Canvey Island Methodist Church Bible Study- Tuesday 7th July 2020.
Waiting, Praying, Hoping, Anticipating.
Waiting for something, whether good, bad or indifferent, is never easy! If it’s an eagerly anticipated gift or event then we can’t wait for its arrival. How many of us, as children, can remember the temptation to pick up and shake a Christmas present under the tree or to peak underneath its wrapper to get a clue as to what it might be. Or, conversely, the tense and unwelcome wait for something we are not looking forward to; an exam, a medical appointment, a diagnosis, some sad news of the death or illness of a loved one. Even waiting for a bus or train can be a bit tedious.
Lockdown and social isolation has been tough on many, if not all of us. Physical separation from friends, children, grandchildren, loved ones. Weddings postponed, holidays cancelled and for us here, our church buildings closed along with Worship Services and all of the precious organisations that meet there. This has been a dark time for many with news of people we know and love falling ill and some even sadly losing their lives. Others have been put on furlough from work and some have lost their jobs altogether. And now all of us wait; Waiting for the R number to go down, waiting for a vaccine to protect everybody to be fully tested and available, waiting for our lost self confidence to return and waiting for the resumption of our physical meetings at Canvey Island Methodist Church to once again be possible.
As we look into the Bible and once again turn it’s many pages, we find described there people who, just like us, have had to wait, who have had to face their own dark periods of both waiting and of loss, but who in spite of all this have nonetheless, kept their faith and more, have actually experienced the close and precious presence of God even in the darkest times.
King David was one of these, betrayed by his own son, pursued by a posse as an outcast and an outlaw and who was eventually reinstated as king. He wrote many poems about his experiences . Here is one of these. It is psalm 18 and it is of its time; raw, occasionally bloodthirsty and expressing gratitude.
A cry to God in time of trouble, pursuit by his enemies, frighteningly dark times battling against both his enemies and the elements, deliverance and restoration and declaration of praise to Almighty God.
Here is Psalm 18:
Psalm 18- To the leader. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: “I love you, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God,
my stronghold[a] in whom I take refuge, my shield, the glory[b]
of my salvation, and my high tower.”
3 I cried out to the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I was delivered from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the rivers of Belial[c] made me afraid.
5 The cords of Sheol[d] surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I cried to the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his Temple he heard my voice;
my cry reached his ears.
7 The world shook and trembled;
the foundations of the mountains quaked,
they shook because he was angry.
8 In his anger smoke poured out of his nostrils,
and consuming fire from his mouth;
coals were lit from it.
9 He bent the sky and descended,
and darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode upon a cherub and flew;
he soared upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his hiding place,
his canopy surrounding him was dark waters and thick clouds.
12 The brightness before him scattered the thick clouds,
with hail stones and flashes of fire.
13 Then the Lord thundered in[e] the heavens,
and the Most High sounded aloud,
calling for hail stones and flashes of fire.[f]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered them;
with many lightning bolts he frightened them.
15 Then the channels of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were uncovered
because of your rebuke, Lord,
because of the blast from the breath of your nostrils.
16 He reached down and took me;
he drew me from many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemies,
from those who hated me because
they were stronger than I.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out to a spacious place;
he delivered me, for in me he takes delight.
God’s Reward to the Righteous
20 The Lord will reward me because I am righteous;
because my hands are clean he will restore me;
21 because I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and I have not wickedly departed from my God;
22 because all his judgments were always before me,
and I did not cast off his statutes.
23 I was upright[g] before him,
and I kept myself from iniquity.
24 So the Lord restored me according to my righteousness,
because my hands were clean in his sight.
25 To the holy, you show your gracious love,
to the upright, you show yourself upright;
26 to the pure, you show yourself pure,
and to the morally corrupt, you appear to be perverse.
27 Indeed, you deliver the oppressed,[h]
but you bring down those who exalt themselves
in their own eyes.
28 For you, Lord, make my lamp shine;
my God enlightens my darkness.
29 With your help[i] I will run through an army,
with help from[j] my God I leap over walls.
30 As for God, his way is upright;[k]
the word of God is pure;
he is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
The Acts of God for the Righteous
31 For who is God but the Lord,
and who is a Rock other than our God?—
32 the God who clothes me with strength,
and who makes my way upright;[l]
33 who makes my feet swift as the deer;
who makes me stand on high places;
34 who teaches my hands to make war,
and my arms to bend a bronze bow.
