LESSONS FROM THE MEMORIES OF ENGLAND – WITH APPLICATIONS
This is a message/talk that best needs photos or data projector material, but you have to imagine the scenes and a few of them you can look up on line for the photos.
When you are in another country so many things can be different. The culture could be vastly strange but new views and scenery and history are all different. You know I like photography so I suppose my eye is trained to notice things of photographic interest. This happened a lot on my three visits to England where I was doing some biblical teaching in Boston, the second biggest town in Lincolnshire. My hosts were very kind and when time permitted, visited places that I found fascinating. All those scenes are fixed in my mind.
I wish to recall some of those memories and views in the photos you will see, but not on this written site as photos can’t be displayed. I like to take natural things like animals, nature, and develop lessons from them. For those who live in England and might be reading this, you may think, “There is not much of interest in those places I will talk about.” I can understand your saying that as you are used to these things. If you visited Australia and went to the outback and you were driving on some of these rough gravel, dusty bush roads and had half a dozen emus running parallel to the vehicle for some time, you would be fascinated but when it is rather common, then it is matter of fact.
Emus can run at 50 km/hour (31 miles/hour). You can also get the red kangaroo running beside the vehicle, and when startled it can do 70 km/hour (43 miles/hour) for a long distance. However they are a great danger because without warning they can veer to the side right in front of the vehicle. A fully grown red kangaroo can do considerable damage to any vehicle when hit.
Anyway I shall begin.
[1]. THE CHURCH WITH THE CROOKED SPIRE
The twisted spire on this church has become quite a landmark. The church is Chesterfield's parish church of St Mary and All Saints in Derbyshire. The 13th century twisted spire of 228 feet leans over 9 feet from the vertical. Some say the reason for the crookedness is that builders used green timbers, which warped over time. Over 32 tonnes of lead tiles covered the wood on the spire and this is what probably warped the shape.
There is a lesson contained in that shape. There is not one of us who is not misshapen and warped since birth. The bible says we were born that way. David mentions {{Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”}} Yes, even that innocent looking, helpless baby is a sin carrier and as it grows up, it will twist more and more under the leaden load of sin.
That is what we all are – crooked individuals. Sin warps minds and twists people’s natures, some a lot more than others. We all carry the old sin nature which the bible calls “the natural man”.
There is nothing we can do about it. We can’t fix ourselves, no more than the crooked spire can fix itself. Solomon wrote this – {{Ecclesiastes 1:15 “What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking, cannot be counted.”}} There we have it. Left to our own devices we can do nothing about our reprobate state.
Efforts have been made to brace up that spire and do what can be done in support, but to fix it properly, you need to go back to the original builders and rectify the problem. Of course they are not around from the 13th century.
There is a Builder we need to go to, in our lives, to fix our problem. He is the One who made us, our Creator. He can straighten the crooked – {{Isaiah 40:3 “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”}} (KJV) and {{“Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.”}} (ESV).
Before we finish this one, there is a serious verse in Isaiah to look at – {{Isaiah 52:14 “Just as many were astonished at you, My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”}} The sense in that verse is that the weight of our filthy sins upon the Saviour on the cross was so great that He was so disfigured, his face contorted, that He was not recognisable as a human being. The Pulpit Commentary puts it this way, [[“The world was "astonished" to see in One, no outward show of grandeur or magnificence, no special beauty or "comeliness" (Isaiah 53:2), but a Presence unattractive to the mass of men at all times, and in the end so cruelly marred and disfigured as to retain scarcely any resemblance to the ordinary form and face of man.”]]
My Lord Jesus became the crooked One in my place that He might make me, recreate me, as one who is straight before the Lord God. Thank you, dear Lord for doing all that for me!
[2]. THE SQUIRRELS AT COLCHESTER
Colchester is a town in the historic county of Essex, an historic market town. We had not too much time there, but did manage to see Colchester Castle from Norman times, around 1080 A.D., and some of the Roman walls and ruins. We did not have enough time to go in.
On the way, when walking to the Castle, I saw squirrels. This was the first time I had been close to squirrels, so that was new. One of them was very sick so you could stand right next to it. I was saddened to learn that these grey squirrels were introduced from America and they have been displacing all the native red squirrels of Britain. That is an ecological disaster.
