming himself a curse in our place (Galatians Chapter 3 verse 13).

And finally he took Adam’s curse on the ground with its emblem of thorns placed on his head so that when the number of the redeemed is complete the new creation will become a reality (Romans Chapter 8 verse 23).

The next time we look at a crucifix we will see Christ through new eyes. His sufferings which formerly made us feel sad now are full of meaning. We now see how God can freely pardon all who admit to their guilt, turn from it and put their trust in Jesus.

Distinguishing between Swallows and Martins opens up the avian world a bit more.
Distinguishing between a dead Christ and a Saviour who has cleared the way to God opens up the possibility of personally recognising Him as my Redeemer and Lord.

This week St Laurence O’Toole’s heart was recovered from the Phoenix Park in Dublin where it appears to have been hidden since it was stolen in 2012. The event brought jubilation to many especially those of Christ Church Cathedral who received it back gratefully from the Garda on Thursday.
When the heart was taken two candles were lit and placed on the Trinity altar, presumably by the thief. This would seem to imply that the thief was endeavouring to focus attention away from the Saint and onto the Trinity!
What do we know about O’Toole? He was born in Castledermot, Co Kildare, in 1128 and appointed Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough in 1162. He began a policy of Church building and laid the foundation stone of Christ Church Cathedral.
To assist in the spiritual teaching of priests and people of the Diocese he invited the Augustinian monks to become part of the Cathedral Chapter. Later he travelled in Europe and became an Augustinian. In an interesting act of penance each Spring he returned to Glendalough, in Co Wicklow, where for the 40 days of lent he lived in St Kevin’s Cell, a cave situated above the waters of the loch.
He is the patron saint of Dublin.
He died in November 1180 in Normandy, France, and was canonised in 1225 because of miracles said to have happened at his tomb. His bones were placed in a church in Chorley, England until they were destroyed at the reformation. His heart is encased in lead and set in a wooden frame which was placed in a steel cage. The bars of the cage received some damage when it was stolen. It is planned to be restored and returned to the cathedral for his Feast day on 14th November.
Relics are quite common in other religions such as Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Shamanism. In Christianity they are mainly to be found in Roman Catholic rather than Reformed churches. Calvin, the theologian of the Reformation, said there were enough pieces of wood in churches, allegedly taken from the cross, to build a ship!
When there was signs of rebellion in the Israeli camp, God told Moses to erect to a pole with a bronze serpent. The Israelites who looked in faith towards it believing they would be saved from dying from the bites of the “fiery serpents”. These God had sent to punish them for speaking against Moses (Numbers 21:4-9). This pole, perhaps the nearest thing to a relic in the Bible, was carried around by the Israelites becoming an object of worship until Hezekiah had it destroyed (2 Kings Chapter 18 verse 4).
Jesus used it as an illustration of his approaching death. He likened his being raised up on the cross as a sin offering to the serpent’s lethal bite (St John Chapter 3 verse 14/15). A major difference was that in Moses day the salvation on offer was the gift of life. Now looking in faith to Jesus bearing sin on the cross, by God’s grace, produces the gift of eternal life.
Later Jesus said, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (St John Chapter 6 verse 40). Look away from relics and yourself to Him!

This week the largest newspaper in the country was embroiled in controversy. The problems are multiplying and the High Court Judge recused himself from those involving other media acquisitions in order to concentrate on the matter of journalist’s confidentiality i.e. the protection of their sources.

Apparently there was an inordinate interest taken by the major shareholder in the information journalists gleaned over the years. This would have included the coverage of the Moriarty tribunal which was set up to investigate the allocation of the States’ first mobile phone licence. The licence was won by the major shareholder in competition with 5 other companies. The tribunal’s findings were not conclusive but neither were they entirely satisfactory and unanswered questions of insider knowledge in the bidding rumble on.