35 You have given to me the shield of your deliverance,
and your right hand holds me up;
your gentleness made me great.
36 You make a broad place for my steps,
so my feet[m] won’t slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn around until they were utterly defeated.
38 I struck them down,
so they are not able to rise up;
they fell under my feet.
39 You clothed me with strength for war;
you will subdue under me those who rise up against me.
40 You have made my enemies turn their back to me,
and I will destroy those who hate me.
41 They cried out for deliverance,
but there was no one to deliver;
they cried out[n] to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
42 I ground them like wind-swept dust;
I emptied them out[o] like dirt in the street.
43 You rescued me from conflict with the people;
you made me head of the nations.
People who did not know me will serve me.
44 When they hear of me,[p] they will obey me;
foreigners will submit to me.
45 Foreigners will wilt away;
they will come trembling out of their stronghold.
46 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
May the God of my deliverance be exalted!
47 He is the God who executes vengeance on my behalf;
who destroys peoples under me;
48 who delivers me from my enemies.
Truly you will exalt me above those who oppose me;
you will deliver me from the violent person.
49 Therefore, I will give thanks to you among the nations, Lord;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 He is the one who gives victories to his king;
who shows gracious love to his anointed,
to David and his seed forever
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As we continue to face our times of waiting I have chosen two hymns, and the story behind them, for us to reflect upon, and hopefully to be encouraged by. The first is from the “Singing the faith Extra” website where new hymn writers can submit hymns for publication. (https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/worship/singing-the-faith-plus/posts/when-life-is-shaken-to-its-core-website-only/)
It is written by Andrew Brown, and is a hymn based around the notion from psalm 18 that God is with His people even and especially in dark and tough times when little light at the end of the tunnel seems apparent. It is a hymn for when we feel vulnerable - revised in light of the Coronavirus pandemic:
When life is shaken to its core,
when clouds and storms arrive,
we find it difficult to know
God present in our lives.
Yet there’s no misery or grief,
pain, doubt, or emptiness,
that is not known by the divine
and filled with tenderness.
When we are tempted to give up,
and purpose drains away,
where is the God of hope and joy?
Can peace replace dismay?
God, in the centre of our pain,
makes of our dark a tent,
a holy place of tearfulnes
as life splits and fragments.
We need to learn to trust and know
God in our lives, God here
hidden within the clouds and storms,
one with our doubts and fears.
This is our peace: that in the depths
of our adversities
we find a God who shares our pain
and life’s cruel miseries.
Words: © Andrew Brown (November 2019, rev. March 2020)
Metre: 86 86 86 86 (DCM)
Suggested tune: Vox Dilecti (StF 248)
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Explanation:
Andrew writes that this hymn “was written to counter the idea that God always brings light and was particularly inspired by this verse from Psalm 18v11.
V11.He made darkness his hiding place;
his tent was in a circle about him,
dark water in clouds of air.
The striking image in v2 of the hymn of the dark tent that becomes a holy place is reminiscent of the Tabernacle (“dwelling place”, a tent or covering) of the Ark of the Covenant described in the book of Exodus.
That verse begins with an acknowledgement that in complicated – perhaps overwhelming – times, a sense of purpose may, for many, be hard to hold on to. We feel more vulnerable, and the task of finding a way forward becomes tougher. Andrew then develops the tent image to suggest that in times of tearfulness and vulnerability (when “life splits and fragments”), holiness may nevertheless be experienced. When we know we’re not invulnerable, new insights and experiences surface.
In v3, there are echoes, also, of William Cowper’s’ hymn, God moves in a mysterious way (StF 104), with its resonant descriptions of “the clouds you so much dread” which, even so, “are big with mercy”. “Behind a frowning providence”, Cowper continues, God “hides a smiling face”. This allusion to God’s “frown” is also picked up in Andrew Pratt’s post-resurrection hymn What peace is there for tarnished lives (website only).
In the hymns of both Andrews, as well as William Cowper's, there is an assertion of trust in God’s continuing presence “within the clouds and storms”.
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The second is a hymn written by Norwegian, Hans-Olav Moerk, with music by Graham Bell of the Iona Christian community in Scotland.
It is called:
WE WILL MEET WHEN THE DANGER IS OVER by Hans-Olav Moerk-Music by Graham Bell
Please click the link below to hear the hymn.
