Because ...for anyone who’s ever asked, ‘why?’

December 2014 www.because.uk.com

Photo: wikicommons

What do Pavlov’s dogs, weddings, Quasimodo, town squares, Christmas, Bolognese, the end of the world, and Ernest Hemingway have in common?

If you are a campanologist1, probably you can guess the answer: bells!

Pavlov’s dogs knew that it was dinner time when the bells rang; wedding bells ring out in celebration; Qua-simodo went deaf due to the sound of “the bells, the bells” in the belfry at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris; town-cryers would sometimes use bells to summon people to important announcements; in 16th century Italy the Bolognese famously won a bell-ringing com-petition against the Romans (this had nothing to do with spaghetti); Christmas is the time of jingle bells; and Ernest Hemingway wrote For whom the bell tolls, although the poet John Donne coined the phrase long before. Have I left anything out?

Ding-a-ling

What is it all about – this ringing and jingling of bells?

Let’s take the word, jingle. Musicians use it. For exam-ple, Roger Daltry of the WHO, in referring to their Sell Out album, wrote, “I love Sell Out, I think it’s great. I love the jingles.” “Jingles” is a metaphor used for catchy lyrics and tunes. The phrase is also used in advertising for original words and music in TV commercials. “A jingle has to insinuate itself into your consciousness” said Carl Goodman, who used to write jingles for a liv-ing.2 Nowadays often snippets from popular, recogniz-able songs are used instead of new material in order to draw us in so that we buy a product.

Historically, bells were jingled in order to catch peo-ple’s attention. Rudyard Kipling, in his poem The Overland Mail, described how the postman, with “bags

ByJingle!

by James Henderson

on his back” delivered letters and parcels up and down the hills of India “in the name of the Empress” (Queen Victoria):

From rail to ravine, to the peak from the vale – Up, up through the night goes the Overland Mail. There’s a speck on the hillside, a dot on the road –

A jingle of bells on the foot-path below – There’s a scuffle above in the monkey’s abode –The world is awake, and the clouds are aglow.

Nothing would get in the way of Kipling’s brave post-man – “let the tiger turn tail” – as he went about his task, bells’ jingling to announce his arrival. The mod-ern concept of Santa Claus, carrying sacks of presents as his one-horse-open-sleigh-bells jingle through the snow, echoes back to such images.

The sound of bells has also had religious, mystical and social purposes. Records show that bells were made as far back as the Bronze Age. Primitive tribes used them to chase away evil spirits, and some Christian groups assimilated this practice in order to drive out demons. In parts of China bells were used to communicate with the dead. They were used to celebrate victory and to summon to prayer. In Hebrew tradition the ringing of small golden bells, which were attached to the high priest’s garment, signified his entrance into the sanctu-ary. In some societies bells were attached to children so that parents could know where their offspring were, much in the same way as bells are used to know where cattle are in places such as Switzerland.

And, as we all know, bells, such as Westminster’s Big Ben, are used to strike out the time. Each year Big Ben rings in the New Year amid the cheers and shouts of the crowds that gather in central London come wind, hail, rain and snow (sometimes in quick succession, as hap-pens with British weather…)

2014 – should we have rung the bells?

As the old year passes, all over the world the chimes of bells mark the change to a new year – from St Mark’s campanile (Venice, Italy) to the Chion-in temple ( Kyo-to, Japan) to Christchurch (Dublin, Ireland) and else-where around the globe.

In retrospect, has 2014 been worth celebrating? I guess it’s easy to be cynical and see the bad news more than the good. Of course there have been some outstanding

Fireworks celebrating a new year as Big Ben strikes midnight. (Photo:istockphoto.com)

Quasimodo went deaf from the sound of the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral in France. (Photo: istockphoto.com)

Bradley Wiggans rings the bell at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games (Photo: wikicommons)

Photos: istockphoto.com

events in 2014 that have inspired and encouraged us. We can’t list all of them but perhaps we can mention a few: the World Health Organization has reported re-cently that the number of people dying from malaria had decreased (halved in the past decade), the end of the Afghan war appears to be in sight, and, for sports fans, we had the highlights of the Commonwealth games.

