Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/92

Contributor - A. Gardiner Skelly

Title - Wise or Otherwise

Topic - Wise or Otherwise

It happened twice and on the same day. That was what made it so memorable. Once would have been impressively dramatic but a double helping was a bonanza blessing indeed!

Let me tell you about it. Exactly two years ago my wife and I were on an extended retirement trip to our respective homelands. In the final stages of an uneventful trans- Atlantic crossing, the massive 747 jet floated down gently across Rathlin Island..across the rugged north Irish coast ... across the green glens of Antrim to touch down smoothly and disgorge some 500 passengers at Belfast Airport.

Two days later it was Sunday and on a glorious September morning, with the dew-drenched lawns and fields glittering in the autumn sun like a vast bejewelled carpet, we were off to worship with my sister and brother-in-law at Dromore Cathedral. This is a shrine of great antiquity in Celtic Christianity, tracing its roots to an ancient abbey founded by St. Colman a thousand years ago. On the occasion of our visit the rector, Archdeacon Wm. Neill, preached on the contrasting features of the Old and New Covenants. Towards the end of his discourse, just as he was making the point that in the New Covenant in Jesus Christ the fullness of the glory of God had been shed forth as never before, suddenly, at that precise moment, the sun which had been temporarily hidden in cloud, broke out brilliantly and came flooding forth through the ancient stained glass windows on either side of the preacher.

The effect, on at least one worshipper, was electrifying. The divine timing, as always, was perfect! It was a vivid visual illustration of the redemptive radiance which has smitten asunder the dark midnight of our despair in Jesus Christ.

But there was more to come. After lunch and a leisurely saunter in the warm afternoon sunshine, along a narrow countryside road where blackberries bulged on bramble bushes and over the hedge a flock of docile sheep grazed unheeding of mortal bipeds, we were off to a very different kind of worship experience. It was billed as a "Festival of Song" and the venue was the old Unitarian Meeting House in Miora. Incidentally, Irish Unitarians are not really classical Unitarians, but rather are, for the most part, liberal Trinitarians.

But back to The Festival of Song. The old sanctuary, splendid in its simplicity, was beautifully decorated with a series of floral displays arranged on small platforms which rested on the backs of the pews. Each arrangement illustrated a Gospel theme and suggested the words of a familiar hymn or Psalm. In celebration of the Nativity arrangement we sang "The First Noel" - in September!

And then it happened for the second time. Just as we sang the lines which tell of the shepherds seeing a great light, suddenly the wall behind the choir and pulpit was bathed in glorious golden light. At first I thought it was "all part of the show' artificially contrived for dramatic effect, but glancing back over my shoulder to see where the flood lights were placed, I realized that it was in fact, the full splendour of the setting sun which, at that precise moment, had sunk sufficiently in the September sky to come flooding in through the open doors of the church to bestow its incandescent benediction upon our hearts. The timing was perfect!

Twice in the same day! Coincidence? Who knows? But the twin experiences continue to haunt me as lively reminders that LIGHT is one of the vivid Biblical images for God. And further as the timely reminder that when we accept our Lord's invitation to follow Him we have His word that we shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. That is a blessed promise when the night is dark about us and the flood waters of life are deep.

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