The Gate of the Year!

It may not be altogether wise to refer to the Chinese at this time, but I believe that they are the only nation to give specific names to each calendar year. The year 2020, that is now coming to an end, was named "The Year of the Rat". Rats are powerful symbols of fertility, wealth and plenty, so people born in the Year of the Rat are considered to be optimistic, easy-going and kind, if a bit too direct. I wonder if the year will be looked back on as The Year of the Mask! I should note, by the way, that the Chinese New Year is a movable event, and that, for the Chinese, 2021 will not commence until Feb.12th!

I end the annual newsletter that my wife and I send out at this time, with these words: “So another, and most unusual, year has come to an end.  It would be a brave person who, with the evidence of the past 12 months to recall, would forecast anything about 2021. However, this is where we believe that our Christian faith is of great importance.  As someone once said: “We may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.”

Of course, 2020 has not been the only year in which there has been a worldwide crisis. In September 1939, Great Britain had entered what was to become the Second World War - just 21 years after the war to end all wars! The current Queen was, at that time the thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth. Her father, George VI was the reigning monarch and, as had become the custom, he spoke to the nation, by radio, on Christmas Day. In those uncertain last days of 1939, the king spoke words of peace that sought to calm the nation. He reminded them of the only true King, the One Who, alone, can provide true peace and real rest in such troubled times.  As he concluded his message of encouragement, he read the preamble of a poem that had been brought to his attention by the young Princess Elizabeth.

The poem that the Princess brought to her father’s attention was written by British poet Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957).  Published in 1908 it was titled God Knows. Years later, the poem gained popularity with a new title, The Gate of the Year, taken from the poem’s first line. It reads:

"And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the Hand of God.  That shall be to you better than 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 towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East."  

King George read the poem to reassure the British people that their future was secure - in the hands of God. That wisdom that was true for the British people then, is also true for all of us today!

As the new year dawns, let us remember that God is our only safe harbour. He is our only true hope. He will lead and direct our lives when we put our trust in Him.  If we are willing to allow Him, He will light our path, and direct our steps, as we enter this new year.

We may not know what the future holds - but we may, through a saving faith in the Lord Jesus, know Him Who holds the future.

May all who read this blog post enjoy that relationship, and have a very good New Year. 

Jésus est ressuscité! Alleluia!

The words in the heading are those with which I greeted my friends at our Fellowship in Bergerac, this morning.Of course, if I had been in an English-language speaking country (with the appropriate tradition!) I would have said "The Lord is risen!", and the response would have been "He is risen indeeed!".

Language fascinates me. The difference in the words that languages use for the same concept is always interesting. I prefer the French word for today. It is "Pâques" which is very closely associated with the French word for "Passover" (Pâque). This, it seems to me, is a better description of this day on which we especially remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, as it happened at Passover (Hebrew: Pesach) time. What I do not like is the word "Easter" that is derived from the name of a pagan fertility cult goddess - hence the "easter bunny" (the natural symbol of fertility! Have you heard the one about the pair of rabbits being chased by hounds? One turned to the other and asked, "Shall we try to outrun them - or stop for five minutes and outnumber them?"!!); the chocolate egg - or the decorated hen's egg; the daffodils and tulips. 

The UK newspapers were reporting, over the past few weeks, that a number of chocolate egg manufacturers had dropped the word "easter" from their packaging. There was outrage from some (predictable?!) quarters! Personally, I was perfectly content, and not simply because I am currently not resident in the UK. One of the problems for the Body of the Christ, the Church, is that it has lost much of its distinctiveness. As I recently wrote for an English-language e-zine here in France, "Surely the church is intended to be a prophetic voice to the nation – not a subservient reflection of the social norms that, sadly, are so much at odds with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the Christ! Is it not the case that the established churches that are seeking to emulate society ..., are slowly dying as they forsake the Word on which they should be founding their message to mankind?" I went on, in that article, to quote the late Very Rev Prof Tom Torrance, MBE, D.Litt., D.D., D.Sc., Dr.Theol., Dr.Teol., F.B.A., F.R.S.E.: “The world likes a complacent, reasonable religion, and so is always ready to revere some pale Galilean image of Jesus, some meagre anaemic Messiah, and to give Him a moderate rational homage. . . . The truth is that we have often committed adultery with alien ideologies, confounded the Gospel with the religions of nature, and imbibed the wine of pagan doctrines and false principles and deceitful practices. We have sought to bend the will of God to serve the ends of man, to alter the Gospel and shape the Church to conform to the fashions of the times. We have yielded to pride and to the lust for power. We have been intimidated by the might of the beast through society, or the crowd, or the state, and betrayed, again and again, the cause of our Saviour.” (The Apocalypse Today; James Clarke & Co Ltd; 1961; p.155).

A very dear Jewish friend asked me, recently, why the resurrected Jesus did not perform other miracles during His post-resurrection appearances. My simple answer was that the resrrection, itself, was the greatest miracle that He could have performed!

In a society in which the Gospel message has been diluted, denigrated, distorted, denied, and even - as if it were possible! - attempted to be destroyed, we need the message of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus more than ever.

His resurrection was, of course, the fulfilment of a promise. After it, He made another - that He would return to this earth. That promise is, I believe, very close to being fulfilled. It is certainly closer than it was at this time last year! My wife is currently preparing for a brief visit to Scotland, later this week. How much more important, that each one of us prepare for the return of the Lord Jesus. He will come again, not as a helpless Babe, laid in a cattle-stall, but as the victorious, triumphant, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Have you prepared? If not, then I urge you to do so now - before it is too late, and you spend eternity cut off from His presence.