At the same time there has been much to discourage us. There is still no substantial news about the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370; the rise of Jihad threatens

to destabilize the world; the spread of Ebola in West Africa continues; and now there is talk of a new Cold War. There is so much more we could add…

What about 2015? What will the bells ring in for the coming New Year?

Ringing in a new age

Poetry, cards and concepts of Christ’s first coming are often framed around the ringing of bells. It may, how-ever, come as a surprise to know that the Bible does not discuss bells or jingles at the time of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, where bells will ring out on the 25th De-cember as they do most years. What the Bible does de-scribe is how shortly after Jesus was born there was much singing and rejoicing by a chorus of angels. It seems reasonable to assume that, if there were musi-cal instruments involved, maybe there was a carillon3 of sorts that was played harmoniously to announce the good news of God’s coming to dwell among us for our salvation. After all, is that not something to sing about, a time to lead the orchestra in praise and to ring the bells of joy?

Interestingly, a little known fact is that the Bible pre-dicts that bells will ring at what Christians call the Second Coming. The Second Coming is a time of cel-ebration. From time to time Christian writers depict the return of Christ in terms of wrath and anger more than of rejoicing. In actuality it is a time of grace.

One Old Testament visionary, a man called Zechariah, points to the hope of grace in a hopeless world. He says that at the end of the world God will “pour out” “a spirit of grace” on Jerusalem, which is used symbolically for the whole human race4. Jerusalem and the Middle East could certainly do with the spirit of grace right now!

This is one of the many bells of the Big Bell Temple (Da Zhong Temple) in China (Photo: wikicommons)

Buddhist Thai monk ringing bells during a ceremony.(Photo:dreamstime.com)

The Maha Tissada Gandha Bell donated by king Tharrawaddy Min in Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo: creative commons)

In his first letter to his young protégé Timothy, the apostle Paul shared this profound truth: “There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Though the Chris-tian church is blessed with many inspiring and skillful worship leaders, only Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, leads us into the presence of God. He is our true worship leader.

Regardless of the particular form or style, behind all true worship is the mediating ministry of our high priest, Jesus Christ. According to the author of Hebrews, Je-sus is “a great priest over the house of God” (Hebrews 10:21), “a minister [leitourgos] in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man (Hebrews 8:2 NASB).

When we hear the word “worship,” we typically think of worship practices like praying, singing and receiv-

ing an offering. But worship is much larger than that. Properly defined, worship is a lifestyle that expresses grateful response to God for all he has done for us in Christ. Included is the way we treat others, based on the truth that we have been reconciled to God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18).Paul reminds us that this life of worship is one of self-sacrifice: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). “Proper worship” translates logikos latreia hymeis, which is translated as “reason-able service” in the NKJV, “spiritual worship” in the NRSV and “intelligent service” in the YLT. True wor-ship includes all of these.

In the Old Testament, Israel’s worship was led by the high priest who served as the representative of all Israel, standing in solidarity with the people. In his full human-ity, Jesus stands in solidarity not only with Israel, but

The final chapter of Zechariah’s vividly dramatic book continues his theme about what would happen at the end of the world, and this is where the bells come in.

Zechariah’s writing is enshrouded with imagery that would have been familiar to the readers of his time. Some of his images may ring a bell with us too. This is what Zechariah writes, “On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses”5.

The ancient Assyrians would hang little bells around the necks of horses as they charged into war. Their ringing would act as a warning, a threat of oncoming aggres-sion. In stark contrast to such warhorses are Zechariah’s victorious horses that usher in a new age of peace. The lyrics on the bells are “Holy to the Lord”, explaining how each of us is special to God and belongs to him. I wonder what the divine tune will be as the bells an-nounce God’s peace, presence, and holiness.

Everything about that day will be about how God has come – Jesus has returned – with hope and comfort for all.