We will meet when the danger is over- (from Iona Community)
Explanation
The story behind the writing of the new hymn from the Iona Community called WE WILL MEET WHEN THE DANGER IS OVER by Hans-Olav Moerk-Music by Graham Bell is given below in the words of Hans Olav Moerk as translated into English by Graham Bell.
“The car ferry Estonia had its bow gate removed by a large breaker. It happened in the BalHc Sea on a stormy September night. The ship capsized. Inside was chaos. When the boat lay floating on its side, some of the passengers managed to climb outside and up on it. It has been told that two people who had never seen each other before, sat side by side on the hull, a man and a woman. As the waves were swiping towards them, they gave each other a promise: When this is over, we shall meet in a café in Stockholm. Then they jumped overboard and swam away from the side of the ship through the dark waters. On September 28, 1994, Estonia sank in the BalHc sea. Many passengers died. But it is said that the two who met each other siUng on top of the capsized hull, survived. The next spring, they met in a café in Stockholm.
I had been worried for a long Hme because of the news about the corona virus, that took so many lives in China. When the virus spread to more and more countries, I started cancelling meetings and seminars that had been planned for a long Hme. On Thursday March 12, the crisis was a fact. The Norwegian government held a press conference. Our Prime Minister made a deep impact when she said that this was the most comprehensive crisis in our country since the Second World War.
In the hours that followed, the story about Estonia started rolling as a movie through my mind. The story of those who sat on the sinking ship and promised to meet in a café. A song came to my mind. “We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day”. This strong moHve meant so much to so many during the great war. I sat down with my mobile phone and started writing
We will meet when the danger is over, we will meet in a crowded café ...
Some weeks earlier I had been in a small church in one of the suburbs around Oslo. The church has a large, pitched roof. It is situated on a hill, overviewing the enHre district that it serves. This congregation had invited me. They wanted to sing some hymns that I wrote and translated. Some of them are from the Iona Fellowship in Scotland, and they are being widely used in the Church of Norway. The February sun was shining. A little choir was practicing. I rigged a small PA system and tuned my guitar. The Church Coffee was being prepared. People started arriving.
What struck me, was all the faces shining with love for this li^le church. People came with the expectation of being met and to meet. The day a`er the Government’s press conference, the Church of Norway announced its own measures. Churches were closed, services cancelled, even the confirmations, the spring’s most beautiful adventure, were postponed. People could not meet in the small church anymore. No parents could carry their child to the bapHsmal font. No confirmands could walk the aisle in their white cloaks. No bride and bridegroom could meet at the altar, while children with flower followed, shyly giggling. No one could stretch out their hands to receive the bread and the wine of the Holy Communion. “You don’t know what you have Hll it’s gone”, a saying goes. I looked at the mobile.
... at the door of a church, where together we will know that this is a new day.
We will live in a different way.
The two who sat on the side of the ship, gave one another a promise. Promises do bind us together. Sometimes they bind us to life itself. I think that the promise they gave each other, sitting on the capsized Estonia, may have kept both alive. Why do we live, if not for each other? If we promise each other to endure, the chances that we do endure are much higher. I wrote:
We should give one another a promise,
that when darkness is done, we’ll be there.
I wonder what those two from Estonia talked about when they met in a café in Stockholm. Initially I think they were filled with an immense feeling of joy, just to see each other again. Last Hme, it was dark. They were surrounded by heavy seas. They knew that they had to fight for their lives in the waves. Now they could let their thoughts journey on hand in hand, through the ice cold, bottomless water. They could think about how a helping hand lifted them on board the raft. How they sustained the long and freezing hours of night, until darkness was split by a floodlight that had located them, and the roaring of the sea was drowned in the sound of a helicopter who said that rescue had arrived. And slowly, slowly, they could let their thoughts return through a long winter behind frozen window panes and return to a day in spring. The cherry trees were blooming, the café was full of people and sunshine. Maybe they talked about what they had learned through all this. I kept writing.
When what we’ve endured lies behind us,
and when all that we missed can be shared,
we’ll discover its meaning laid bare.
I stopped. It struck me that I did not have time to wait for the answer. I could not wait the way those two from ‘the Estonia’ had to. This very morning, Saturday March 14, 2020, I had to know what the answer was. What remained? What was the important thing when everything else seemed to be chaotic and without meaning? It was the frail ties to the others. The ties that did not break, and therefore became anchor chains in the storm, or hands who helped aboard the raft while the sea was raging. Another thing struck me. These ties and this reconciliation have a name that I know. My fingers were dancing on the mobile phone keyboard.
