“Christians are Christians by virtue of certain acts of God which took place at a definite time in the past, but these acts of God have released a dynamic force which will never allow Christians to stick fast at any point short of that divine rest which in this life is always a goal to be aimed at and never a stage which has been reached. The faith once for all delivered to the saints is not something which can be caught and tamed; it continually leads the saints forth to new ventures in the cause of Christ, as God calls afresh…

To stay at the point at which some revered teacher of the past has brought us, out of a mistaken sense of loyalty to him; to continue to follow a certain pattern of religious activity or attitude just because it was good enough for our fathers and grandfathers – these and the like are temptations which make the message of Hebrews a necessary and salutary one for us to listen to. Every fresh movement of the Spirit of God tends to become stereotyped in the next generation, and what we have heard with our ears, what our fathers have told us, becomes a tenacious tradition encroaching on the allegiance which ought to be accorded only to the living and active Word of God.

As Christians survey the world today, they see very much land waiting to be possessed in the name of Christ; but to take possession of it calls for a generous measure of that forward-looking faith which is so earnestly urged upon the readers of this epistle. Those first readers were living at a time when the old, cherished order was breaking up. Attachment to venerable traditions could avail them nothing in this situation; only attachment to the unchanged and onward moving Christ could carry them forward and enable them to face a new order with confidence and power.

So in a day when everything can be shaken and is being shaken before our eyes and even beneath our feet, let us in our turn give thanks for the unshakeable kingdom which we have inherited, which endures forever when everything else to which men and women may pin their hopes disappears and leaves not a wrack behind.”

(F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), Rev. Ed.) p.392.) 

First published in 1963, I bought F. F. Bruce's commentary on Hebrews in 1976 with money I received for the Duncan B. Herriot Prize in Church History. I didn't know it then, but in 1984 I became minister in Crown Terrace Baptist, the home church Dr Herriot. I have used Bruce's Hebrews ever since, and while scholarship on Hebrews has moved on in the 60 years since Bruce wrote it, this commentary remains a personal favourite. All of Bruce's exegetical common-sense is on display, built on deep learning in historical knowledge and skills in textual and classical criticism, showing Bruce's characteristic sympathy with the theology and spiritual experience of the New Testament writers.

The particular copy I now have was one of several volumes given to me in 1996. It came from the library of Dr Eleanor Walker, a gift from Eleanor's father, the late Dr David Walker, one of the leading educationalists of his generation. So I received it as a precious gift in memory of one of the finest medical missionary doctors I've ever had the privilege of knowing. I was Eleanor's pastor, and her friend. For most of her professional life Eleanor was an anaesthetist who also specialised in psychiatry at Nazareth Hospital, in Israel, working in an inter-faith environment, often enough while under threat from the hostility and at times violence that erupted in the region.

In 1992 Eleanor had come home after over 25 years of service to do theological study at New College, Edinburgh, to prepare her for ordained in ministry. In 1996 she graduated B.D. Honours with Merit, and was awarded best student of the year, and licensed to preach. Throughout her course Eleanor had been fighting a losing battle with cancer, and she was unable to move into that next stage and completion of her remarkable life.

She had asked me to speak of her at her funeral because she knew I would be honest and not make her out to be a saint! Which she wasn't, except she was! Not knowing then that I would receive her own copy of F. F. Bruce on Hebrews, I finished with words from Hebrews 12, about running with patience, surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, and looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of her faith.

The last page of Bruce's commentary, quoted above, is such a clear and succinct summary of why the message of Hebrews remains of first relevance for 21st Century Christians. Bruce's own background in the Christian Brethren provided a further layer of attachment and insight into the warnings and encouragements of this text, it being a favourite source of Gospel exposition and exhortation within that spiritual tributary of the evangelical tradition.

As a piece of writing for Advent, Bruce's conclusion turns us forcefully to the future urging upon us "a generous measure of forward looking faith…our only attachment to the unchanged and onward moving Christ…" Faith looking forward, looking to Jesus as the pioneer, refusing to play safe by staying where we are, persevering as people of faith in an age where such commitments are dismissed – Hebrews is a call to perseverance in running the race, and trust in the One who pulls us forward into a future to us unknown, but where He is ahead of us.

