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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!"

Long before the avalanche of self-help books and the current fad for life coaches, there were wisdom teachers. They used Proverbs, an ancient form of meme. Here’s one of them: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” (Proverbs 25.11)

Trust, community confidence, and neighbourliness depend on agreed standards of truth and sincerity in our words. Words ‘fitly spoken’ clear up misunderstandings, explain situations clearly and truthfully, and reassure, encourage or support people by communicating well. In our workplace, circles of friends, family and neighbourhood, wouldn’t it be great to be recognised as those whose words are ‘fitly spoken’?

So it’s quite a thing when someone, who works in one of the largest UK Financial Services companies, wins an award for sincerity and integrity. The award is based on peer nominations, accompanied by written commendations. Part of the parchment reads: “This Award celebrates exceptional individuals who embrace [our] core value of ‘Sincerity’ by communicating truthfully and openly…and who are known for doing the right thing.”

The award winner is one of my friends. I’m not surprised at the award, nor at the full inbox of personal testimonies about his positive impact on those around him. His integrity and sincerity, his words ‘fitly spoken,’ create an ethos that encourages similar behaviour in others.

Mind you, he doesn’t think he deserves any of this He’s embarrassed by the award. Humility is another one of his strong suits! In a culture where truth is too often negotiable, by character and reputation this person makes integrity and sincerity attractive virtues. According to the ancient wisdom teacher, he is “an apple of gold in a setting of silver.”

Monday

Proverbs 11.1 “The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight.”

Surely this isn’t about God as the Weights and Measures Ombudsman? Well, actually it is! Holiness and righteousness are not just about our private devotions, but about our standards of behaviour in public. Our love for Jesus is demonstrated by our heart’s affections and commitments; but also by performing actions and practices consistent with love for Jesus. Remember Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” Honesty in how we use our money is basic and persuasive evidence that we take seriously Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbours.

Tuesday

Proverbs 11.2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

One of the more obvious signs of pride is that the proud person is often unaware of their own arrogance! Entitlement is a built in sense of superiority to others. Paul warned. “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, rather think of yourselves with sober judgement.” (Romans 12.3) Wisdom is based on how we respond to life experiences, what we learn from them, and that takes a willingness to learn, to know ourselves well enough to accept that sometimes we are wrong. Humility is shown in that readiness to listen to God, to our own heart, and to our life.

Wednesday

Proverbs 11.3 “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”

This verse describes a collision of moral opposites. Integrity is about truthfulness and consistency of character, so that a person’s behaviour is known to be trustworthy, so reliable it becomes predictable. That’s what good character is. Duplicity is the skill of deceit, being two or even three-faced, depending on whose company we are in. Jesus said, “Let your yes be yes, and your no be no’. He was talking about an oath taken in court. But the words can also test our trustworthiness to be, and do, and speak in ways that are ‘upright’. Duplicity is destructive of trust, an acid in the soul.

Thursday

Proverbs 11.4 “Wealth is worthless on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.”

“You can’t take it with you” is one of those folk proverbs that at least recognises the limitations of money and possessions. That’s why Jesus encouraged us not to store up on earth, as if that was a permanent arrangement! Treasure in heaven is what lasts. This proverb places huge value on righteousness, those ways in which we have made a difference in the lives of others by compassion, generosity and care for justice. Yes, for the Christian what delivers from death is faith in Christ and trust in God’s grace. But faith has practical outcomes, visibly evident in the life we then lead. 

Friday

Proverbs 11.5 “The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.”

This is wisdom at its most practical. A straight way is walked by those whose characteristics are already mentioned – humility, honesty, integrity, right priorities. The metaphor of the straight path, contrasted with the crooked path is very common in the Old Testament. Torah, the Law, is itself the path of righteousness, and obedience is to walk the straight path. Wickedness carries within it the seeds of its own destruction – as another Proverb says, the wicked get caught in their own trap.

Saturday

Proverbs 11.6 “The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.”

Many of these proverbs were aimed at preparing people for public life. Wisdom is a process of learning to take responsibility, to act responsibly, and to be an influence for good wherever God places us. “The unfaithful” is a description of those who can’t be trusted, who break promises, who look after themselves, and who never take responsibility for their own actions. To be “trapped by evil desires” is to be a slave of our own appetites. According to Proverbs, that’s no way to live. True freedom comes when we give ourselves to the service of God who is righteous and faithful and who will “lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Sunday

Proverbs 11.7 “When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes, all he expected from his power comes to nothing.”