But already we sense it, we know it, that love, only love will bear through.
I have worked as a street minister in Oslo City Mission. From then on, and from long before, I knew this. Relations to other people are cords that are woven with this thing that we neither can describe fully nor contain in words alone.
It is the word that you have on your lips, and that you only dare to whisper.
For you know that it cannot be spoken without a lifelong and all-encompassing commitment in all relations: l-o-v-e. Be it. Live it. Not so that we should always be on the giving side, but exactly because we sometimes must receive to survive. When I am bowed down or when am on my knees. I know what it means then that somebody is there.
We must carry the burden together ...
The last couple of lines just had to pin down the most important thing. Another motive rose: to have a calling. A calling gives you a choice, and a gift.. You get the opportunity to honour something basic in life, something that does not come by itself. The Swedish author Astrid Lindgren has written about this in her book “The Brothers Lionheart”. One of the brothers rescues the crook from being swallowed by a large waterfall. The second one asked him: - Why did you do it? The first one answered: - There are some things that you must do. If not, you are no longer a human being, only a little turd.
I wrote the last couple of lines:
... that’s our calling in all that we do. Only love can make everything new.
The text was finished. I hit the “publish” button. It was Saturday, March 14, around eleven in the morning. By evening it was shared a thousand Hmes in Social Media.
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Easter approached. Maundy Thursday came. The churches were closed, but the story of what once happened on this day, came to life anyhow. It lived on thousands of computer screens, mobile phones and TVs, and on many digital platforms. The story reminded us about our own situation. We were behind closed doors, without knowing what was to come. In the story of Jesus and his disciples, it was the same. The disciples were in a crisis. They knew that the city that they were in, had received Jesus as a liberator. Everybody expected him to throw the Roman army out of occupied Jerusalem. But Jesus talked about something totally different. This night, when they celebrated the Jewish Easter Meal, he said in his own way: - We shall meet when the danger is over. According to the gospel of Luke, he said: - I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God. And Jesus continued (translated from Greek): - You stayed with me during the testing I went through. Now I give you the Kingdom, as my Father has given it to me. You shall eat and drink at my table, in my Kingdom.
In every catastrophe someone is perishing. This time it was Jesus. But before it all happened, he wanted to say one thing: - We shall meet when the danger is over. In the days that followed, a double catastrophe struck. Jesus was arrested. He was falsely accused and brutally executed. And one of them, Judas Iscariot, proved to be a paid traitor. Their leader, Peter, failed his promise to stick with Jesus despite any danger. But when he was put to the test, he swore that he did not know him, just to save himself. And still Jesus said: - We shall meet again.
I have lived these months in fear and hope. Using the time well has become important. People are dying around me. I might lose someone dear to me. I do not know much about my own future. I am scared. I really need faith and hope, but most of all, love. Only one power in the world is stronger than death. It is love. I think that love has a source. It is in Jesus. His love stood the test in three ways: He walked the road. He conquered death. He came back to his friends who failed him. Everyone who loves like that, even if there is anxiety and treason, tells that this love is real. It is the deepest. It is the red cord that runs through the text “We will meet when the danger is over”.
Epilogue
On March 28 I sent an English translation of “We shall meet” to my colleague and friend John Bell, to ask for his assistance with the English language. He gave me two precious gifts. One: He worked through my draft and helped me finalize it. It is the English translation that you have read above. It was recorded by Norwegian Artist Hilde Svela and is on YouTube. Two: He let this text so deeply into his own heart that it emerged again, weeks later, as a new hymn, an adapted version in beautiful lines, a fully-fledged version, with a new melody. He did it, he told me, for a friend who needed hope and faith. And so, the story continued. Love shows its capacity to create in new ways all the time. The love of Jesus Christ comes walking towards us from the hearts of loving people around us, saying: - My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. It happens in the time of crisis, in the hospitals, in the local communities, in the congregations and in a song. Glory be to Love incarnate. Hans-Olav Moerk”
Yes, we will meet again when the danger is over, by God’s Grace. In the meantime may we all be encouraged by the presence of God with us always, even, and especially when the night is darkest.
In Christian Love
Colin
With grateful thanks for ideas - singing the faith extra, Methodist Church Extra Worship Resources.
To reflect: play again.
We will meet - (from Iona Community)