The tradition from which F. F. Bruce came was steeped in that form of biblical study that sees types of Christ in the Old Testament texts, and for that reason loved the contrasts of old and new, then and now, and Christ as the fulfilment of all God's covenant promises. The first verses of Hebrews, in the language of King James are distilled essence of that spirituality:

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…"

          

"The Holy Spirit, like the flight of the wild goose in Celtic lore, longs to sweep over the waters yet again. It cries high above the place where the wild geese once soared…summoning the earth to a beauty forgotten, but not lost. In the haunting sound of that cry, says Mary Oliver, we fret at the mess that we've made of things. We embrace a harsh repentance, a new awareness, and a readiness to act. Meanwhile the world continues in its wild and glorious determination to sing, with or without us.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again. 

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

The world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild gees, harsh and exciting —

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

Accepting our place in the family of things means doing everything necessary to assure our mutual delight and well-being. It comes ultimately as a gift, a shared longing, a consciousness that we all are one. We recognise it, at last, in the desire of the geese for exuberant song, the desire of the creek to flow unrestrainedly to the sea, and the desire of human beings to join in God's own deep longing for beauty. May it be so."

(Ravished by Beauty. The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality. Belden C. Lane. (Oxford, 2011) page 246) 

 This is one of those books that opens long shut doors in the mind. It is about Calvin, Puritans and Jonathan Edwards. It majors on desire, longing, beauty, and love of diversity in God and in human hearts. Lane is passionate about ecology and theology, love for the natural world and love for God, and especially insisting that these two ways of looking at the world absolutely must be held together in a robust conception of God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all that is. 

Belden Lane's first book was similarly unusual, with the tile The Solace of Fierce Landscapes. It's a study of the desert and wilderness as places of encounter with God. I had an email exchange with Belden Lane 10 years ago about his books, and the importance of upholding a strong doctrine of creation as the anchor point of a balanced Christian spirituality that is at once BOTH passionately in love with God AND lovingly protective of all that God has made.

I've included Lane's conclusion to Ravished by Beauty in this Advent series because he offers a theologically informed argument for care of creation, and a passionate plea for a world in ecological crisis. His main resources for his argument on behalf of human curatorship of the natural world are Calvin and Jonathan Edwards – here is one of Calvin's celebratory remarks about the world as theatre and masterpiece of God:

Correctly then is this world called the mirror of divinity; not that there is sufficient clearness for man to gain a full knowledge of God, by looking at the world, but…the faithful to whom he has given eyes, see sparks of his glory, as it were, glittering in every created thing. The world was no doubt made, that it might be a theatre of divine glory. (Commentary on Hebrews 11.3, quoted in Lane, p. 71-2)

Advent is a season of hope and expectation in a world where hope seems at times overwhelmed by the volume and noise of bad news. Wars rooted in ancient enmities and a sense of grievance requiring lethal violence against others; a global climate in imminent danger of collapse with catastrophic consequences for all the world's inhabitants, including humans; and these two clear and present dangers fuelled by economic rapacity, myths of endless growth, and the consequent destruction of natural resources and world sustaining environments.

The problems are beyond our mere human ingenuity even if we were capable of collaborative and mutual unselfishness in fixing the brokenness we cause. Advent is not, however, a spiritual, intellectual or theological escape mechanism. It is a time when we look to the light that shines in the darkest corners of God's creation. God's investment in our world is full and final in the coming of Christ, the Light of the world – "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." That is Advent, hope, expectation, but with eyes wide open in the darkness.

Belden Lane's book, Ravished Beauty, is a healthy and important reminder that this earth belongs to God. Its beauty in diversity, its life-giving properties, its purpose as home of God's creatures, these are all in the sovereign gift of God. When Lane finishes his book with the image of the Holy Spirit brooding over the world, surprisingly that image can also pull us towards Bethlehem, where by the gift of that same brooding and creative Holy Spirit, "unto us a child is born." 

I don't suppose, left to the meditations and machinations of my own mind I would easily make the connection between Advent and climate change. But once hinted, it's hard to ignore, and surprising that I hadn't thought it before. As a final comment on this fine book, one of his brilliant excursuses is titled 'Biodiversity and the Holy Trinity.' 

