Monday
Thou hidden source of calm repose,
Thou all-sufficient love divine,
my help and refuge from my foes,
secure I am, if Thou art mine;
And lo! From sin and grief and shame
I hide me, Jesus, in Thy name.
On a path, walking along St Cyrus beach in early spring, these three daisies. They spoke to me then, as now. On a busy path no one had stood on them. Jesus spoke of the flowers as signals of God’s provision, as arguments against anxiety. Those first two lines of Charles Wesley’s hymn could have been on an 18th Century T-shirt! Calm because God’s love is all-sufficient! The source of Christian security, contentment and peace is the love of God in Jesus. The whole verse is a celebration of the security found in the all-sufficient love and power of the name of Jesus.
Tuesday
Thy mighty name salvation is,
and keeps my happy soul above;
comfort it brings, and pow’r and peace,
and joy and everlasting love;
to me, with Thy dear name, are giv’n
pardon and holiness and heav’n.
Following a huge storm, the old groynes were exposed on Aberdeen beach. Standing at a particular angle I noticed the shape of the cross, and with a heart on the cross-beam. I’ve always thought of this photo as sheer gift – the groynes were covered again not long after. The power of the North Sea still evident in this photo, surrounding the cross, is an always reminder that we are saved and held by the power of God. Again, Wesley simply pours ideas into six lines of lyrical praise of the power of God’s love in Christ, revealed on the cross, and available to believing hearts who call on Jesus’ name.
Wednesday
Jesus, my all in all Thou art;
my rest in toil, my ease in pain,
the healing of my broken heart,
in war my peace, in loss my gain,
my smile beneath the tyrant’s frown,
in shame my glory and my crown.
Just before Christmas I completed a tapestry based on Romans 5.5. “Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” It tries to show God’s love poured out upon the world in the gift of his Son, God’s love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, God’s gift. No wonder Wesley was so easily carried away in praise, ransacking the Bible and his vocabulary for words sufficient to the task of explaining the Divine love that captures human hearts like ours. The name of Jesus is the guarantee of a grace and love that adapts to every human need – many of which Wesley spells out here!
Thursday
In want my plentiful supply,
in weakness my almighty pow’r,
in bonds my perfect liberty,
my light in Satan’s darkest hour,
my help and stay whene’er call,
my life in death, my heav’n, my all.
Photo taken on the road to Montrose just as the oilseed flowers were at their brightest! The sheer abundance of flowers, the extravagance of colour, the promise of harvest. When Wesley got to writing about Jesus he couldn’t say everything that was in his heart – but not for want of trying! This whole hymn is a masterpiece of condensed devotion. The full register of human experience, the spectrum from grief to joy and from shame to forgiveness, from bonds to the perfect freedom of the children of God – Jesus fulfils every need, hears every cry. In words of another Wesley hymn Jesus’ name is life and health and peace.
Friday
In heav’nly love abiding,
no change my heart shall fear;
and safe is such confiding,
for nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me,
my heart may low be laid,
but God is round about me,
and can I be dismayed?
‘The Stilling of the Tempest’ is by a Chinese artist and translates this Gospel story into a Chinese image. This is a powerful picture of Jesus, standing on the prow of the ship, the disciples struggling to stay afloat and some of them clinging to Jesus. Christian faith in God holds firmly to two things; the presence and strength of Jesus, and the reality that in life storms come that would otherwise overwhelm us. To abide in the love of God, and to know that Christ abides with us as risen Lord, that’s the force of that small word ‘but’. “But God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?”
Painting by Monika Liu Ho-Peh, (1950s). Note that Jesus stands in a prominent position, arms outstretched in blessing and command as crucified and risen Lord.
Saturday
Wherever He may guide me,
no want shall turn me back;
my Shepherd is beside me,
and nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waketh;
His sight is never dim.
He knows the way He taketh,
and I will walk with Him.
Taken some years ago on a long hike up Glen Dye. That path goes for miles into the lower Highlands. To commit our lives to following Jesus is to agree to go on a long hike, and into unfamiliar territory! Like sheep we have a shepherd, like hikers we are wise enough to go with a guide where we don’t have a map. This simple hymn states in words of one syllable (occasionally two!) the truths that make this long hike worth the effort, and one we take with confidence: “He knows the way He taketh, and I will walk with Him.” The doctrine of Providence can become very complicated in theory; in practice our belief that God sees and prepares for what lies ahead in our lives is based on our trust in Jesus: “My Shepherd is beside me, and nothing can I lack.”
Sunday
Green pastures are before me
which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be o’er me,
where dark the clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure;
my path to life is free.
My Saviour is my treasure,
and He will walk with me.
This sheep had no intention of being scared off its green pasture! The echoes of Psalm 23 are easy to hear in this hymn, not least because it breathes the same fresh air of trust and confidence. This verse looks forward, knowing there are green pastures but also valleys of darkness, and that life is a long journey on unfamiliar paths. No promises that there will only be bright skies. But even under dark clouds our hope and freedom are fixed on a secure future as we abide in the heavenly love of God in Christ: “My Saviour is my treasure, and He will walk with me.”
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