Now that’s a message worth jingling about!

james.henderson@gracecom.org.uk

1. A campanologist. Someone who studies and/or practic-es the art of bell-ringing. One of the most famous cam-panologists was Tzar Feodor I of Russia (1584–1598), who travelled around his country with the intention of ringing as many bells in as many churches as possible. He has been nicknamed Feodor the Bell-ringer.

2. Quoted in Sometimes you feel like a jingle, sometimes you don’t by Patrick Cooligan at http://www.ocregister.com/articles/-62495--.html

3. Carillon. A musical instrument involving a set of bells that are rung in a sequence in order to produce a melody or rung selectively together to produce a musical chord.

4. Zechariah 12:10 NIVUK5. Zechariah 14:20 NIVUK

Jesus: Our True Worship Leader

by Joseph Tkach

with all humanity. And in his full divinity, Jesus rec-onciles humanity to God. Jesus’ once-for-all, self-offering sacrifice brought complete redemption and forgiveness. In referring to Jesus as the one and only God-man priest “in the or-der of Melchizedek,” the author of Hebrews was explaining a special aspect of Jesus’ role as our high priest in representing us to the Father and the Father to us. Unlike Melchizedek, however, Jesus’ priesthood is eternal.

The God-man Jesus, who has rightly been referred to as “the perfect fusion of undiminished deity and complete humanity,” is both the recipient and the giver of wor-ship. By always being in communion with the Father in prayer and worship, Jesus modeled for us throughout his earthly ministry what it means to be in relationship with the Father and the Spirit. Whereas Israel’s high priest temporarily carried the names of Israel’s 12 tribes on his breastplate, Jesus, our high priest, forever bears the names of all humans within his own representative humanity. Our Lord affirms this through the prophet Isaiah in declaring that, “I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16 NRSV).

As our high priest, Jesus reveals the Father to us. In his high priestly prayer to the Father, he declared, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known” (John 17:26 NRSV). As the one mediator of a new cov-enant, Jesus shows God to be a Father who desires his children’s presence (Hebrews 9:15; 12:24). This gives us cause for worship, reminding us that Jesus is both the center and mediator of that worship. In Jesus, hu-manity meets God in person!

In Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, James B. Torrance notes that our worship is Unitarian when it’s about techniques of experiencing God on our own. But our worship is Trinitarian when it’s about Je-sus, our elder brother and great high priest who draws us into the eternal communion of love that character-izes God’s life as loving Father, beloved Son and Holy Spirit. As our true worship leader, Jesus goes to the Fa-ther in our name and simultaneously comes to us in the Father’s name.

The author of Hebrews makes the same point in this way: “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises’” (Hebrews 2:11-12). As we worship in spirit and in truth, we join our voices with that of Jesus in praise to God. Jesus stands in our midst as one of us, taking us into God’s presence. And he stands with the Father, bringing God into our presence in perfect unity and holy love for all eternity.

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What is it that flies but has no wings?What is it that we can never have enough of but we have all of it that there is?What is it that you can invest, keep, save, or steal but never own? What is it you can’t buy but can lose?What is it we can serve, waste, use and spend?What is it that you find but must make? What is it that you can kill but it still keeps marching on?What is a great healer but eventually kills us all?

Well, the answer to all those questions is: Time.

It seems in our modern world with things to do, people to see and deadlines to meet, we are always pushed for time. We are busy, busy, people.

A good example of this hustle and bustle mentality is the meanderthal. Now this is not some kind of pre-his-toric creature; it is very much alive today and can be seen on a high street near you. Apparently ‘meander-thal’ is urban slang for a person who wanders around aimlessly and always seems to get in your way in stores

and supermarkets, chatting on their mobile phones and paying no attention to their surroundings. All across the country men and women of all ages shuffle along; head down, oblivious to everything around them.

These individuals can’t drag themselves away from their phone, even for the few minutes from home to train or train to workplace. The causes are varied...

apps, emails, texts, as well as a traditional phone call, can all kick off the symp-toms.

Have you ever noticed that meanderthals go slower than other people? You often see a long queue of other pedes-trians behind them trying to overtake. They also look up only occasionally, relying on others to take avoiding

action while they plough on causing oncoming pedes-trians to dodge and weave like rugby wingers.

