Chris's Corner

Chris HeathHaving now retired from the eldership, I feel that now I have a little time to write some little pieces that would be thoughts I had about the season of the church year. Some of you will remember the writings that I placed in the Herald every month. Well, Chris’s Corner will become another repository for these little writings and other things as they come to mind.

It has been suggested that I place my testimony in Chris’s Corner too. Well, I suppose I could do that, but not all at once – it would take too long, and when I come to think about it, after over 80years of life, I feel it would be wiser to give little snippets which I hope will perhaps give an indication of God’s work with me through my life. I just hope you won’t find these little snippets boring!

The Breath of the Holy Spirit.

On a visit to Iona, an island off the west coast of Scotland, I was able to spend a bit of time enjoying the peace that I found in the Abbey on the island. At one point, I was left in the Abbey virtually by myself as if it had been swept clear of everyone else.

As I was sitting, I closed my eyes and listened to the silence, there being only the sound of the gale that was buffeting the windows. Then suddenly, it was as if I was being lifted up into the air, up towards the ceiling and I was enveloped with a wonderful warmth the like of which I had never experienced before.

At last, I opened my eyes and found myself sitting on my chair – but the deep and wonderful warmth never left me and as I sat outside the Abbey in a sheltered corner, no matter how hard the wind blew and the rain fell, I never felt a thing, just feeling cosy and warm, as I ate my ham-roll lunch which I shared with a seagull who seemed to dance for his dinner as the wind blew him about. But although I didn’t realize it at the time, this was to be the start of a great awakening for me. I had felt the breath of the Holy Spirit for the first time.

As we see and experience the breath of spring with the appearance of all the spring flowers in the gardens, parks and the hedgerows, isn't this also an indication to us that God is showing to us through his creation that life will always come after death, that though life dies in its late autumn days, in the spring, everything comes alive and displays itself in all its glory.

And didn't our Lord Jesus Christ show us when he arose on the first Easter Day that we, although we might die, will arise again in an immortal body that is incorruptible.
Then, at the end of Eastertide, we read of Jesus' ascension after he had appeared to a large number of followers – how remarkable that sight must have been, to see Him rising up in the air and disappearing into a cloud. And then, those watching are told by two angels that Jesus would return in like manner – what a thing to look forward to.

And at Pentecost or Whitsun while the disciples were gathered together in the upper room hiding from those who might arrest them, the Holy Spirit descends upon them with tongues of fire and like a rushing mighty wind which was obviously loud enough to attract the attention of those outside in the street.
It was thus at that time that the Holy Spirit was sent so that the early church might be awakened, so that its workers might be given the gifts to fearlessly go out into the then known world to spread the gospel.

And since that time, this same Holy Spirit has never been taken from the church, for He will remain with us until Jesus returns. Many have said, 'But where is the Holy Spirit? He is rarely seen at work in the church now.' The problem has been that in many places the Holy Spirit has been stifled and grieved by people who say that it is not possible for supernatural acts to take place anymore. As a result, He has only been able to work in the background, inspiring individuals who looked for Him so that the church may be kept alive.

And can we experience the Holy Spirit in our lives now? Of course we can, but we must open ourselves to Him. We must lay aside our daily lives, even for half an hour so that we may pray and above all, to meditate on Him, to clear our minds and keep silent, so that we may hear Him as the still small voice within ourselves what God is saying to us through His Holy Spirit.

Then there will be times throughout our lives when we need some extra guidance especially when choosing a particular path in life. There will also be times when, unbidden, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit will give us strength. He will console us and help us through some difficult times in our lives – He will warm us within – He will assure us that all will be well.

But, above all, we should never forget what St. Paul told the church in Corinth – 'Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you and whom you have from God?' (1 Cor 6.19.) We are told in Psalm 46:. Indeed, even today, be still and feel the breath of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, on you, and within you, and be spiritually uplifted by Him, who will never forsake us.

Impossibilities

It seems to be a very long time ago, but when I come think about it, the piece written here below has echoes of one instance that took place in my life and during which I am sure that the Lord had a lot to do with saving me. Besides looking after a farm (not a big one!) I was, during the day, working as an agricultural contractor. I had a couple of tractors one of which was a four-wheel drive so that I was able to cope with some of the difficult terrain with which I was asked to work on.