All that spoke to me of displacement. In our Christian lives, displacement is a dangerous thing and needs red lights on it. What can be displaced and what can be done about it?
Take a vibrant Christian life when someone first came to the Saviour and got saved. Everything was fresh and the relationship was wonderful. The Lord meant everything and fellowship was so delightful. Over time things changed; they did not change much at first, only slowly, but this thing came in, and that thing was introduced; this behaviour was adopted, and that interest was entertained and pursued.
Yes, it was like the lovely red squirrel being replaced by the dull, diseased, grey squirrel. In time not one red squirrel could be found.
The person never set out to make it that way, and it happened because of two factors, neglect and extra-curricula activities. A Christian can not neglect the pillars of his and her faith, those being, a strong attachment to the bible, and prayer and communion with other Christians, and a burning desire to learn all about their Saviour.
The “junk food” we take into our Christian lives can also be very detrimental. We can get involved in questionable matters, in time absorbing worthless pursuits, and before we know it, we can be ensnared by these matters that take us away from God.
How do we ensure we stay on the right path? The bible says this about itself - {{Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:10 With all my heart I have sought You. Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Psa 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against You.”}}
The bible is our charter, our guide, our instruction book, our “how to fix it” manual, our book of healthy food. We must do as God commanded us – {{2Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth,”}}
We must maintain prayer and fellowship. Let not the grey squirrels replace the beauty of the red squirrel. The wholesomeness of the Christian life must not be overtaken or destroyed by the wrong. The grey squirrel means sickness (Greys compete with reds for food and also carry a virus known as squirrelpox. While greys are actually immune to the disease, they transmit it to reds, for whom it is fatal.)
[3]. THAT MAGNIFICENT DOWN TO EARTH PAINTING
On one occasion the superintendent minister of a large Boston church (large in size; sadly not in numbers), invited me to accompany him on a visit to a prison farm close to Boston where he was the prison chaplain (or whatever the local term was). I found that a real eye-opener. We did a bit in Boston in ministry (Lincolnshire).
The men in that prison farm were close to ending their prison sentences and the purpose of the farm was to rehabilitate them before going back to normal society. I was so impressed with the behaviour of the men (I don’t know what term might apply – inmate or prisoners or whatever). They were highly respectful when they spoke to you and I was able to see some of the projects that were undertaken at that place.
We went to the small chapel in the complex and what struck me was a painting that was done on the front inside wall. It was absolutely magnificent, done by one of the inmates and it depicted the last supper. It was so realistic, not with stylised figures or effeminate men or insipid expressions, but with actual, real faces. In fact I believe they were modelled on men who were in that prison farm, but the expressions were so down to earth, maybe just slightly carracturedred. The painting covered the wall and the door which when closed, was part of the painting.
The thought I had was a relief that someone could actually place Christianity right there at the coal face – real men in a real situation. There was none of this distant, colourless unreal portrayal you see often in parish churches and cathedrals in statues and some imagery. Even the greatest artist, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper was a bit unreal with ordinary people (maybe) and certainly was when compared with what I saw.
Jesus met and related to real people, warts and all. People were not “Hollywood brushed”. They were normal people in need and their expressions showed that. What that chapel painting did for me was to say, “Be real with real people and meet them where they really are!” The other extremely important thing is this, “Be real for the Lord, because the Lord is real with us.” God hates shams.
[4]. NARROW LANEWAYS AND LOSEABLE PATHS
(Loseable can also be Losable). One of the excitements for my wife and me was when our hosts took us from Boston to Cornwall and we stayed for a few days out from Truro. At first we went on a circuitous route from Truro trying to find the place (Hustyn’s) with the many byroads (or should I call them “bypaths”). The whole area is beautiful but you need to know where you are going.
Something I had never seen before and it was scary, were these very narrow lanes fringed with bushes and right behind them were solid stone walls. On one occasion a car came from the opposite direction and how the two drivers managed to inch past each other and not hit the other car or scrape the walls was almost miraculous. I do not think I could drive in such conditions after being used to much wider roads.