In this essay Lane combines a sobering account of the breakdown of the biosphere, so much of it our own doing, and a plea that we model our behaviour on the Holy Trinity. No, he isn't saying the economic Trinity is the model of human social and political relations. He is arguing that the biodiversity of God's creation carries the fingerprints of the artist, or put another way, "if we are to survive as a family of species in this biosphere, we will have to imitate the exchange of love and reciprocity that characterizes God's own inner being." 

 

 "The story of the suppression of women in the Church is a sorry tale that still has repercussions today. Women have been silenced, marginalised, refused entry to theological discussion and blamed for it. As we have seen throughout this book, however, there is a wealth of evidence that tells us that in the earliest period of Christianity women were highly active as disciples and teachers, prophets, missionaries and midwives of the faith. Texts could later be edited or forgotten and memorials obliterated, but the fact is that the story of Jesus began with a woman who gave birth to him and ended with a woman who witnessed him alive after his death. Jesus was not one to follow social convention, and openly challenged social norms and regional authorities. Women disciples of Jesus were a vital part of his movement, and women spearheaded the growth of the mission in the decades that followed. 

Yet women were a liability as the faith spread around the world, at a time when any groups led by women would be ridiculed by (male) opponents. Stories about women in the Gospels and the letters of Paul could make certain men feel uncomfortable and leave the movement open to attack. Three centuries after Jesus, Christianity would be remade to sit comfortably with Roman imperial rule, as the religion of the rich and mighty, at home in the military. Perhaps the first step to unmasking some of the changes is by the power of memory. For this we need not only evidence, but also a firm grasp  of the ancient context, and a good dose if informed imagination. 

We hope we have set the women disciples of Jesus in their rightful place, close to Jesus in his mission in Galilee, and active in establishing, serving and leading Christian communities as the faith spread around the Mediterranean and the wider ancient world.

The question is: once these women are truly remembered, where will we go from here?"

Women Remembered. Jesus' Female Disciples, Joan Taylor & Helen Bond. (London: H&S, 2022) pages 183-4.

This is one of several recent books ¹ which examine closely the ancient social and cultural context within which Christianity emerged. The writers are both Professors of Christian Origins, and amongst the leading scholars of the New Testament world and the first centuries of the Christian Church. They closely examine the NT texts in which women are featured in the ministry of Jesus and the life of the early church. The result is a fascinating peeling back of the layers of interpretive presuppositions, miss-steps in historical detail and analysis, and offer plausible accounts of the real and decisive role of women in the origins, growth and development of the Christian movement and its mission.

In the context of Advent, this book is more than a mere reminder that women played some part in the Gospel story!  Luke tells of the annunciation, composes the Magnificat as a theological hymn of God's great reversals of power and privilege, and gives the fullest description of the birth at Bethlehem that moved heaven and earth. And yes, the chapter on Mary the mother of Jesus is a robust examination of the texts, their reception and possible interpretations.

But the point of this book, and why it matters as an Advent perspective, is to rehabilitate in our informed imaginations the active, responsive, initiating and game-changing roles played by women in the story of Jesus and beyond into the Christian mission. Matthew comments, "Mary kept and pondered these things in her heart." Perhaps, thirty years before Paul and all those other male witnesses, Mary is our first Christian theologian, working out the significance of the child she carried and bore, for the future of her people, and a new hope for the world. 

^{1. The other I would recommend is by Nijay Gupta, Tell Her Story. How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church (IVP Academic, 2023).}

Monday

Isaiah 9.2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”

There are different kinds of darkness within which we sometimes have to walk. Many of them can feel like living in a land overshadowed by despair, anxiety, grief or loneliness. These bring an accompanying loss of motivation and appetite for life. Often life in our world these days is like walking in darkness, living under deep shadows of foreboding and uncertainty. Advent interrupts our pessimism. Isaiah declares the coming of the light of God’s coming! Against a horizon of despair, hope dawns, as God says “Let there be light!” God is on the move and hope is rising.

Tuesday

Isaiah 9.6a “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.”

