the windows

[With thanks to JH, for bringing Herbert's poem to my attention more than 2 years ago.]


Windows fascinate me. They offer glimpses of things beyond, remind us of the persistence of hope. They are quieter and subtler than doors - those loud things that slam in corridors and command all our attention amidst the comings and goings of everyday life. They are like that still small voice that comes in the wake of the earthquake and the fire, reminding us that when all else seems lost, we are never forsaken, and we can always rely on the One who made us and gave His life for us to provide for us and quiet us with His love.

I wish I could believe what I've written with half of the faith that sings in my words.

And I think that discrepancy between what we aspire towards, and the sad gritty reality, is partly what George Herbert is pointing to in his poem, 'The Windows', from which this blog takes its name. How can man, mere man, preach God's eternal Word? We are but flawed, brittle glass. What right do any of us have, to be speaking the Word of God with our unclean lips, to be meditating on the Word of God with our divided hearts? What hypocrisy - to speak of the Beatitudes in one breath, and in the next to be sowing pain and discord with one carelessly-spoken word, committing murder in our hearts when an inconvenient someone else gets in our determined and oh-so-righteous way.

What right do I have, to be writing about God's eternal Word, here, in this webspace, and even more audaciously, to expect others to read this?

The same questions apply, really, to all of the work that God entrusts to us. We do the tasks assigned to us - in our relationships with others, in our jobs, in our churches - with more or less fervour, to greater or lesser standards of accomplishment. Our motives are always mixed, and even on the rare occasions when we can say, honestly, that as far as we've been able we've done our best for the Lord and for the Lord only, we know deep within that even our best and most single-minded comes short of God's infinite goodness.

It is grace, and grace alone, that allows us to speak God's truth and share in God's work, and it is grace alone that allows our efforts to somehow accomplish God's will here on earth. Somehow, He takes these broken fragments of flawed, brittle glass, and arranges them into stained glass windows that show forth His light and glory. And I hope that by His grace this blog, with its musings on the bits of His Word that somehow take up residence in the echo chambers of my mind, will be a tiny window into His transcendent truths - brittle crazie glasse though it may be.

Do feel free to drop by and leave a word, or more - I'd love to hear from you! Especially if you find anything here that is doctrinally dodgy - please please please tell me so that I can correct it. The last thing I want to do is to be spreading heresy on the world wide web.

Thank you for being part of this joint endeavour. Shalom. :)
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