‘He fell about laughing,’ we find ourselves saying. ‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall.’ is another commonplace remark.
‘The Decline .and Fall of the Roman Empire’ offers nothing commonplace, though its purple passages are not abundant. Reginald Perrin may have given it a new lease of life. It might be a sermon on the text ‘Pride goes before a fall’. Or perhaps that should be ‘The bread never falls but on the buttered side.’ We say; ‘As a tree falls, so shall it lie.’
Everyday phrases but they mirror everyday chances and mischances. One of the things about popular sayings is that they are undeniable. Maybe it is because the originators had gravity on their side. Something fell from the sky and wiped out the dinosaurs. A cocky person goes too far for his own good. In the cases of a slice of bread (and a great many other calamities) there is a fifty-fifty likelihood that the buttered side will be underneath.
In a beautiful lament David sings, ‘How are the mighty fallen!’ and celebrates the service of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1). It is of its time but it reverberates with us. So do the closing words of Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ as Adam and Eve ‘with wandering steps and slow/Through Eden took their solitary way.’
Proverbs and wisdom literature allow the possibility of finding another angle on this. ‘is’t fall for that,’ we say. Unhappy is the Tooting church that has lost its savings in a scam. Bunyan took the possibility seriously and wrote: ‘He that is down need fear no fall. ’Clever man, Bunyan, restricting himself to monosyllables. He would never have made a bureaucrat. Some live at a different pace. To fall at the first fence is a sad moment for a jump jockey.
A young person’s decision to abandon the family faith may be described as a falling away. The young person himself or herself may regard the event as step into a landscape of broader horizons or a move towards a greater personal integrity. Parents may lay it on too thick to reduce the risk of falling away.
Christianity is about a fall. We all inherit a flawed nature. It results from disobedience on the part of God’s creatures. This is not good news for those who see progress everywhere in human activity and development.
NZ FALL
The catastrophic falls in 2010 and 2011 that resulted in the loss of Canterbury cathedral, Canterbury NZ should be part of history when replaced by the end of 2027. The 19th century building designed by George Gilbert Scott should then make its appearance as a stone building with a new tower. It will incorporate a visitors’ centre, underfloor heating, flexible seating and viewing platform. The website is worth a visit to see how a new cathedral is rising from the ruin of the old.
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