Flayed

"That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night".  Judges 6:25-27.

If I could transport a 4th century pagan Viking Warrior to a vantage point to view the vista of the modern day Copenhagen or Stockholm, in 2019, what do you think he'd make of it? Do you think the sheer sight of such a 'Christianised' world would be enough to make him set down his axe and, when he returned home, join himself to a church and raise a farm?

Alternatively, what if you were to come fresh from the Sinai peninsula at the time of the Exodus (after you'd witnessed Moses obtain a second set of stone tables) into a modern place of worship, and there, sitting at the centre of the region in where the congregation gathered, you found yourself staring at a larger than life golden image. Upon enquiring as to the reason for this, you're informed by someone in charge that 'it's what the current situation requires... we therefore decided to throw something together in this crisis, and, well, this is it'.

Ah...  Reform, of a sort - change because of what is required or demanded by the perceived needs of certain facts or circumstances.

Reform isn't like revival, which, at least in modern times, equates to bringing people into a place of refreshment or unexpected blessing. Reform presses us to the wheel and, once there, for good or for ill, moves us inexorably to a new condition in respect to life in general and faith in particular.

Josiah knew the crushing weight of such when the book of the law was unearthed amidst the ruins of a neglected house of God. His flesh shook and his clothes were wrenched and torn as he allowed the weight of those words to fall upon him and the people (2 Chronicles 34:19).

Reform means there is no going back - the direction of travel is set, the way forward is pegged-out, and all those involved are expected to apply themselves to what's required.

So the question to ask ourselves, almost a year on from the 'great reform' of the UK to its new regime of control (why do I hear echos of the work of the Council of Trent in the 1500s in this regard), is where are we now? What have these amendments wrought among us?

In the prior days in England of John the son of Henry, as an attempt at reform commenced, certain key aspects of what defined the fibre of the country were included in respects to ensuring their continuation. One such statement was this: "That the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable". (Magna Carta - 1215). As one minister noted a few months ago, most of the other clauses were dissolved ages ago, but, this one - an essential part of canon law - survived... until 2020.

The freedom to worship in a manner born from this which continued here for centuries, through all manner of conflicts and troubles, has now gone.

Empty buildings, sterile and devoid of the unique gifts and callings that were evident just 12 months ago, are now filled with alternatives, and no matter how much energy and zest is wired into what happens in the small number still open, the truth remains that the faith found there has been hollowed and jarred away from its calling and obedience to its proper requirements.

Which brings us to the opening passage above. The solution to the issue at hand was another, very different kind of change, radical and uncompromising - one that would lead back, as the Lord would put it, to the "Old paths, wherein lies the good way, where you will find rest for your souls" (Jeremiah 6:16).

We may very well find ourselves torn like Gideon right now. 

We want to see another kind fo reform, replacing what has been set up in the centre of things, subtlety replacing the vitality of our life, but the innumerable voices and pressures on all sides often thwart courage... until its 'dark' (safe) enough to say or do something, but there's much encouragement in that story. He was timid, but he did act - the window of opportunity came - and because of that action and the wisdom of a family member in supporting him, the Reform came, so perhaps we can follow suit.

Let's be clear. The need right now isn't revival - such blessings come and go like fragrances on the wind. Reform builds the markers and then takes the route required making us earnest and hopefully faithful enough to see the work through.

A smoking flax...

Let's earnestly pray and steadfastly seek that we see genuine, viable, enduring reformation amongst us in this dreadful day, that the 'candle' lit by Latimer, Ridley and Bilney may brighten once again.