One day, I was working with the four-wheel drive tractor fertilizer spinning on a neighbour’s field which for the most part was pretty steep – it had been recently reseeded so I had to be a little careful how I went. However, there was one place that looked a little steeper, but I kept going – to try to get out of it could have landed myself in trouble. I reached the dip in the bank, and then as the tractor climbed out of the top side of the dip, the front of the tractor reared up (not in the air) and I felt some alarm – that was when I cried out ‘Oh help me God’!

I don’t know how it happened but the front of the tractor was prevented from rearing up, as I had reckoned it should have, and I was able to drive out of the dip safely. The top of the field was flat and one couldn’t see the slope further down until one was on it. As a result as I started down the slope I realized that there was a bald patch of grass in front of me – just shiney slippery mud. Talk about adding insult to injury. At once, the tractor took off down this very steep slope – 5 tonnes of tractor gathering speed and no way to stop it. All I could do was to steer straight down the slope, keep my foot well away from the clutch and with the other foot jammed on the diff-lock, which caused the rear wheels to lock together and rotate at the same speed and in the same direction. Again: ‘Oh help me God!’ and almost immediately, the tyres gripped the ground - and again I was in control – or rather, the Lord was in control!!!! - but many have ended up in bits at the bottom of such a slope.

There must be many times when we exclaim that something is impossible. For example, those living in valleys with the fields sweeping up the steep sides will probably have seen some contractor or farmer ploughing or working in a field on a bank which looks as if it is almost vertical – how do they do it? It seems an impossibility!

One contractor (now retired) of my ken made a speciality of ploughing, reseeding and lime-spreading on impossibly steep slopes – but then as some had declared, they reckoned there were times when he suffered from a bad case of bravado as was the case when he purposefully drove up one of the steepest banks I've ever seen a tractor on and 'wrote' with the tractor wheels his nick-name in the tall bracken growing on the bank – the result of his work could be clearly seen from the main road on the other side of the valley.

Mind you, there was a time when he was lime-spreading on a steep bank and the brand-new tractor he was driving had literally rolled tail over nose and had landed in bits in the deep dingle below – I saw the bits of that tractor in the machinery supplier's yard shortly after – and yet the man had come out of it with only a few bruises as far as I'm aware!

Perhaps that's it – we are often amazed when we see someone doing something so out of the ordinary that we stop and gasp. Indeed, what we have seen is almost impossible to believe – it is so unbelievable that as a consequence our brains won't take it in, no matter what our eyes are trying to tell us.
I wonder if perhaps this was the case after Jesus had risen and appeared to the disciples? Suddenly, out of an impossibility had come a possibility – and yet it was totally unbelievable – it was mind-blowing. Indeed, the two disciples walking to Emmaus must have had it fixed so firmly in their minds that Jesus was dead that, although their eyes saw him, their brains did not – at least not until he broke bread in what had become to them his familiar fashion – then their eyes were opened, as we are told.

And then, when Jesus entered a closed room where the disciples were hiding, which had been locked and barred, they thought that he was a ghost. It was not until he let them examine his wounds and touch his body that they started to believe that he was indeed alive.
For let's face it, the disciples were being presented with an impossibility that somehow had inconceivably been made possible, that after death, in the resurrected state, there is a body which is not insubstantial like a ghost but can be felt and which can also eat food and talk and yet can go through solid walls and doors and travel distances instantly without walking.

But, the set of seeming impossibilities with which the disciples were faced after Jesus' resurrection didn't stop there. On Ascension Day, in that resurrected body Jesus ascended in full view of them until he was hidden by a cloud – he was not subject to the force of gravity like earthly bodies.
Then just as Jesus had promised his disciples, at Pentecost, they all received and were filled by the Holy Spirit, and it was then that the impossibilities began again but now to the general populace and to the travellers visiting Jerusalem – for they were amazed as they started to hear uneducated men 'declaring the wonders of God' in their own language no matter where they were from – and so that day, the infant church started to grow, and has finally encircled the globe – an impossibility then that has grown to be a certainty.

Thus, we should always remember that on that first Easter, the ultimate impossibility to the human mind was made into an ultimate certainty by Jesus – that there is life in an incorruptible body after death and that nothing is impossible to God.

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