‘I know…’ In Philippians 4.12 we hear the voice of experience. We read Paul for his breadth of understanding of man’s plight and God’s intervention. This is different. We are encouraged by Paul’s whole-hearted confidence in the face of death when he wrote to the Corinthians. But when we see how he writes to his friends in Philippi, we know we are in touch with someone who was familiar with the ups and downs of life. One who did not get all his understanding out of books or scrolls. Here is a person who has learned that lesson and has had to come to terms with survival and priorities.
So often we are unaware of aspects of life that surprise us I remember asking a churchwarden after a service how he knew the number of communicants there had been. He gave me an immediate answer: ‘I was a shepherd’. In another rural parish I happened to mention trade in East. A member of the congregation said: ‘I was dealing in furs in Vladivostock last weekend.’
Paul had learned his lesson in hardship. He also had learned how to come to terms with abundance. People who have learned that lesson have much to lose. They are tempted to slide into a sense of entitlement. I remember a man with a boat at Sandbanks who had every reason to enjoy a privileged life-style. He did no sliding. But he had the additional problem that he had not earned his money; it came by inheritance?
This paragraph must have put the Philippians on their mettle. Paul is talking about the raw material of life that dominates most us our activities. For Paul there was something that claimed more of his attention, more of his energy, more of himself. Whatever his circumstances, he had a purpose that over-rode all these pressures. He had strength from his God.
In a disarming footnote, as it were, he added: ‘It was kind of you to share the burden of my troubles.’ Who could refuse any request coming from such a man?
A man who has nothing to lose is a man to take seriously. A man who has plenty is a man who may be captivated by entitlements or aware of their fragility. The early Church was composed mostly of the former. But we find both relying as Paul did on one who gave them strength. ’I am able to face anything,’ Paul could say.
REDHILLL MUSIC
St John’s church, Redhill, Surrey takes pride in its music as well as its busy programme. It has a Willis organ that ha as one of the finest organs in the area. In Clement Hetherington the Vicar, John Kronenberg, has a director of music who encourages young voices. Martin Hall is the organist. The church building is more or less by Pearson and is undergoing a substantial extension.
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