You can’t read Proverbs without bumping hard into politics, just as surely as you will bang your knee on the heavy coffee table if you walk across the room without putting the light on! This verse is about the folly of putting our trust in powerful people, who, when they die, their power dies with them. Israel had seen this time and again. This is the distilled essence of Wisdom teaching: only God is worthy of our ultimate trust. And that God is righteous, faithful and without injustice. Christians of all people know that our hope is in God, and in his Son Jesus raised by the power of the Spirit. When it comes to power, we look to the Lamb in the midst of the throne.    

Monday

Psalm 86.11 “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth.”

Many of the saints pray that they might have a teachable heart. To be teachable is to be humble. You can’t be both teachable and a know all. The Psalm-poet has his priorities right. To be open to the teaching of the Spirit, receptive to the word of God, obedient to the Holy Spirit; these are the dispositions of a teachable heart and a mind attuned to the will of God. This verse is a prayer that we will listen, learn and love the truth of God, and then be willing to walk in that truth as our way of life.

Tuesday

Psalm 86.11b “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

I love the Scottish word for a divided heart – ‘swithering’! Those moments or even hours when we can’t make up our minds one way or the other. An undivided heart is one that knows its own mind! Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard wrote, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” That’s just another way of saying “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” To fear God’s name is to pray for the grace of undivided loyalty to the God whose love to us is faithful, and whose promises are to be trusted.

Wednesday

Psalm 86.12 “I will praise you, O Lord with all my heart. I will glorify your name for ever”

The Psalm poet knows his spiritual psychology. Praise that is heartfelt, unqualified, and arising from gratitude, is the way we express our love to God. No half measures – with all my heart, and for ever. I know. None of us can manage full intensity all the time. We sleep, eat, work, play, meet friends, and do all the things that life requires of us just to make it work. But when it comes to praise, nothing is to be held back. No matter how long we live, praising and thanking God, and uplifting God’s name will always be the goal of worship and the theme tune of our living.

Thursday

Psalm 86.5 “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.”

This is the God we praise and thank, whose name we never tire of glorifying. The older phrase “abounding in steadfast love” conveys clearly the utter reliability of the love of God. The lovely Hebrew word ‘hesed’, contains a cluster of meanings; faithful in love, dependable like a friend, merciful to the needy and forgiving to the penitent. It’s one of the favourite Hebrew words used to describe the heart of God. In the gift of God’s only Son, we have been shown what ‘hesed’ looks like in a fully human life.

Friday

Psalm 86.4 “Bring joy to your servant, for to you O Lord, I lift up my soul.”  

Prayer is never occasional in the Psalms. They are full of it – petition and complaint, praise and thanksgiving, confession and penitence – it’s all poured out. The psalm-poet is never embarrassed to be asking, pleading, or arguing with God. Never slow to open up about whatever concerns him – enemies, his own depression, anger, shame, his despair about the state of his world. But again and again, as he lifts up his soul in all the turmoil, he comes back to the reason for joy – the steadfast love of the Lord. Joy is God’s gift, kindled in the heart, then taking hold of the mind in renewed trust.

Saturday

Psalm 86.15 “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.”

This verse is like a revision exercise. If the exam questions was: “Give examples of the characteristics of God that the Psalm-poet thinks important?” Well, then, you could be quite confident of a secure A grade if your answer was based around verse 15. Memorise this verse and you will have internalised a robust theology of the enduring faithfulness of God to all his people. Slow to anger is an important balancing corrective – God’s love is not indulgence overdosing on sentiment. All the gifts of God’s grace in Christ are freighted with the demands of holy love, including the call to holiness of heart and life.

Sunday

Psalm 86.17 “Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.”

