No, not the Shakespeare play, but God’s providence, working all things together for good!

Dave spoke this morning from Genesis 37:12-36. We often question God, wondering what is happening in our lives and how good can come from the suffering and confusion that seem to dog us so often. The providence of God is ably illustrated in the story of Jacob and Joseph, however. In this chapter, we see how man’s schemings ultimately are woven into the tapestry being created by God.

Jacob, the ultimate con-man, the schemer, the one who was never happier than when he was plotting to retain control over his life, is sent spiralling into deep sorrow by the plottings of his sons, who sell Joseph into slavery. Jacob thinks his beloved son is dead. He has already suffered, facing sibling rivalry with Esau and then the schemings of his uncle, Laban. His sorrow at the death of his beloved wife, Rachael, is as nothing compared to his sorrow when he thinks Joseph has been killed by wild animals. His obvious favouritism of Joseph over his sons by his unloved wife, Leah, has caused deep rifts in the family, rifts that have not been helped by Joseph’s arrogant teenage boastings. Nonetheless, the problems faced by both Jacob and Joseph could not hide the fact that they were God’s sovereign vessels, chosen by God for special work. Over the years, God works through evil and the flaws in their characters to bring His glorious purposes to pass.

The family tensions in this story run high: a pitiful, self-recriminating father; a boasting teenage son with little thought for his older brothers; selfish older brothers whose jealousy and resentment spill over into differing plots (to kill, hide, and eventually sell Joseph into slavery.) The ‘sore spots’ in these lives are exposed by God and then used by Him to achieve His purposes. Jacob had great plans for Joseph, but God had even greater plans for him which necessitated removing Joseph from Jacob for twenty-two years – long, suffering, grieving years for Jacob, but years when God’s providence was being worked out invisibly so that only God could get the ultimate glory.

God wants us to take our hands off the controls and let Him have control of our lives. What He has promised us, He will fulfil (see Hab 2:3), even though we may have to wait for this fulfilment. (“For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”) We have to be prepared to leave it to God, to ‘let go and let God’. Ultimately, what mattered through the long years of captivity, arrests, imprisonments and being forgotten by those who had promised to help him was that the Lord was with Joseph (Gen 39:2). At the end of the story, Joseph can see that what his brothers meant for evil was turned into good by God (Gen 50:20). God can work in the most dysfunctional families and the least auspicious situations to bring His plans to pass (see Romans 5:8). What matters to us in the waiting periods is that God is with us, and we know He will work all things together for good.

Out on the moors on Friday, we saw lots of sheep:

The Bible says that we ‘are the sheep of His pasture’ (Ps 79:13, Ps 100:3) Sometimes the sheep analogy is far from complimentary: ‘We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Is 53:6) Jesus is described as ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ (John 1:29) As we roamed the hills and saw so many different kinds of sheep, it was easy to understand the Bible’s references to sheep and to be thankful not only that Jesus Himself is described as the Lamb of God, but also as our good Shepherd!

Acronyms are words formed from the first letters of each word in a series of words (such as sonar, created from SOund Navigation And Ranging). An initialism is an abbreviation formed from, and used simply as, a string of initials. Although the term acronym is widely used to refer to any abbreviation formed from initial letters, some dictionaries define acronym to mean “a word” in its original sense, while some others include additional senses attributing to acronym the same meaning as that of initialism. The distinction, when made, hinges on whether the abbreviation is pronounced as a word, or as a string of letters. Scuba is considered an acronym; F.B.I. isn’t.

Every area of life inevitably involves confusing initials. If you know what they refer to, they are just a convenient shorthand; if you don’t, you feel like an outsider.The word ‘Ichthus’ (which means ‘fish’ in Greek) was used to represent Christianity because these letters are the first letters of the Greek words Iesous (Iota), Christos (Chi), Theou (Theta), Uios (Upsilon), and Sotor (Sigma). The five Greek words mean “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour” or “Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour” and thus the symbol of the fish helped Christians to identify each other whilst the meaning was initially obscure to those hostile to the faith:

Yesterday at Ampleforth Abbey, in true Da Vinci Code style(!), I looked at the Benedictine Medal, worn by some monks:

This is full of confusing initials, unless you know what these all stand for. As usual, I took great delight in uncovering the meanings:
C.S.P.B. stands for ‘Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti’ (‘The Cross of our holy father Benedict’)
C.S.S.M.L. stands for ‘Crux Sacra sit mihi lux’ (‘May the Holy Cross be my light’)
N.D.S.M.D. stands for ‘Ne Draco sit mihi dux’ (‘Let not the devil be my guide’)

The outer letters stand for the words of an ancient verse, which can be translated as:
‘Begone, Satan,
Never suggest vain things to me.
What you offer is evil.
Drink your own poison.’

The word ‘pax’ at the top (written in full!) means ‘peace’.

All that in one tiny medal!

Like the fish as a symbol of Christianity, flowers too have often been considered to be symbols. Flower symbols were used in the religious art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and reached the highest level of development in the Victorian era. Orange blossom, for instance, symbolises chastity, purity and loveliness, while red chrysanthemum means I love you. I have no idea if symbolism was considered when making this arrangement; I just thought it looked beautiful!

Building work generally takes more than one session to complete, though I usually don’t post photos until you can see the progression. This work was completed today, so yesterday we had the fun of looking at the framework and door when there were still panels missing.

This was what we saw yesterday:

You’d be surprised (and perhaps a little alarmed!) to hear what various people thought was lurking behind the door! Some suggested it could serve as a broom cupboard or storeroom as well as hiding the boiler (eminently practical), but others thought it was a confessional (slightly alarming, given the lack of privacy, not to mention space, in the room!)

It was undoubtedly this conversation which prompted me to take this photo of the new confessionals at Ampleforth Abbey this afternoon!

On the door, in Latin and in English, are the words “The cross conquers; the cross reigns; the cross puts every sin to flight.” I would definitely agree with that sentiment, though I’m very glad it’s a boiler room at our church and not a confessional!

“In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” (2 Tim 2:20-21)

In a large house there are definitely articles which are functional, useful, essential but not attractive, and the boiler is probably one of these! So we decided to hide the boiler away from everyday sight:

The start of the project (the unseemly boiler…):

Building a door:

The framework and the door:

Now you see it…

Now you don’t!

This remains to be painted, but our thanks go to the two Daves who helped with this work.

Just in case any of you were worrying about the whereabouts of Igor, he has been out and about today, having a look at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire:

Trips out wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the tea rooms…

… or two…

Ampleforth Abbey is the home of Benedictine monks who settled there in the 19th century. The buildings have been developed considerably in recent years:

I particularly liked the new windows, obviously reflecting the Christian traditions of the whole abbey and college:

They are set in 2000 acres of land: