Friday March 20, 2009

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. Psalm 84:5.

An apt text for this time in my life, although the pilgrimage I am about to take is not the one suggested on today's text. My current pilgrimage is certainly one that raises apprehensions. The healthy body I currently have (relatively speaking!) is going to be cut up and I’ll be convalescencing for . . . ? Only yesterday an article on Canada.com suggested that the PSA test for prostate cancer was not sufficiently reliable and many men are now impotent and incontinent because of it. At Least one person I know suffers this three years after prostate surgery—but at least he is cancer free.

Of course, it’s not the PSA test itself that causes these infirmities; it is the surgery to remove the prostate that follows a positive test for cancer. In my case the PSA test was also positive, but in addition a rectal exam found a lump and a biopsy confirmed cancer. However good I feel, this invader has to be removed but the future beyond that is not certain. The urologist claims I will eventually retain all functions, but projections and reality do not always coincide so I am prepared for a more unsatisfactory outcome. So this really is a pilgrimage.

However, my future as a whole is a lot more certain than many entering surgery for a variety of other problems, and I have little to complain about. But I can identify to some degree with the anxiety that surgery provokes in less certain cases. All the more reason to continue on the ultimate pilgrimage with God, where, as our text declares, we find our strength.

Tuesday March 17, 2009

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Ps 139:14.

If my prostate surgery has been on the back burner for a couple of months or so, yesterday’s pre-op placed it squarely front and centre: an ECG, several phials of my blood secreted away, and a battery of questions about my health from illnesses and allergies to prescribed medication—all “no”s I’m glad to say. A new innovation for me is the armband I’ve been given and told not to remove until surgery—almost on pain of death. It contains a bar code which when scanned will, I assume, post all my statistics on a monitor for all to see. Shades of “666”?

The nurse remarked on how healthy I was. Thanks. But not for long. Shortly someone will be scouring out debris from my body like cleaning up a burnt saucepan, and stapling me up like a pair of old torn trousers. My dignity in tatters, I will have tubes going in to my arms and hanging out of the most personal parts, not to mention sponge baths and being helped around like an old crock. And that isn’t the end. Convalescence with some bodily functions sharply impaired for a few weeks, return visits to inspect the incision and have catheter and staples removed, and the concern for possible complications will follow surgery.

Perhaps the most amazing thing is that after so many people cutting up and generally messing about with my body, is that it will eventually heal itself. The psalmist was right: God has made our bodies a marvel of engineering with this ability to nurse itself back to health. Not only that, this same God is active today in our lives, in this case to oversee the whole performance. I am encouraged that almost every conversation and email ends with the promise to intercede for me. Thanks to so many of you who have supported us in this and other ways. God bless you all.

Monday March 16, 2009

For by him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:16-17.

The claims of this text are ultimate and necessary for faith. That the world as we know it was self-created by accident does not make common sense to the common man. That’s why nearly half of Americans continue to believe “Charles Darwin was wrong where it mattered most.” (National Geographic, Nov. 2004, p. 6.) Whatever the merits or demerits of evolution, this text maintains that Jesus, the incarnate Son of God was before all of it. And in the final analysis, if life is an accident, then life has no real meaning beyond daily mechanical animal survival.

The problems of life conceived by accident are many. Where did ethics come from? An innate knowledge of right and wrong is common only to humans; animals, beyond training, do not have it. Of greater mystery is why humans even conceptualize the idea of God; animals don’t. The search for God in some form is what most of history is about and the desire for spirituality of some sort is still alive and well in the new millennium—even in the “secular” west. Paul’s claims of the eternal nature of God, and his handiwork in creating and sustaining the universe, make the most sense to most people, even if they consider it irrelevant to life.

But what we believe has consequences. The knowledge of right and wrong and a God who in the ultimate sense created us implies accountability for the life he gave us and freedom to live as we please. That is what makes God and death so frightening. The idea that there is no existence beyond the grave is a hope concocted to allay our fears, for our fear is that there might be!

But there is a further consequence. If, as I believe, Paul’s claims are true, then there is relief for our fears when we put our faith in that same God as our only and final hope. The God who might condemn is also the one who has the power and right to forgive. And Paul’s claim that Jesus Christ is the one who holds ultimate power means that no-one can gainsay or interfere with his desire to reconcile us to himself through his death: the sacrifice of God himself for us.

This belief in turn has a consequence for the way we live. Christ’s power to create and sustain means that his power to sustain individuals like us is also ultimate. Once we accept his claims and place ourselves in God’s mercy, nothing in life can harm us. As I face surgery in two week’s time, I can rest secure in the knowledge that he has ultimate control over my life—whatever the outcome. That gives my life ultimate meaning. I am not simply subject to the whims of an accidental universe.

Friday March 13, 2009

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14.

Home! At last! It’s been a week since my last blog, but that time has seen us fly from England to Montreal, spend some time with Alex our daughter and family there and fly back to Lethbridge, arriving Wednesday evening. As you can imagine, the last day has been spent unpacking, opening a ton of mail, renewing expired insurances and licences, trying to remember where everything is, or was when we left and generally reorienting ourselves to life as we remember it, gratefully assisted by two nights in our own bed!

We are both exhausted from a particularly busy time at the house in Worthing, rounds of visits with family and—in the space of the last few days—two time zone changes and clocks put forward an hour. We are taking a few days to do only what is absolutely necessary plus some enjoyable pottering before we plunge into the coming few weeks. My surgery for prostate removal is slated for March 30th and a pre-op on the 16th. Ann has to give permission today for some minor foot surgery which is scheduled for April 7th in Cardston. She also has papers for an independent university study due before the end of April. Life doesn’t change—still searching for that comfortable rut!

