Joan Osbourne asks in her
1995 song ‘One of Us’, ‘If God had a name what would it be’? Well God does have a name! Bursting out of Isaiah 9 are four of the most
incredible names, Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and
Prince of Peace. My hope is before
Christmas to write a blog on each of these
amazing names and ask what they might mean for us today.
I have never been to see a
counsellor. Though my life looks like
someone who seeks council. I have just
filled in my mileage and expenses claims and right there in the lowest points
of the year is the pattern of someone who needed council. A trip to my old college tutor, then to my
spiritual director, then to my mentor, then to the regional minister, then to
my best buddy, books read with helpful titles, podcasts
downloaded… seeking council, seeking advice… seeking light into darkness. I know I am not alone! Because so much of my role can be giving
council. Statistics show that the amount
of counsellors have tripled over the last ten years. People like me seeking hope, clarity of
thought and light into darkness.
But we also have a wonderful
counsellor. One that came to the feeding
trough all those years ago and comes to us today. And our advent challenge is, do our lives
look like those that have a wonderful counsellor? Do they look like His voice is the most
important voice we listen too? Do our
lives look like we have someone who wants to listen and guide us to light? Because as good as all the earthly advice is,
however prayerful and however Godly those giving council are, we have a
wonderful councillor who is there to listen, there to guide, there to bring
light into darkness and bring life in all its fullness. We have a wonderful counsellor!
In
his book, the vision and the vow, Peter Greig
tells the story of how Robert Cumming the art critic studied an amazing painting
by Filipino Lippi. He stood in London’s
national gallery gazing up at the painting (see above this blog)
of Mary holding baby Jesus with saints Jerome and Dominic kneeling nearby. But just as it had troubled many art critics
before, Cumming could see fault in the painting. It wasn’t the skill of Lippi, or colour used
or composition but the perspective seemed slightly wrong. The hills in the background seemed
exaggerated, as if they might topple out of the frame. The two kneeling saints looked awkward and
uncomfortable. Cumming was not the first
to notice these things but he was probably the last because at that point he
had a revelation. He suddenly realised
that the fault might be his and the art critics who had judged the work of art
before him. The painting he was
analysing was not just another piece of religious art hanging in a gallery
alongside other such pieces. The work
was never meant to come near a museum.
Lippi’s painting had been commissioned to hang in a place of
prayer. Cumming made the decision to
fall to his knees. And as he did he
suddenly saw what generations of art critics had missed. From his new vantage point he found himself
gazing up at a perfectly proportioned
piece of art. The foreground had moved naturally to the background, while the
saints seemed settled – their awkwardness, like the painting itself, having
turned to grace. Mary now looked intently and kindly directly at him as
he knelt at her feet between saint’s Dominic and Jerome. It was not the perspective of the painting
that had been wrong but the people looking at it. Robert
Cumming on bended knee in a position of worship had found a beauty that Robert
Cumming the proud art critic could not. The painting only came alive to
those on their knees in prayer.
It
is when we are in prayer to our wonderful counsellor that we find a new
perspective in life. It is there Isaiah
tells us that defeat can be turned to victory; sorrow can be turned to joy and
light can come into darkness. So may are
lives reflect that we have a wonderful counsellor. May his voice be the one we are most
desperate to hear.
One
last story! One of my favourite things
this time of year is going carol singing.
It is pitch black, we are wrapped up warm with scarves, gloves and hats
and we walk the streets giving out gifts and Christmas cheer. When we knock on a door and it opens the
light from the hall way comes bursting out and covers the darkness around us as we sing. Jesus, our wonderful counsellor, does the
same in our lives. He burst in and he
dispels the darkness. If this advent we
seek Jesus, He will come, and those impossible situations, those painful
experiences and those deep dark places He can cover in his glorious light. May you know the wonderful Counsellor this
Christmas. May our lives look like Jesus'
presence and voice is the most important thing we seek and listen too. May we all know the wondrous light this
Christmas. In His name, Amen.
