Words for Worship

Ministry Today

To understand my story

you have to know

the layout

of our family’s church

in Helensburgh.

 

Because,

to get from

the floor of the house –

as it were –

to the pulpit you must go

through a door

at the front

and turn immediately left,

through a curtain

and up the steps.

 

Well one day

we had Mr Spence

as our pulpit supply.

 

At the pre-sermon hymn

he left for the pulpit

by the door.

 

However,

at the hymn’s end

he had yet to appear

in the pulpit.

 

As seconds ticked by

we waited expectantly,

then impatiently

and then

with concern

and the odd giggle.

 

Suddenly, the pulpit steps curtain

was bashed about

Morecombe and Wise style

and Mr Spence appeared.

 

He then admitted

he had lost his way

in the darkness

of the corridor

behind the scenes

and ended up

outside the back door

on the pavement.

 

We, of course,

forgave Mr. Spence easily

for he was

a saintly old gentleman

and also a very brave one.

 

Because after his name

and degrees

he had the initials MC –

he held the military cross.

 

Well, today,

we come to another soldier

turned clergyman.

 

He is in fact

our last Celtic saint

and is Cuthbert.

 

Now, he was brought up

in the Lammermuir hills

as a shepherd’s boy

before embarking

on a military career.

 

He then took up

the contemplative life

and become in time

the Abbot of Melrose.

 

Actually this was

quite a common pattern

for Celtic saints.

 

For many had been soldiers

before becoming monks.

 

The question must be then –

what did the experience

of military matters

bring to the work

of the sacred and of sainthood.

 

 

In my recent reading  

of the Northumbrian office –

the daily prayer book

of that new Celtic community –

I came across an entry

that was very challenging indeed.

 

This is what it said –

when suffering comes your way

, there is one thing for certain

and it is –

you will ask –

why has this happened.

 

And almost as certain

you will receive no answer.

 

The book goes on –

if the why could be removed,

dear brother,

most of the transforming power

of the cross

would disappear.

 

The 'why' factor of the cross

is its sharpest,

most effective,

most deadly aspect.  

 

Remove the why factor

and there really isn’t

much suffering involved.

 

Now on the face of it,

I didn’t find these words

particularly comforting.

 

In fact, I found them

rather daunting.

 

But on the other hand

they point up reality;

the truth that

we do hopefully enjoy

periods of peace

in our lives

but we also must face up

to others of turmoil,

anxiety and suffering.

 

The time when

the question why

is our enemy.

 

Times that we feel

Less

are of the cross

than we are on the cross.

 

Yet it was during a time

on the cross

that brought

the old soldier

in Cuthbert

to the fore.

 

For in….. The Celtic church

met the roman church

at Whitby

and the latter’s liturgy

and ways prevailed.

 

In modern parlance,

the ancient church

of these isles

had been the subject

of a successful take over bid.

 

Needless to say

that left behind

those unwilling to change.

 

 What better time

to call back

o the colours

your old campaigners

and one such was Cuthbert?

 

For, he had entered semi-retirement

from leadership

when he called

to be the Prior of Lindesfarne.

 

Now, this was  one

of the very bastions

of the Celtic tradition.

 

He started by teaching

the new ways

by example.

 

But those wedded

to the old

were still none to pleased.

 

 Nevertheless Cuthbert

bore the whole situation

with patience and forbearance;

bringing them around

little by little.

 

However, at chapter meetings

he was often worn out

by bitter insults.

 

And it was then

he would simply rise

and walk out,

calm and unruffled.

 

Next day he would give

the same people

exactly the same admonitions

as if there had been

no unpleasantness

the day before.

 

Well, we must assume

that Cuthbert felt racked

on the cross

with all this strife.

 

But he knew too

that any time

on the cross

is a not the time

for the question ‘why’,

rather it is a time of war.

 

Because he also knew

that any war

is fought successfully

from the inside.

 

He knew that every war

approached with enough strength

can be won.