I can’t read these words without hearing them set to Handel’s music with its outspokenly joyous chorus! It’s an irresistible Advent earworm! These words were first spoken to broken hearted people who could see no good future. Government was Empire, and Empire was about force, control and loss of freedom. The sign of the new born child was God’s promise of a different future. This Advent, when you celebrate the birth of the Christ child, and open yourself again to the gift of God’s Son, do so looking forward to the coming of God’s Kingdom, in God’s good time.

Wednesday

Isaiah 9.6b “And he will be called, Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

The Advent story is full of name giving. Matthew who quotes the prophets dozens of times, writes at the very start “You will call his name Jesus” and “they will call him Emmanuel.” Together with Isaiah’s fourfold descriptor of the Son who is given, all these names expand the horizons of our hopes and the range of our imagination. Jesus is the personification of wise planning, purposeful power, protective care, and lasting peace. The rule of Jesus is not aimed at self-promotion, but saving his people, being the presence of God amongst our humanity. Why not use this verse as a one line praise-prayer throughout Advent.

Thursday

Isaiah 9.6b “And he will be called, Wonderful Counsellor…,

“Great God of wonders, all thy ways / are matchless godlike, and divine.” God’s plans are wonderful in their detail, scale and in God’s power to make them happen. Isaiah more than once says God’s words will accomplish the purpose for which they are sent. Even more so God’s saving purpose in sending his Son, the Word made flesh. This is the wonder of wonders, God’s strategic plan for salvation, redemption and renewal of his covenant through Jesus, who is Immanuel, God with us.

Friday 

Isaiah 9.6b “And he will be called, Mighty God…,

Isaiah 9 was written in the dark days of the crushing power of Assyria. What Israel needed was a new king who would deliver them. Isaiah’s words of comfort are like an arrow into the future when hundreds of years later, in Bethlehem, a child is born and a son is given. Against the might of Herod, Pilate, Caesar, and all other kingdoms, God came, not in annihilating power, but in the purposive persistence and mercy of the mighty God, who saves and forgives human sins, who redeems and renews a people for himself. His rule and reign are assured because the government will be upon the shoulders of God and of his Christ, whose name is Jesus, Immanuel.

Saturday

Isaiah 9.6b “And his name will be called Everlasting Father…”       

In the Old Testament the father is the one who holds full authority and is to be respected by the whole household. The father is also the one who guards, supports and provides for all who are under his care. It isn’t hard to see why Isaiah chooses that image to speak of God’s protective care for his people. In the coming of Jesus the world will see, once and for all, the Fatherhood of God, the full authority of the Redeemer over the powers that be, and the protective care of all who come in trust and obedience to live under the kingship of Christ. Advent is for always, and Immanuel is God with us, here and now, and “even to the end of the age.” Those are the very last words of Matthew’s gospel!

Sunday

Isaiah 9.6b “His name shall be called Prince of Peace…”

With Assyria’s military machine in full swing against them, Israel had no chance. Isaiah spoke to their panic, and contradicted those resigned voices of despair. Never discount the Advent of God! The coming of Immanuel for Christians is the reality of God come amongst us in Jesus. The final revelation of God is the Word become flesh, the living embodiment of God’s grace and truth, full of glory. Not the glory of military might, whether Assyrian, Roman, or empires of any other age, including our own. This Advent we celebrate Christ incarnate, crucified, risen, and ascended, the Prince of Peace, the peacemaker par excellence. “On earth peace to all the people, on whom God’s favour rests.” For that we wait, and pray, and hope, this Advent.    

(The window photo is from a good friend's window overlooking the firth of Clyde. The green wreath is the very fine colouring work of my friend Ben.) 

"He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfil for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.”

The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Albert Schweitzer, (A. C. Black. London: 1911) Page 401

This is such a poignant conclusion. At the end of one of the most thorough, painstaking, and frankly at times tedious books ever written on Jesus, these beautiful words. Hesitant, revealing remarkable intellectual humility, yet the person who wrote this was one of the greatest organists of his generation, a respected professor of philosophy and science, later a medical doctor working in remote parts of French Equatorial Africa, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and much else.

New Testament scholarship has moved on in the century and more since the publication of Schweitzer's Quest. The fourth Quest of the Historical Jesus is currently underway, examining the evidential value of the Gospel of John and its relations to the other Gospels and early Christian documents.