Laneways and byroads! How people can track down these in their lives to destinations that lead them into trouble, is a sad thing. It is so easy to leave the main road and end up on one of these narrow lanes that in turn branches off into other bypaths. It is tragic that humankind is wandering around on narrow paths and bypaths and deviations, and ends up in tragic circumstances.
It is like there is a great need for signposting on every lane and path, but the world hates signposts because God’s laws and commands do not suit the great mass of people. They dismiss them even when they are there in place. When God says, “You shall not steal,” people go out and steal and cheat.
In the NASB the word “bypaths” occurs just once – {{Jeremiah 18:15-16 ‘For My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless gods and they have stumbled from their ways, from the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, not on a highway, Jer 18:16 to make their land a desolation, an object of perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head.”}}
If only we can get back to the ancient paths for they were the paths of righteousness. There is a highway that leads to God, and who wants to come with me? Sinful byways are everywhere today and even Governments encourage people into sinful behaviours.
[5]. THE MAJOR OAK IN SHERWOOD FOREST
Sherwood Forest, not far from Nottingham, is world famous for the legend of Robin Hood, and the Forest today is only a faction the size of what it once was when the Major Oak germinated. People go to see this oak tree, which is reputed to be the oldest one in Britain.
The Major Oak is the biggest oak tree in Britain, with a canopy spread of 28 metres, a trunk circumference of 11 metres and an estimated weight of 23 tonnes. It is said to be around 800 to 1100 years old. When I first saw it, it was interesting because of its location and size for England. I have seen some really big trees and the Mountain Ash of southern Australia and the Kauri Pine of the tropics would dwarf the oak.
Nevertheless the oak has withstood centuries of adversity and has become resilient. It reminds me of those Christians who have battled and won the fight. These following verses refer to those who enter the New Jerusalem way in the future – {{Revelation 21:3 I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, Rev 21:4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death. There shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things have passed away.”}}
Psalm 1 speaks about the man who walks with the Lord – {{Psalm 1:3 “and he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither and in whatever he does, he prospers.”}} Be steadfast, resilient in the fight; don’t lower the standard, and maintain your testimony for the Lord. We live in days of adversity.
[6]. THOSE SNAKING LINES OF DRY STONE WALLS
I am so used to wire fences. They are all over Australia and great fences track over cattle and sheep stations (ranches for Americans). Australia has the world’s longest fence, the Dingo fence of 5531 km in length. Its purpose is to keep the dingo (wild dog) contained on one side of the fence.
Throughout England, one sees rock/stone walls but in Yorkshire it is an art. We went to visit the southern Dales area which I enjoyed so much. All over the farmers’ fields are these dry stone walls and they serve as fences. When first you see them they look a bit strange rising and falling on slopes and they multiply all over.
Walls are barriers. The Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China were barriers. The wall/fence Trump was putting up was a barrier, but a lunatic abolished it.
Walls can be safety. The shepherds of Israel used to take their sheep to the sheepfold that had fences, that were more stone and thorn bushes for walls. They were to keep the sheep secure.
The walls in Yorkshire are not meant to be broken down for they speak of safety, security and containment but there are some walls that are meant to be broken down. Because the Judeans had forsaken God by turning to pagan idolatry and horrible practices like throwing their children into the fire with the worship of Moloch, God had forsaken them and the walls of Jerusalem meant nothing anymore. This is the record of that – {{Jeremiah 52:14 “So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.”}}
There is another wall that is broken down and only the power of God could do that through the cross of Calvary. This is the testimony of that victory -
{{Ephesians 2:13-16 “but now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, Eph 2:14 for He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall Eph 2:15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, Eph 2:16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.”}}
The death and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ has broken down all the barriers the walls of sin had caused, and the wall that divided Jew and Gentile. Gentiles were strangers to God’s blessings but now with the barrier of the dividing wall gone, we all enter into Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
He has done so much for us. Christian, truly commit yourself to the Lord for the time is short when He comes to take the Church home, and what will you have to offer Him when he comes – a selfish life?
Any who are not saved and read this, you need to get right with God. Come to Him and confess your sins and hand your life over fully to the Lord. All your walls of sin and separation will be broken down.
God bless you all.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
