Still it is the case that when lovers are head over heels, they contemplate marriage. The kisses and cuddles make way for serious talk about finance, number of offspring, residence etc.
Love rules the roost but one of its rules is that the pennies must be counted. This is the case for the newly married. It is also the case for an individual contemplating repenting and believing. We may say he is settling his account before God.
Many do not see this as part of dealings with the Maker. For them religious faith is an aspiration, a pattern of idealism, a desirable standard of behaviour that is not always achieved, an obligation that has to be incurred with due consideration.
The word we need here is ‘covenant’. This word is still in use today but the word ‘contract’ is more familiar. Maybe less welcome, too. To talk of a more or less lifelong sexual partnership in commercial terms seems desiccated, demeaning. But as we read the Scriptures, we see that ‘covenant’ is about the faithfulness of God who has offered mercy to his chosen people and is looking for the other party (that’s us) to close the deal – usually by baptism.
If it seems bizarre to speak of faith in God in these terms, we need only look at a Bible, yap edges and all. It is the Holy Bible, the Old and New Testaments (or Covenants).
Perhaps this kind of language is no so dusty after all. We are a skeleton clothed in flesh. Take away the bones and what is left to define the body? In the case of a car pressed steel provides the shape and the anchorage. The fittings take their secluded place. In the case of a Pacific locomotive the workings are on show, with con-rods and steam-chests for all to see.
Religion is not a jelly or a blancmange; it is more stable than that. The present understanding of the military covenant shows our sense that a contract or anchorage is important.
LEYLAND TEAM
The ministry team at St Andrew’s, Leyland, Lancashire led by the Vicar David Whitehouse includes a youth pastor and school chaplain.. One of its offshoots has partnered a scheme for a new GP surgery in which Philip Venables of St John’s, Leyland has had an active role.
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