God’s goodness – Thought for the Week

Spring is coming. It’s a lovely time of the year. The dark drab days of winter are beginning to recede and the days are getting longer. Snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils are blooming; birds are beginning to build nests; lawns are being cut for the first time. This year, however, there are real problems to face. In Britain hundreds of people are clearing up after the floods and it may be months before they can move back into their homes. The coronavirus continues to spread with almost 90,000 confirmed cases worldwide and more than 3000 deaths. Medical services in many countries are working hard to contain the spread of the virus.

Today, we live in a secular society in which the spiritual dimension has been specifically excluded. In times of crisis we hear of the need for “political” and “military” solutions. Our only hope is in people and their limited wisdom and skills. This was not always the case. Since at least the 9th century monarchs have ordered petitionary prayers to be said in the event of national disasters – such as bad weather or plague – as well as for man-made threats, such as war. In the past people believed in the overruling providence of God in all situations of life and prayed to God for help. In times of personal crisis today many ordinary people still cry out to God for help.

In May 1940, when the German High Command was preparing to “annihilate the British Army”, King George VI requested that a National Day of Prayer be convened on Sunday 26 May for God’s gracious intervention. On that day the nation, in an unprecedented way, devoted itself to prayer. Churches and cathedrals were overflowing with people. With the Allied forces at his mercy Hitler, for some unknown reason, ordered his army to halt for three days and bad weather grounded the Luftwaffe. In those days 338,000 Allied troops were evacuated in a flotilla of boats. On Sunday 9 June a National Day of Thanksgiving was called and Churchill spoke of “the miracle of Dunkirk”.

The creation itself testifies to the power and goodness of God. The earth is unique in the known universe: with the abundance of water and life of all kinds. As we face an environmental crisis, and some people talk of the “extinction” of the human race, how reassuring it is to know that the God who created all things also upholds and sustains all things. We are frail and vulnerable but there is an almighty hand that graciously guides the course of history.

The Remembrance Services this year have been deeply moving as we have remembered the millions of people who died in the World Wars of the 20th century, and especially in the Great War of 1914-1918. The casualty statistics are hard to take in. In the Great War 65 million men were mobilised across Europe: more than 8 million soldiers and 7 million civilians died and 21 million were wounded. Many soldiers from countries in the Commonwealth, including India, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Africa and the West Indies also died. In the Battle of the Somme, 1 July to 18 November 2016, 1 million people on all sides were killed. British forces suffered 57,000 casualties on the first day, of whom more than 19000 were killed.

Theo Chadburn, a miner from Sheffield, was a member of the Salvation Army and played in the band. He served at Ypres and, 3 days before he died, wrote a letter to his wife Lily in which he said, “I believe that every day I learn more of his goodness.” He told her that on Easter Day 1918 he saw 150 soldiers go forward to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour and said, “It was the best Easter Sunday night meeting I have ever spent. I was greatly blessed.”

Albert Penn came from Hasland, near Chesterfield. He was married to Florence who was expecting their first child. They met at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in the village where Albert led the boys’ Bible class and Florence led the girls’ class. They were enjoying their first home and looking forward to the sharing the rest of their lives together. But the war changed all that. In 1916 Albert volunteered and was told to come back when their baby, Mary Estelle, was 3 months old. He did and was killed on 30 October 1917 at Passchendaele when Mary was just 11 months old. He was 28 years old and his body was never found.

A wounded solider, who had been a member of Albert’s Bible class at home, told the family that he had seen Albert standing in an open field with a Bible in his hand talking to the young soldiers and then leading them in singing the hymn “Rejoice the Lord is King!” Five days later Albert and his regiment went over the top and he died. His granddaughter said, “I know that, in that terrible time, it wasn’t so much that he kept his faith in God, but that the God in whom he trusted kept him.”