There can be few if any of us who would not like to know what our competitors were doing. The Bible’s diagnosis is “the inclination of man’s heart was only evil continually” (Genesis Chapter 6 verse 5) which means that left to ourselves we get into a mess! In this case the desire to find out where the information came from led to the newspaper’s data being taken out of storage, shipped to a firm in Wales, and professionally interrogated in order to extract the background material.
This material would presumably reveal who said what and to whom. This is the stock in trade of the journalist – his source – whose identity has always been a closely guarded secret (otherwise no-one would tell a journalist anything!). Journalists have gone to prison rather than reveal their sources. To avoid such measures, it is rumoured that legislation to protect journalistic confidentiality is being considered.

There are 19 ‘persons of interest’, as the news calls them, whose confidential information has been mined and is known by others, as yet unspecified. This is approaching the ultimate in control of one person over another.
It is a god-like ability which cannot with confidence be intrusted to the hands of man.
But when Jesus say’s “I am the good shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me…” (St John Chapter 10 verse 14) we can confidently entrust ourselves to him.
His knowledge of us is complete – ‘as the Father knows me’. We are transparent to him. No place to hide anything. All is in the open (Hebrews Chapter 4 verse 13).
Our knowledge of Jesus is partial, limited by our sinfulness. St Paul writing in his first letter to the Christians at Corinth, about seeing and knowing Jesus, wrote “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (chapter 13 verse 12).
For all committed to Jesus he promises “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (St John Chapter 8 verse 32).

If you use chemicals you return to the “weapons of mass destruction” beloved by George Bush during his time as President of the USA. The difference this time is that there seems to be evidence of their existence from the carnage in Douma.
The Syrian-American Medical Society said more than 500 people were brought to medical centres with symptoms “indicative of exposure to a chemical agent”. It said this included breathing difficulties, bluish skin, mouth foaming, corneal burns and “the emission of chlorine-like odour”.
It appears that bombs filled with toxic chemicals were dropped on Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region, near the capital Damascus, by Syrian government forces. The gas, being heavier than air, seeped into the underground shelters where many were taking refuge from the bombing. The current death count is 70 but this is guesswork. Those suffocated can be counted. Those contaminated face a lingering fate.
The US, UK, and French rocket attacks this morning came a week after the chemical attack. They were aimed at alleged chemical plants. The intention was to be precise avoiding hitting the Russian military who are there to assist the Syrian army. The objective was to make Assad think twice before he used chemicals again. It was not to interfere with the war Assad has been conducting against ‘terrorists’ over the last seven years. In it he has not only been aided by Russia but by Iran and Hezbollah. None of them could be termed friends of Israel, their next door neighbour who is busy repelling the Hamas inspired stone-throwing on its Southern border.
There are many agenda’s operating here. Russia requires an ally and a Mediterranean Sea base for her ships. Bashar al Assad wants to cement his dictatorship. Iran wishes her ally, the Hezbollah, to have a good base to wipe out Israel. The West need to appear strong in the face of the new threat of chemical warfare posed by the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last month.
So what is God’s agenda? To work this out you need to listen to Jesus and take a long look at Israel. “Tell us,” asked the disciples “when will you come back”? After warning them against false ‘Christs’ he spoke of, among other things, wars involving nations against nations (St Matthew Chapter 24 verses 4/14).
The Prophet Ezekiel foretells the destruction of Israel’s pagan oppressors (Chapter 38 verses 21:39/6) and St John writing from Patmos envisages the end times as the pagan armies’ surround Jerusalem and ‘fire came down from heaven and consumed them’ (Revelation Chapter 20 verses 8/9). The believer in Jesus is part of the new Israel of God – “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Take it to heart and make it your own this great statement of St Paul written in Galatians Chapter 6 verses 14/16.

It was one of the Ancients (I cannot remember which) who in the depth of despair at the absurdity of all things was captivated by the beauty of the first dandelion in Spring! It led him to place his faith in a Creator God over against the pantheon of gods being worshipped at that time.
Walking through the 14 acres, normally the driest field on the farm and squelching across grass that felt like a sponge, I came across the humble dandelion shining brightly in the wet. I know it is a poor substitute for a rainbow but it is a portent of growth to come.