When did you last mention your enemies in your prayers? I guess like me, you don’t want to think you have any enemies – not really. Maybe so. But most of us have to deal with difficult people, workplace tensions, family fall-outs. Few of us can claim that we are universally popular and liked. What this verse does is bring all the wrong relationships into the presence of God to be honestly faced. When Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who give you a hard time”, he wasn’t speaking hypothetically. One reliable sign of God’s goodness is the grace to forgive those who wrong us, and the help and comfort of God is best experienced in a heart that seeks to mirror to others, God’s ways with us – ‘compassionate and gracious.’ The Psalm-poet isn’t always right in what he asks – but God can always be trusted to adjust the answer to serve God’s ways of justice, compassion, peace and yes, goodness!  

When I need to find my way again, in my mind and in my heart, I instinctively go looking for the words of Jesus. I love the far-seeing vision of Isaiah and stand beside him gazing and trying to see what he sees. Who cannot be moved by the emotional honesty of the Psalms, giving words to our feelings and prayers to our thoughts? Over the years I've spent ages listening to Paul at his most passionate and argumentative, often enough being willing to hold his jacket as he fights for the truth about the gospel of Jesus. And I regularly climb the mountain of the Fourth Gospel to watch again the strange and beautiful glory of the Fourth Gospel, as the Light of the world dawns yet again above the mundane limits of my personal horizons.

But when what I need is a re-orientation of the heart, a reminder of the organising principles that shape my thoughts, I go looking for the words of Jesus. Yes, I know I've already said that, but hearing and doing the words of Jesus always helps me ask the right questions about how to live faithfully as a follower of Jesus in a world that is fluid, unpredictable, beyond my control, and is the given time and place in which I live.

This started very early in my Christian life. Converted in my mid teens, one of my first 'achievements' was to memorise the Sermon on the Mount in the old King James Version. Those rhythms of language still push to the fore when I'm quoting the Beatitudes, the Antitheses and especially The Lord's Prayer which still only 'feels right' when I speak it in that version complete with each Thou, Thee and Thine! I spent the first two years as a probationer minister doing a thorough exegesis of the Sermon on the Mount as my major project. Ever since, for well over 40 years, I've kept up with both the scholarship and the pastoral and spiritual treatments of The Sermon on the Mount.

Against this background, during this week of seismic change in the geo-political maps, the arrival of a new book on the Beatitudes seems more providential than coincidental. The Beatitudes are about the Kingdom of God. The dispositions and life situations they describe are counter cultural, and in our politically charged world, counter-intuitive. Meekness? Are you kidding? Where does meekness ever get you when life is all about making deals? Blessed are the poor? Really? Have you ever been down to your last slice of bread with hungry children and no money? And as for being merciful, if what is meant is letting people off with what they deserve, what's the good of that? 

And so on. And on. Jesus' words are not meant to be self-help one liners towards being successful. In a world that has always had to deal with the use and abuse of power, the Beatitudes can read like a charter for the bullies. Not so. A year or two after the Beatitudes were spoken, Jesus added to Pilate's problems: "My kingdom is not of this world." In the face-off between Pilate and Jesus, for Pilate it was about control, expediency and power assertion.

The irony is, Pilate was never in control; indeed as John tells it the trial of Jesus becomes the trial of the powers that be, a test of the institutions of control. In the ways of the world power is structured, divided, and given executive functions over others. Those are the ways of the world and its kingdoms. But their power games are irrelevant to One who says, "My kingdom is not of this world."

What kind of Kingdom then? Back to the Sermon on the Mount, and especially the Beatitudes. Whose is the kingdom of heaven? Who will be shown mercy? Who will inherit the land and the earth? Who shall be comforted when life goes wrong? The ones who seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. And that brings us back to where we are in the here and now of our lives. 

At a time when power and authority are again being centralised, and when military power is an early response to conflicting interests, to whose kingdom do we owe our heart's allegiance? When economic power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of fewer people, and the global economy is destabilised and living standards uncertain, what does it mean to be merciful, compassionate, care for the poor, speak up for the welfare of a planet being stripped of the means of survival?

There are no easy answers. It will take commitment to contemplative prayer before God, imaginative intercession for a world of kingdoms hell-bent on growing in power, ways of being that take their inspiration and empowerment from Christ crucified and risen in whom power has been redefined, refocused and set loose in the world through resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately in the coming of Christ to redeem and renew Creation. The Beatitudes are unmistakably eschatological in their perspective and promise. But they are also descriptions of those who seek to follow faithfully after Jesus, as ideal disciples in the here and now of our days.