“Be still, and know that I am God....”

In the silence of the night there are sounds that come upon the ear, ordinary sounds which in the hustle of the daytime pass unnoticed. From the fireplace comes the sound of flickering flames, whose miniature roar tells of all those fires which have burned through all the centuries. A chair creaks, as wooden things have ever creaked, whether the contemporary table or the milkmaid's stool, or the straining arms of some gaunt forest giant twisted by the gales of a thousand years ago. In the distance a child cries in protest, and then is quietly lulled to rest. Just in such a way must the first child have rebelled against its parents, and just as gently must it have given way to slumber.

And then, amid these faint sounds which are as it were the echo of all history, comes a droning as an aircraft passes across the darkened sky; a rumble, as a train careers over the moonlit countryside; a whine and rattle as a car sharply draws to a standstill. Its door clicks open, and is closed with a slam, as if to emphasise the point that we are in a new age. Beside the quiet whisperings of immemorial nature we have the hustle of men going to and fro, exulting in the power of a knowledge that is increased.

It is a new age, and yet it is not new. For the men who drive the motors or pilot the jet planes, the women and children who are their passengers, are just like the men, women and children of a thousand years ago. When we hear of disorderly teenagers, of strikes, disputes, international tension, disasters, suicide, sin; or of courage, heroism and self-sacrifice, we are hearing of things that have existed since earliest times. When there is no more sorrow, pain or death, that will be a new age; when there is no more selfishness and sin, then a new age will truly be here. Science cannot bring these things about. Only God can.

So we live our lives together through the busy day and the quiet night: and so the tapestry of human history is woven out of the twining strands, happiness and care. Yet once and again nature's routine is broken. It was broken once when God sent His Son into the world, that occasion which we so imperfectly commemorate at Christmas. It will be broken again when Jesus' kingdom is established on earth.

"I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." Psalm 46.10,11.

From Midland Newsletter, December 1959