Take their phone away from them and they would be lost; there would be panic and frustration. I can hear the meanderthal cry, “What am I going to do with this spare time”? “How am I going to fill the vacuum in my

Thinking of...

by Barry Robinson

Belong

Photos: wikicommons

life”? “I can’t function without my phone”.

I saw one of these meanderthals this morning, tapping away on their phone, as I looked up for a moment and caught a glance of myself in the mirror.

It’s easy to be on the go all the time, especially in London where I live, spending every available minute ac-tively engaged in doing something so that there just isn’t time to have a change of pace; to stop, reflect and chill out.

I think Jesus understood what it was like to be on the go all the time after all there was al-ways a considerable call on his time: to preach here, to visit there; demands to perform a miracle, someone else who needed healing, so much to teach his disci-ples. He knew that his earthly ministry would only last for a brief 3 ½ years and then it would be over. There would be so much to do, so much to accomplish that there would be no time to put his feet up and chill for a while. If there had been smart phones in his day, would Jesus have been a meanderthal?

With all the pressure on Jesus’ time I find it very en-couraging that on a number of occasions he did take some time out.

After a particularly intense time of ministry, ‘The apos-tles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place’. (Mark 6:30-32 NIV)

There is a valuable lesson for all of us in these few words.

It is well documented that if we work continually, are always on the go and take no time out, we will get worn down. Nobody does their best work when all they do is work. There is a lot of truth in the old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” We need rest. We need time to recuperate; to refresh both our bodies and our minds. We need to get away to ‘a solitary place’, literally or figuratively, and do something different from time to time to recharge our batteries.

Just think about it. If the Son of God, the one who ex-perienced unique intimacy with the Father, needed time to rest, then don’t you and I need to do the same? How can we expect to negotiate the challenges and opportu-nities of our lives if we don’t take some time out now and then?

Here we are with the New Year ahead of us. Many peo-ple may be already thinking of holidays or at least hav-ing a break from their normal routine.

Now is a good time for all of us to factor in some down time and have a rest from our daily chores and respon-sibilities.

How can we do that? It may mean spending more time with family and friends, spending some time on your own, or taking some extra time alone with God. I sup-pose I could give you a three point plan demonstrating how you can take some time out to do these things and what benefits would accrue, but that sounds too formu-listic and frankly, like hard work.Plan to take some time to relax, have a rest, recuper-ate and recharge your batteries, whatever way best suits you.

Scripture tells us that, ‘There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth’ (Eccle-siastes 3:1, The Message), and as God designed us to need rest and take a break once in a while, why not take his advice and “be still” for a while, or as it says in the God’s Word translation of Psalm 46:10 ‘Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God’.

Happy 2015!

Speaking of Life:

As a young man, Ben Franklin developed and kept a rigorous schedule in an attempt at self-improvement. Every day he rose at five in the morning and asked himself a single ques-tion: “what good shall I do this day?” That’s an intriguing question, but as Christians, we could modify it to read something like this: “what good is God already doing and how can I join in?”

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by daily life. We have so much going on around us: paying bills, taking our children to school, and going to work. Then factor in making meals, keep-ing up with your favorite TV shows or reading another book and it’s tough to find the time to do good. However, participation and involve-ment with our Living Lord on mission is a crucial part of our growing in faith. Joining with him as he “does good” is one way that we become refined and perfected in his image. See what James writes: “Do not merely lis-ten to the word, and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says… for those whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives free-dom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do” (James 1:22, 25).

Now, don’t get me wrong. The work of salva-tion has already been accomplished. But just because we’ve been reconciled doesn’t mean we’re called to sit back on our laurels. In-stead, we’re able to participate in the redemp-tion that he is continually working out. And our cooperation with our Lord is part of that abundant life.

Let me encourage you to look for opportuni-ties in your life to joyfully and freely go to work alongside our generous and great God. You’ll be amazed at what he can do in you – and through you – as you partner with him.

I’m Joseph Tkach, Speaking of LIFE.

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