We all know that John the Baptist had a one-word message: ‘Repent.’ Not quite so well known is the fact that William Drummond (1585-1649) wrote a memorable sonnet that ensures we shall never forget that word. Drummond calls John the last and greatest herald of heaven’s king with parched body, hollow eyes. ‘Repent, repent, and from old errors turn,’ he declaimed.
We also know that repentance is part of faith. We might say they are two sides of the same coin. We may then be tempted to play with the words ‘dexter’ and ‘sinister’ and think of a world of human beings divided by right hand and left hand. We recognise that this is something we are born with and that our speech and way of life impose privileged connotations for the former and less commendable overtones for the latter. The guest of honour, remember, sits at the right hand of the host and the right hand is the one we extend in greeting.
Right and left are with us for good but mostly we accept that we can only be one or the other. But repentance is for all. Repentance is not a physical attribute, like right-handedness. It is choice facing us all. We can continue in old errors, as Drummond puts it, or we can catch the message and turn to heaven’s king.
We have to remember that repentance is no light thing. Drummond makes this clear even if he greatly under-estimates the popular enthusiasm that welcomed John the Baptist. Perhaps if on John the Baptist’s day (24 June, together with 29 August) we complacent right-handers set ourselves the task of writing our name 24 times with our left hand, we should be sharply reminded of the kind of thing that repentance is – not just a change of opinion but a change in life-time habits. I should of course be the first to come to grief on such an exercise, deservedly so.
Of course, if we are ambidextrous, we can ignore all this and enjoy the elastic nature of our freedom. Maybe we have feet to match and are proving to be desirable candidates for a place on the left wing of a football or hockey team.
CERNE ABBAS PAINTINGS
Over 490 ancient English churches were dedicated to John the Baptist. Cerne Abbas parish church, Dorset is not one of them but it has rare wall-paintings of his life and death. Extensive conservation measures have taken place to preserve them.
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