As a first reading in Advent, Schweitzer's words pull us back to those moments in our lives when we too heard the call of Jesus, when we were met by God in ways we still barely comprehend. Sure, Schweitzer's great book has equally great false steps here and there. But the passion of his quest, his belief that Christ moves amongst us as a compelling and commanding presence, still rings true to the experience of many who still come across his words at the end of his most famous book. 

My reading of Schweitzer, both his writings (only some of which I have read), and his life as it is told in various biographies, is of a man overloaded with gifts and the great sense of personal responsibility they brought. More than many, (and many of his critics) he exemplified obedience to the categorical imperative of the call of God with radical thoroughness. His medical work was in response to his understanding of Jesus' call to him personally, to leave all and follow Him.

Schweitzer's final sentences of his genuinely epochal book are as much personal testimony as evangelistic pointer to others. When I read them at the start of Advent 2024, I too hear again the echo of that first summons, and the invitation to follow him in the fellowship of that ineffable mystery in which we learn, in our own experience, who He is. 

During Advent I’m planning a series of daily posts. I’ve done this before for Advent towards Christmas, and Lent towards Easter. This series has the unpromising and admittedly odd title “Advent and Book Endings”!

The last paragraph, or the final few sentences of a book can often be the culmination of what a writer has been trying to say, argue, suggest, or explain. Whether it’s the final verses in a collection of poems, concluding thoughts of a long scholarly thesis, the resolution of a novel, the parting shots in an argument about theology, history, ethics, or whatever; conclusions matter, and the final words of what an author wants to convey to the reader are seldom superfluous.

Over the years I’ve learned to pay attention to how a writer finishes. Several such endings are famous, and if I’ve read the book I’ll include it. Otherwise this is a near random selection from the book shelves.  

Here are the guidelines I’ve set myself.

1. Each extract will have a brief explanation of why I’ve chosen it, and how the passage leads us into a deeper understanding of Advent as a season of waiting hopefully, longing for light as we wait in darkness.
2. The explanation of each ending and its relation to Advent will be around 150 words. They are not essays, they are notes aimed at offering food for thought throughout the Advent season.
3. Each is a stand-alone post, so they can be read or skipped and those interested can come and go if one every day is just too much!
4. The aim is to encourage us in heart and mind as we are pulled into the rhythm of the liturgical season.

Monday

1 Chronicles 29.1-9 “The task is great for this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God…I have provided for the temple of my God, gold, silver, bronze, onyx, turquoise and fine stones…I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver…”

The first half of this chapter catalogues the sacrifice and generosity of David, and all the leaders and people in providing everything needed for a magnificent Temple. God is worthy of only the best we can offer. Love for God shouldn’t be constrained by our budgets, nor can worship be wholehearted if it’s part time. Service to God always involves costly giving of our personal treasure, – the gift of who we are.

Tuesday 

1 Chronicles 29.10-11 “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.”

David the musician was a one man praise band. Praise vibrates throughout the Psalter, and here one of his recorded prayers begins and ends with praise. Praise takes the long view, down through the years tracing the faithfulness of God, the steadfast love that is from everlasting to everlasting. Whatever occurs that shakes our faith in life and ourselves, the one who changes not abides with us. Read that second sentence with its chain reaction of praise words. This is who God is. Always.

Wednesday

1 Chronicles 29.12 “Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.”

I sometimes wonder if as Christians we actually believe this stuff! It isn’t Presidents and Prime Ministers, oligarchs or billionaires, who have the final say in the outcomes of history. David, for all his failures and flaws, knew that the throne wasn’t his, and all his achievements were underwritten by God’s purposes, faithfully worked out in the messiness of human history. The world is as unstable, scary and threatened as at any time in our own lifetime. This one line confession of faith is worth saying every day! It’s a necessary push back on the power claims of our time.

Thursday

1 Chronicles 29.12-13 “Wealth and honour come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

Israel’s story is filled with the interaction of the politics of God and the politics of human contriving. We don’t see the underside of God’s purposes, nor the movements of God in the affairs of powerful people, nations and corporations. David lived at a time of great geo-political change. Near the end of his life he knows that neither he nor Solomon can rely on their own political power games, military reputation or diplomatic one-upmanship. God is the real power broker, and God’s ways will always surprise those of us who think we know what’s what. Advent is coming, when we celebrate the subversive power of the Magnificat, and we recall the name Immanuel the One who has shaken all pretentious thrones ever since!