Much ink has been spilt recently describing the plight of farmers trying to cope in the longest, wettest, stormiest winter in our lifetime. It has left a trail of blown timber, broken fences and flattened hedges that will take some time to repair. Constant rain and poor drying conditions have taken a severe toll of the land. But it is the stock that have suffered most. The sheep in the front field normally get plenty to eat but there is little or no growth of grass. There is normally a bit of mud but this year the ground is so slippery that it is difficult to walk across it. The ewes tend to get a little dirty but now even the lambs, usually white, could do with a wash!

It is not all that unusual to have cattle in sheds on the 7th April although a few may have been let out by this time to sample the fresh grass but not this year. With the water table literally at grass roots their hooves would destroy the vegetation mat and retard any grass growth that had occurred. This puts pressure on the remaining fodder and creates major difficulties in farms where it has all been eaten. To ease the situation fodder is being imported from the UK and the Continent and the government is assisting with its distribution.
Most of the calves are now born and these have increased pressure on shed capacity. There is also a bedding problem as the straw used for that purpose has been served up as food.
All in all, it’s a difficult time to be a farmer in Ireland!
However today we had a taste of spring sunshine. Metaphorically its perhaps the time for Noah to put out the dove (Genesis Chapter 8 verses 10/11).

The view in the garden is somewhat brighter. Primroses with their shining yellow faces have spread themselves in the rockery and the heaths have put on a show of purple outside the kitchen window. The faithful daffodils are again brightening up the farm road and the Blue Tits are investigating the nest boxes on the Scots pine. Just a few moments ago I watched a Tree Creeper poking his long curved bill into the bark of a Poplar tree so the insect world must be alive and available! All are harbingers of Spring – and we complain because they are a little late!

Severe weather has long been considered to be connected to the judgement of God. The residual guilt in our nature prompts such conclusions. But the blessings and benefits of God are not related to our behaviour but come to us by his grace. God is in no doubt regarding our sinfulness “every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood” (verse 21) but this knowledge does not curtail his promises. Amongst these are this promise out of his providence “As long as the earth endured, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (verse 22).
And promises out of his redeeming love in Jesus “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus Chapter 2 verses 11/14).
This salvation is from God who does not change his mind. St James writes “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us (new) birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.” (Chapter 2 verse 17/18).

After an 8 week-long trial a number of rugby players were acquitted of the charge of rape. The woman was placed behind a screen in the court to preserve her anonymity. The rugby players were in the full glare of the media which reported the case in great detail.

The men’s acquittal sparked protests around the country as many came onto the streets in sympathy with the woman. There was a feeling that after being cross-examined for 8 days during the trial the case had been made, by the then 19-year-old woman, that there was no consent. It was on this matter of the woman’s consent spoken or implied upon which the case hung.
What happened in Belfast is the outcome of an increasingly relaxed approach to sexual intercourse. The goddess Aphrodite has shaken off the self-control that curbed her activities in the past. Many now worship at her altar sacrificing lasting relationships, unborn children and emotional maturity for promises of instant gratification. But it is her addictive properties that are so damaging causing her worshippers to return like a dog to its vomit (2 Peter 2v22) time and again.
This self-control comes from the Holy Spirit. St Paul lays it out for us in his letter to the Galatians in the 5th Chapter verses 19 -24.
“The works of the sinful nature are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” It is the absence of self-control that is evident today. St Paul continues, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Christ and the Spirit come together in this passage as the source of the believer’s life. Christians have crucified the flesh or died with Christ to sin. The old order has passed. Our trouble is that we get down from the cross then are overcome by the resurgence of the sinful nature. It caused St Paul to go into fitness training as he mentions in his first letter at the start of his ministry “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians Chapter 9 verse 27).

There is no other way to combat moral evil in a sex-sodden society. In the absence of other moral defences, if we try to make consent the solitary moral norm, we will not be able to protect anyone in the long run. Without the Biblical marriage ethic, it may well be that the ultimate goal of those who introduced same-sex marriage will succeed. That goal is the destruction of marriage and redefining of family.

The only consent that we should follow is like that of Israel as recorded by Jeremiah in Chapter 18 verse 6, “Can I not do with you as this potter has done? Declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel”.
Our response; Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way…