Australian Thoughts at the Weekend. 21st February, 2009.

Australian Thoughts at the Weekend. 21st February, 2009.

GOING BOLDLY

The other day, I read the well known chapter of Hebrews which includes the words:

So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body. (Hebrews 10: 19-21 The Message)

Some may be more familiar with the King James Version:

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:19-20 King James Version)

I began to reflect on the idea of going boldly into the presence of God. I was thinking what a privilege it is. I have no access to the Premier of our State, Queensland, to the Prime Minister of Australia or to the Queen of Queensland and Australia who also happens to be the Queen of England and many other places.

When I was in Rome last year, I visited the Vatican City and St Peters Basilica. However, I had no access to the Pope. It would have been difficult as he was in Sydney, Australia at the time. I could go boldly to view the Vatican art as I had paid my entrance fee and walk through St Peters. There were limits to where I could boldly go and I had the idea that security people were watching.

I continued to think about going boldly and I remembered the prayer we pray each Monday in the Chapel before we gin our hospital patient visiting. It is based on 2 Timothy 1: 6-7:

God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. May we rekindle the gift of God within us. Amen.

Again, I like The Message version of those verses on which the prayer is based:

And the special gift of ministry you received when I (Paul) laid hands on you (Timothy) and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible. (2 Timothy 1: 6-7 The Message).

I have been in seven or eight different prisons but there is one night when I went boldly. I think it was boldly on the outside although it was far from it inside. This particular night I was visiting without my fellow Chaplain and the guards on one cell block told me there was no one available to escort me down 100 meters of the internal road to the next cell block.

I waited while they telephoned ahead and then I set out down the road through the dark. I would think that the guards at each end of the road were watching me as I swiftly made my way. I was about half way when I saw something moving in the dark down towards the perimeter fence. I quickened my pace and had visions of being taken hostage by a stray prisoner.

When I got to the cell block, the gate was unlocked and I moved into the safety of the compound. I reported the movement I had seen to the guard and he smiled as he said “Sir, they are Mr King’s kangaroos”. I remembered, then, the kangaroos the Prison Governor had inside the external boundary fence.

I remember another time there was a prison officers’ strike at Parramatta Prison in Sydney. It was a tough prison with some very tough prisoners. The Salvation Army with the agreement of the Prison officers’ Union was given the responsibility of feeding the prisoners.

We did this by placing the essentials for 3 meals, including one hot chicken dinner with vegetables in two supermarket bags. This was the daily ration for each prisoner. When all was ready we took the meal packs to each cell block. There was one Salvation Army Officer, about three armed Police Officers and one prison manager in each cell block.

We approached the cell door. The prisoner was commanded to stand back. The Prison manger tested the door to make sure it was not electrically live. (Prisoners had previous occasions ripped electrical wiring from the walls and connected the metal doors to the electric light supply which was painful to anyone touching the door). The peep hole was then used to make sure the prisoner was back from the door and the door unlocked and opened.

I then boldly stepped forward and placed the meal bags in the doorway and quickly stepped back. The prisoner was then told to come forward, pick up his meal bags and slowly return to his cell. The door was locked and we repeated the procedure at the next cell door. After the prisoners had been in “lock down” mode for a few days without a shower or exercise the relationship of many of the prisoners with police and prison officers was very abusive. It was always a great relief to hear the door bang closed behind me and I could breathe easy the fumes of Parramatta traffic outside the prison.

It was about the same time as I my visits to Parramatta Prison to be part of a team preparing and delivering meals to the prisoners in their cells that I was appointed as a Fire Brigade Chaplain and was called to attend a fatal vehicle accident for the first time. I will not dwell on the details but that first time and every time since that I was called to a fatal fire or a vehicle accident with death and severe injuries, my prayer was that God would give me courage to go boldly and be of use to the people at the scene and to distressed relatives and friends who arrived.

The Ambassador for South Africa was to visit a country town where I was the Corps Officer at the time. The Town Council put on a Civic Reception for him and I was invited to attend. It was a Friday night. Friday night, I used to do my hotel rounds with my bundle of War Crys and my collection box. It was quite tight timing but I managed to complete the hotel round in time to walk home and then around the corner to the Town Hall for the reception. As I reflected later, I thought what a contrast there was between the last hotel, probably with the lowest socio economic group in town and the reception where I met not only the official guest but mingled with every community and business leader in the town. I had never spoken to an Ambassador before or since, but he sought me out and spoke highly of The Salvation Army and its work in his home land.

I have told the story before of the young blind man whom I took from the dreadful circumstances in which he was living almost kept prisoner by relatives who had taken every advantage of his pension income and gave almost nothing in return. Yes, I not only went boldly and with a prayer but reported to the police station before and after the “rescue” as his relatives were known for their violence.

It was in my first appointment that we had a Saturday night “coffee shop” for teenagers. It had been going for about three years and it was mostly attended by young people from the community. There behaviour was sometimes far less than desirable especially when they had spent the Saturday afternoon drinking alcohol. They often upset our neighbours and we spent a lot of time trying to bring peace to the situation.

One night they upset one of the neighbours who went to a nearby hotel and gathered friends to fix us up. His friends like him all seemed about 30cm (1 foot) taller than me. They all looked like they were practiced in battle. Just as I wqas confronted by the group, our rock group of guitars and drums struck up another song. Luckily, it wasn’t their loud and raucous version of “Wild Thing”, “Proud Mary” or “Bad moon Rising” but their vocalist Robyn singing with quiet accompaniment “Amazing Grace”.

The leader of the pack told his friends to shut up and listen. As Robyn’s clear voice sang the well known words, the leader said “Anyone with music like that can’t be bad. Let’s go”. With that he shook me by the hand, told me to have a good night and joined his friends as they went back to wherever they had come from.

The neighbour was not satisfied. A few Saturday night’s later he confronted me with a shotgun on the footpath outside our Citadel. I felt a lot better when the police arrived. I was bold but not stupid. I closed the Saturday night Coffee Shop a week later. Our outreach tot eh young people continued on Wednesday night when we had our Bible Study and games night. On Wednesdays they had been at work or school so they came and of course stayed sober.

I started out by quoting from Hebrews. Remember ?

So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body. (Hebrews 10: 19-21 The Message)

The writer to the Hebrews does not stop there he goes on:
22-25So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
[Listen: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music2/mus_3805.mp3 ]

There's a path that's sometimes thorny,
There's a narrow way, and straight;
It is called the path of duty,
And it leads to Heaven's gate.
While we tread this path of duty,
We will find our needs supplied
From the river of God's mercy
That is flowing close beside.

Chorus
By the pathway of duty
Flows the river of God's grace.
By the pathway of duty
Flows the river of God's grace.

'Tis a blessed way and holy,
'Tis a path of peace and joy;
Though sometimes the way be stony
And the cares of life annoy.
But this path that we call duty
Is the way the Master trod,
And the smile of love and beauty
Lights the way that leads to God.

Let us walk this path of duty
With our faces to the sun,
Carry all our burdens gladly,
Finish well what we've begun.
From the river of God's mercy
That is flowing by the way,
We may drink and find refreshing
For the burdens of the day.
Author: Sidney Edward Cox (1887-1975)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 462
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Read a Christian book during Lent.

Lent in 2009 will start on Wednesday, the 25th of February and will continue for 46 days until Saturday, the 11th of April.
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