Category Archives: Culture

Arts, Culture, Scotland

A slogan worth its place

SCOTTISH VILLAGE OF FINTRY

THE Scottish village of Fintry had an unofficial slogan. “Out of the world and into Fintry.”

As beautiful as the village is, we can be sure the slogan was referring to the peace, beauty and scenery – the things of God’s world – that surrounded it. While the “world” was the industrial mess we made.

Instead of the occasional holiday in nature’s tranquillity, wouldn’t it be better if we brought more of God’s world into ours?

THE sloping stone steps led to the riverside. It had been raining for two days. Rivulets gathered from every direction and gutters overflowed. For that day, the steps became a waterfall.

“Wow!” one observer exclaimed, looking for the best angle to take a photo.

“Ridiculous,” another was heard to say. “The council ought to clear the drains. Those folk with clogged-up gutters ought to be fined!”

It was the same scene and two different responses. A dramatic, unexpected waterfall, or a chance to complain? We choose how we perceive the world. We might at least choose a way that makes us happy and content – even when it’s raining!

Standard
Arts, Christianity, Culture

Ezekiel 1: God is everywhere at once

OLD TESTAMENT

Narrative – Ezekiel 1

THE number of closed-circuit TV cameras in public places has mushroomed. Used both for crime deterrence and detection they create the impression of Big Brother watching us. We are always in view.

And so we are to God. That is what Ezekiel perceives in this vision of the cherubim and their wheels. For the prophet and his contemporaries this was not frightening, it was encouraging.

The exiles were in Babylonia, far from Jerusalem. God, in their understanding, was in Jerusalem if he was anywhere, but how could he hear them, let alone help them, from 600 miles (900 km) away as the crow flies?

The vision in Ezekiel 1 shows how. God’s rapid response unit is not restricted by space or time. He does not have tunnel vision or short sight. He is everywhere at once, and nothing escapes his gaze. Omnipresent.

When you go into a strange, hostile place, God is just as much there, and just as powerful, as he was the evening before in the church prayer meeting. When you travel miles (literally or metaphorically) from a church, where Christians may be thin on the ground, God just blinks, shifts gear, and gets there ahead of you.

This vision also reminded the exiled Judeans of God’s holiness (the light and fire of vv 4,13, and of the sparkling gems of v 16), and of his strength and wisdom (the animal heads are of strong beasts and the human head speaks of understanding, v 10).

They would recall the cherubim from Isaiah’s vision 200 years earlier (Isaiah 6), as we should from John’s vision in Revelation 4:6-8. These angels, in their constant attendance on God, model for us the life of worship and service that we should always be living. God never changes; he is the same yesterday, today and for ever (Hebrews 13:8). We need that reminder as we move into new places, new phases, during our ‘exile’ in a God-ignoring world.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL

THE Book of Ezekiel is all part of God’s rich tapestry as he uses all means to drive his points home. Parts of Ezekiel will be shocking and puzzling, but one in which the prophet would be at home in the Tate Gallery. If you bear in mind the principles of art appreciation, readers of this Old Testament Book will get a lot out of it.

The Context is the decade between Nebuchadnezzar’s first major incursion into Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem, c. 597-587 BC. Ezekiel was one of the first exiles to be transported like slaves across the Near East. There, he is called to prophesy to his fellow prisoners, and tells them what’s happening back home.

A contemporary of Jeremiah (who stayed in Jerusalem), Ezekiel brings a similar message to explain why God has allowed the defeat, and a similar long-term hope that reconstruction will occur. Keep that as a theme for the exhibition, but take each canvas, story and performance on their own. They could enlarge your vision of God, and deepen your understanding of yourself.

Essentially, the Book of Ezekiel uses vivid symbolism to convey God’s teaching.

Standard
Arts, Christianity, Culture

Galatians: The heart of the gospel is here

THE BOOK OF GALATIANS

“Galatians”, the sixteenth-century theologian Martin Luther once said, “is my Katie.” She was his wife and this letter was his love. He lavished his attention upon it. Galatians focused entirely on the central truth, forgotten by much of Christendom and which was then being rediscovered.

It asks the most important question a person can ever ask: what do I have to do, in practical terms, to gain a right relationship with God? Paul’s answer is simple: nothing. Admitting there is nothing you can do and putting your faith in Christ, as the one who has already done for you everything that is necessary, is all you need.

Which is an answer few human beings except the selfish type can accept easily. We value our independence and our ability to look after ourselves. When we become dependent on others we feel worthless.

The Galatians certainly found it hard to accept. They wanted to work their passage to the kingdom of God, to pay their entrance fee into heaven. On his visit Paul had explained that the price had been paid already; they just had to get on board. But as soon as he left they developed a set of regulations (including male circumcision) which they insisted must be kept by anyone wishing to remain right with God.

That, Paul claims, is “another gospel”, a denial of what Jesus had done and the apostles had taught. So after a lengthy resume of his own credentials as a reliable teacher, he explains again what it means to be “justified by faith”.

It is the heart of the New Testament gospel, whatever Christian tradition you come from or whatever emphasis of Christian living you espouse. By understanding it, rejoicing in it and applying it to your worship and daily living, you will be able to enjoy the privilege of developing a personal relationship with the living God.

That explains Paul’s passion in Galatians. For him, as for Luther, this concept was his true love.

How To Grow God’s Fruit – a narrative

Galatians 5:16-26

YOU do not just pick berries off bushes and eat them. Some are poisonous. You need to distinguish between good and bad. Jesus usd that analogy in Matthew 7:15-20, referring to the black berries of the Palestinian buckthorn which, when seen from a distance, looked like grapes. Paul tells us how to “grow” good fruit: the genuine, visible product of our inner faith.

But he first warns us of what we know but which still surprises us: that we must expect a conflict (vv 16-18). Our imperfect human nature (some versions of the Bible use the word “flesh”) has been “crucified” with Christ (v 24), but it will not lie down. However, we do have the “new nature” of the Holy Spirit to counter it and conquer it.

Our task, Paul says, is actively to cultivate that new nature and weed out the old. Only God can make the fruit grow (another example of living by his grace through faith) but we have to prepare the soil by keeping “in step with the Spirit” (v 25): allowing his holiness to penetrate our lives.

It is not an option but an obligation. Bishop J C Ryle said in his book Holiness that “there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we are aware of . . . They supply the children of this world with a never-ending excuse for remaining as they are.”

Christians are under new management. They have been given a spiritual make-over. But sometimes we still look a mess. Moment by moment, ask: what fruit should sprout in this situation?

Standard