Friday

1 Chronicles 29.14. “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

That second sentence. There’s a balance between thinking nothing is down to us, and believing everything is down to us. But when it comes to the gift of life itself, that definitely isn’t our own doing. Life is God’s gift; all that makes that life richer and fuller is the outworking of God’s blessing, life’s circumstances, our own choices, the shaping of the community around us. But not everyone’s life is so predictable, blessed and enriched. Which is why we need the word that teaches us generosity: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” God’s blessings are never intended for hoarding, but for sharing in the glad dissemination of God’s generosity.

Saturday

1 Chronicles 29.17 “I know, my God, that you test the heart, and are pleased with integrity.”

Yes, David, more than most, you know that God tests the heart. Psalm 51 was written by a man who shattered his own integrity, and ruined the lives of others around him. This Chronicles prayer, near his life’s end, recalls what that whole web of evil had cost him, and so many others. And he recalled his prayer all those years ago: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” “Surely you desire truth in the inward parts…” Yes, God is pleased with integrity.

Sunday

1 Chronicles 29.17 “All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent.”

That’s how you give to God, willingly and with honest intent. Perhaps that is also a telling definition of the heart at worship, willing and honest. “Eternal God and Father, you create us by your power and redeem us by your love, guide and strengthen us by your Spirit that we may give ourselves in love and service, to one another and to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen. One of my favourite Collects!

Sunlight invading the forest floor, trees that have stood for over 50 years, a path walked daily by all kinds of people, each with their thoughts, their anxieties, their need to be here, just here. When I walk in such places I better understand the hymn writer's rather sentimental lines:

"When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees." 

This hymn about forests and trees and birds, lofty mountain grandeur and brooks and breezes, comes close to the hymn writer's equivalent of condensed milk with that phrase, "sing sweetlyon the trees."

And yet. When through the woods at Garlogie I wander, and hear the tree-creepers, the woodpecker, the great tits and blue tits, the chaffinch and at this time of year the geese overhead honking their way to and from Loch Skene – at such times, I too want to sing to the Creator "How great Thou art!"

And in the photo, Sheila is watching a squadron of migrating goldcrests ground-feeding, then spiralling up into the high pines to enjoy the food necessary to continue their journey. Every year, around this time, various birds find their way to this North East corner of Scotland on their way to warmer places. And yes, we do sometimes hear them singing in the trees, though I confess I would never choose the word 'sweetly' to describe an angry chaffinch, a heid-banging woodpecker, or a full choir and orchestra of geese performing the honking chorus.

The hymn 'How Great Thou Art', is now an established favourite for funerals, and I can well understand why. But I doubt it's the 'forest glades' verse that eventually lifts the heart heavenwards. Stars, rolling thunder. "God, his Son not sparing," Christ coming "with shout of acclamation", these are the deeper realities that help to anchor hope upon something transcendent, on truths substantial enough to inspire hope and trust, and that bring us to that place where we have no other recourse but to "bow in adoration."

And yet. There is something about a walk in the woods that earths us in the realities of life. Feet walking the earth, following a path shared by others, birds singing out in either song or warning, and from Garlogie the hill line showing the start of the Highlands, and the lofty mountain grandeur of a landscape that has been in the making for millions of years. And the sunlight, itself a metaphor, or a messenger, of the pervasive grace and invasive love of God, whose light is the light of life.

All of this true enough. And so perhaps the person who translated the song can be forgiven for the lazy cliché about sweet singing, because so much else in this hymn is true to our human response to the world around us, and to the story of God's love affair with His creation. And it moves from Creation through space and time, to the coming of Jesus, his atoning death, and the hope of his coming again to bring to fulfilment the reign of God through all creation. 

I can live with the occasional word that annoys and grates, if it's in the context of a hymn that is otherwise persuasive in its telling of the narrative of the world's creation and God's purpose of redemption in Christ. And when I walk in the woods, and hear the birds, and they remind me of this hymn, quietly, and with more humility than I would ever be capable of without yet another touch of divine grace, I hum, "How great Thou art!"