 

 

And how could he stronger

than with the power of Christ

behind him.

 

He knew indeed

that a war

fought in faith

will see

a more enduring peace prevail.

 

So if today we feel we are at war,

let us tackle our struggle

with the outlook

of Cuthbert.

 

Let us be careful

of that devilish question

of why.

 

Let us battle forward

with patient

yet implacable endurance

and let us push on

with persistent faith

in the cross’ ultimate promise.

 

Because it was only

via the pain of the cross

that Jesus was changed,

glorified

and raised to new life.

 

It was only his victory

over the cross

that can give

our desperate questions

their hoped for answer –

and that is –

why not!

 

However, those amongst us

with a military streak

will know something else.

 

And it is the surest way

to victory in war

is to prepare well

in times of peace.  

 

For if we all agree

that times of the cross

will feature in our lives,

then we also need

to acknowledge

the wisdom of preparing for them.

 

In other words,

we must struggle daily

when all is well

to find the time,

inclination

and effort to maintain our faith.

 

We need to be diligent in our prayer –

because it is only

by the steady stream of advice

and commands

from our superior

that we sharpen the weapons

for the fight ahead.

 

It is also

in steadily reading

of scripture

that we make sure

the font of intelligence

as to what to do next

doesn’t run dry.

 

And it is in quiet meditation

that we seek out

the courage to face

the enemy

in whatever form

and not run away

to defeat.

 

For as the Celtic tradition has it –

this is the way to face any season –

to triumph over every season

and eventually to aspiring

to make our lives season-less.

 

Or as one of their scribes

once wrote;

when you reckon

the sound of abundant rain

and the hot blowing

of a dry spell

are exactly the same,

then you will be near

the land of maturity.

 

Cuthbert as an old soldier

too knew this need of preparation.

 

Since, in late life,

he chose to make his home

on Inner Farne.

 

This was a small island

near Lindesfarne

that was reputed to be

haunted by evil spirits.

 

Before taking up residence,

he spent many hours

in scriptural meditation

and prayer.

 

For as he said –

not till I have gained victory

over our invisible enemy

by prayer

did I take upon myself

to seek a remote battlefield

farther away

from my fellow men.

 

And here is the greatest point

soldiering can teach us

about times of trouble.

 

For no British Tommy ultimately

climbs from his trench

for king and country,

or even for orders and threats.

 

Instead, he does so

not to let his mates down.

 

Put in our own context,

none of us

need face the time of suffering,

trial and turmoil alone.

 

For we always have friends

in our Christian faith,

family in our congregation

and above all

the support

of the best friend of all.

 

And who else can that be

than our Lord – Jesus Christ.

 

For if every time of personal war

is also a time

of a personal cross,

then we need

to know but one thing.

And that is our Captain

has gone before

into the battle

and he too has faced

the worse of the enemy fire.

 

Yet he did not fall.

 

He did fail

and he did not die.

 

Rather he stands triumphant

in the no man’s land

showing us

that all is well.

 

And it is on that certain ground,

he holds his reach out

to any carrying their own cross

and say – let me give you hand .

 

 

Nearer to our own times

than the Celtic era

was some 70 years ago.

 

It was then our nation

faced a time of war

and must have been

wracked for reassurance.

 

However, this time

an old sailor’s wisdom

came to the fore.

 

Because King George

did not attempt

to answer the question why –

he just gave

some sage advice

from Minnie Louise Haskins.

 

Here then is a sacred

even saintly word

to everyone facing

the cross of their war:

 

 

And I said to the man at the gate of the year

Give me al light that I may tread safely into the unknown

 

And he replied

Go out to the darkness

And put your hand into the hand of God.

 

That shall be to you better than a light

And safer than a known way.

 

So I went forth and finding the hand

Of God, trod gladly into the night

And he led me toward the hills and

The breaking of the day in the lone east

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN……………

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cuthbert Fighting