But we are thankful to God for the opportunities given us to serve and keep in touch with our family, in spite of the heavy schedule we have followed. We recognize our lives are mostly the result of decisions we have made and looking back we would not have done most things differently. Our text today reminds us that we will all be judged according to the decisions we have made, and the ungodly practices of the nations will one day be judged on the Day of the Lord—there will be a true and final justice for all. It is a sharp reminder that our decision for or against the claims of the righteous Judge of all the earth will have ultimate consequences for eternity.

Friday March 6, 2009

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 6:12.

Our daughter in New Zealand asked us our opinion of The Shack, a bestselling and widely accepted novel recounting one man’s spiritual journey following the violent death of his child. But the Christian response has been mixed. Many Christians who have read it enjoyed it, but some “authorities” on the Christian faith continue to condemn it. Its besetting sin appears to be the symbolic nature of the novel. For instance: God the Father is portrayed as a big African Mama. Not particularly theological, but exhibits part of the nature of God that the author experienced.

The allegorical approach to Christianity has a long and honoured history. Tolkien’s Rings novels and the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis, are generally accepted as symbolic representations of the Christian message, although greatly extended through imagination. However, Christian response has not been consistent. Dan Brown has been roundly castigated for imaginatively falsifying Christian Scripture and history in his Da Vinci Code novel. However, there has been no whisper of complaint against the Left Behind series of books by Tim La Haye that uses generous speculation on biblical prophecies for his novels.

Both can be classed in the same genre as The Shack; each novel expresses one man’s opinion either for or against the faith, but each carries the same danger of mixing biblical fact and speculative fantasy which the average person cannot separate. Either allegorical writing carries sufficient imagination that it cannot be theologically sound and must be burned, or should be recognized as symbolizing in imaginative and readable ways parts or all of the faith Christians believe. For example, the creatures in Tolkiens’ novels clearly reflect the subject of today’s text!

But the dispute over these writings misses the bigger picture. The truth is guarded by freedom of expression, not repression of it. The truth by its very nature must ultimately prevail. Attempts to preserve it by censorship reflect unease about the truth we believe. It may even eventually harbour error that cannot be sustained. The Shack and other examples of the genre are ways in which readers may engage with the faith to explore it further or not as their inclination may be. But without them the work of the Holy Spirit could be limited and entry into spiritual things would be impoverished.

Thursday March 5, 2009

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth . . . so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10–11.

Achievement: what we all desire unless the reverses of life have despaired us of all hope. Without hope, despair leads to inaction. Hope, like love and faith, is necessary to give life meaning and direction. The text above provides hope to those who trust its message: that God will give meaning to life whatever setbacks are experienced. During our time here in England, someone suggested that the English are “dogged.” It is perhaps the heritage of faith that has given the English the reputation of obstinacy—particularly the ability to cope when their backs are against the wall.

Over the last two days we have been able to complete some of the final nostalgic trips that we planned. While our family was here, we would like to have travelled to the town of Upminster, east of London, where my sister and I grew up, but it was too far and we had insufficient time. However, on Tuesday, Ann joined my sister Heather and me as we were able to visit the home of our childhood, the school we attended and other of the places we recalled from our childhood. We even stopped for a cream tea in the same department store that our mother and grandmother would take us after school.

Of particular interest was the house that my sister and I grew up in. Built in 1934, our parents had bought it new and lived in it until our move to Eastbourne in 1950. Now, it sports a poorly planned addition built by the current owners. They were very gracious and invited us in to look the place over. But the interior exhibited all the signs of the fading hope they expressed; every room was littered, stacked and cramped with belongings, decorations were in poor condition and peeling from the walls.

In an attempt to start clean up, they erected a large shed in the back garden to store some of this stuff, but poor health of the wife and a failing husband’s business were clearly taking their toll and undermining whatever motivation they had left. In fact, the impression left was a problem getting worse, not better. Ann in her usual and resourceful way made suggestions to encourage them to persevere.

I left with the sense that a fading struggle to cope had mastered them and thankfulness that we had a hope that transcends the failing abilities of life; that God’s plan for our lives is still a reachable goal, and that His word and work in us will achieve the purpose for which he called us.

Monday March 2, 2009

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.

I must admit, the above seems a tall order for me, and knowing me, for even God himself to deliver! However, although I might strive to achieve that and fail, I am so glad my final acceptance by God is purely through the sacrifice of Jesus to pay my debt. Not only is keeping out of mischief a major concern, it is a purely negative goal; what is of greater concern is the constructive use of any time so sanctified. Our striving is to help fulfil the prayer that “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Thus it is that Ann and I look back on our time at Winchelsea, and the hard work that it was at times, with satisfaction. As we relax for a week before returning to Canada there is that sense of pleasure as the tiredness drains away. It is like the experience of stiff and aching muscles at the end of a day of physical labour—a strange mixture of pain and pleasure at fulfilment. So the idea of remaining blameless is one of accomplishment not just avoidance. And the idea the that although the coming of Jesus Christ will herald the completion of God’s work on earth, the sense of meaning for this life is having had a part working towards that completion.

I guess a meaningful part of life is what has been accomplished in those that we have conceived and fostered and whose future is still to be played out. Looking back over our earlier life here in England causes us to realize the extent that the story of our lives—both the good and bad—has had and is still having on others. Because there is a sense that blamelessness is partly a positive outcome for those who follow us, it gives meaning to the mundane of daily life.