32 mins
The Big Question
QUESTION
Mary Whittaker, Probationer, Aberdeen: Ferryhill
Pamela Adam, elder at Aberdeen: Ruthrieston West
“I grew up being oppressed by a school for the Deaf.
“At that time pointing, gesturing and signing were banned by the school so I was forced (unsuccessfully) to hear and speak.
“For a long time I felt like I was put into a box marked HEARING as I was not permitted to be a naturally Deaf child.
“I remember at the age of 15 I hated myself and hated God ‘for making me deaf’.
“Then things changed.
“One day my mum took me to a Deaf church.
“ I got a shock to see all those adults signing away to hymns, prayers and Bible reading.
“That’s when my favourite passage jumped out at me – Psalm 121.
“It felt like the lid of the box suddenly opened and I could see the vast expanse of the sky beyond.
“There was the freedom I sought in being ME.
“I realised that God, who is the Creator of heaven and earth, cares for me and has been watching over me from the day I was born.
“No matter how difficult my life is, in the past, present and future, there is One I can look up to for help.
“Psalm 121 is a continual reminder for me that I am no longer in the box but just being myself under God’s ever vigilant protection.”
“My favourite bible verse?
“That is a big question!
“Like most that depends on what is happening in my private or working life at any given time.
“This last few weeks I have been drawn a lot to John 11:35: ‘Jesus wept.’
“Why this?
“For me it shows the humanity of Jesus.
“He feels sadness like us. It also gives a view of a God who cares as Jesus is God.
“It’s been an important verse for me lately.
“Here in the north east we say: ‘If ye dinna laugh, y’ll cry and we jist sodjer on.’
“There is a time where we do need to cry. If it was ok for Jesus why not us to let our guard down and have a good greet.
“In my working life as a healthcare chaplain I have been helping a group of bereaved parents set up a support group.
“Many of these parents have just carried on for years putting on a brave face to protect others from their grief.
“If it’s ok for Jesus to grieve why not them?
“In the parish where I work we lost some important young members of our church community in the last year or so.
“As a ministry team we gave support to their families but we too needed to remember to grieve.
“All of us in varied forms of ministry need to remember to have good greets.”
Hugh Brown, Business Development oicer, CrossReach and elder, Broxburn Parish Church
The Rev Dr Alistair N Shaw, Deputy presbytery clerk, Greenock and Paisley
The Rev Fiona Tweedie, Mission Statistics Coordinator, Church of Scotland
“I have always loved Psalm 46.
“It reminds me of many happy summers spent at Scripture Union camps at Scoughall near North Berwick.
“The boys and leaders camped in bell tents (today there are former school classrooms to sleep in) and we had a huge marquee for our meals and meetings.
“Of course the unpredictable Scottish summer weather was very mixed with strong winds and torrential rain regularly battered against the canvas.
“But even then, I always had a sense that: ‘the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge’ (verses 7 and 11).
“I learned recently that Psalm 46 was also Martin Luther’s favorite Psalm.
“During the dark and dangerous periods of the Reformation, Luther would turn to his friend Philip Melanchthon and exclaim:
“Let’s sing the 46th Psalm, and let the devil do his worst!”
“It inspired his great hymn ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’.
“For me, no Psalm expresses the tremendous truth that God’s presence and power are with us in all circumstances more than Psalm 46.
“We need to know God offers us two kinds of help: a safe sanctuary in which we can shelter.
“God is also a source of strength – a source of strength by which we can face the uncertain future – even when rain water is threatening to flood the groundsheet of your bell tent!”
“The verse I have gone for is John 20.25 which expresses the doubts of Thomas when he is confronted with the claim of the other disciples that they have seen the risen Lord.
“He strikes a chord with many modern disciples when he says: ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails … and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
“We live in an age of questions, scepticism and doubts. Thomas’ reaction was perfectly natural, as he tried to reconcile the claim that Jesus was risen with his own experience in life that dead people do not come back. Our misgivings in faith arise when we set our beliefs alongside events in our own lives or happenings in the world around us.
“We wonder where God’s love is when we watch a loved one suffer serious illness or witness the effects of earthquakes, famine or flooding upon innocent people, some only children.
“Thomas was not failing Jesus as Judas did in his betrayal or Peter in his denial. He was simply being honest in expressing his misgivings and he received no rebuke when the risen Lord confronted him the following week.
“But that meeting brought Thomas to total conviction in his outburst: ‘My Lord and my God!’ We should not feel guilty about our doubts, nor should we try to brush them under the carpet. Facing up to them and working our way through them can ultimately lead to a greater sense of conviction.”]
“My favourite passage is one that I was delighted to have the chance to preach on recently when asked to do pulpit supply at Fairmilehead Church in Edinburgh.
“It’s the parable of the growing seed from Mark 4:26-29 – not the perhaps better known parable of the sower which precedes it.
“Here, we are shown in partnership with God – the sower scatters the seed, God makes it grow, then the farmer harvests the grain. I love this image, that God invites us to work, to dance, alongside the Trinity in mission, in bringing in the kingdom of heaven.
“It makes me reflect on what I am ‘sowing’ as a person during my week – am I scattering good seed, or weeds?
“What are we sowing as a congregation, as a Church? How does our community know us, what is their picture of our church?
“And it makes me relax – it’s not up to me to make the seed grow – that is God’s job, not mine.
“Now of course, nowadays botanists know exactly how seeds grow, unlike the farmer in the passage, but it is still the Spirit who works in the heart to bring people to a closer walk with God, to be grain, fruit for the kingdom.
“It feels like such a privilege for us all to be called to join the dance of the Trinity, and to know that we are co-creators of God’s kingdom, but also that we work with God, together, weaving the future.”
This article appears in the September 2018 Issue of Life and Work
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