What a Weasel! (by Peter A. Black)

That derogatory phrase, “What a weasel!” has sounded in my ears numerous times. I don’t recall it ever being addressed to me directly, but probably someone has either done so or wanted to. Confession time: I likely haven’t called someone a weasel, but I’m sure it’s crossed my mind.

Negative name-calling isn’t an admirable trait, but imagine a Canadian couple naming their baby daughter Weasel! Ninety years ago a Canadian couple did just that – well, sort of. They gave her the biblical name Huldah, from the Old Testament. Perhaps they didn’t check out the Hebrew root meaning and association of the name, but admired the faithful prophetess Huldah, who helped guide her people and the young king, Josiah.

Let me share a little about this Canadian Huldah (sometimes spelled Hulda). Almost forty years ago I first heard about her and her late husband, Dr. Mark Buntain, and their work in India. They sailed there with their infant daughter in 1954, with a love burning in their hearts for India’s poverty-stricken, sick and suffering people. In time they launched Calcutta Mission of Mercy, and became well-acquainted with Mother Teresa.

Their mission provided food and education, medical aid and hope to the poor. Mark died in 1989, yet with her daughter Bonnie, Huldah – now at the age of ninety – continues to head up this tremendous work, involving hundreds of workers at a variety of levels.*

The following statistics by now will have been superseded: “Together [the Buntains] established a holistic inner-city outreach consisting of more than 100 schools, over 700 churches, a daily feeding program for 25,000, and a full general hospital that has treated 2.2 million people and provided free care to 880,000.”* And there’s much more.


Huldah Buntain. Courtesy: Impact Asia:

I learned from my colleague, Rev. Tim Gibb, lead pastor of Bethel Church, Sarnia, Ontario, that the intrepid Huldah was recently a guest speaker there, and inspired the congregation with her life and message. 

A paragraph he shared from her presentation resonated in my heart. First though, I should say that the lyrics of the hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,** became a constant companion and theme, playing over again and again in my heart and mind during my Lenten journey this year – especially the last verse.

Tim tells of when Mrs. Buntain’s husband’s body was being lowered into the grave in Calcutta, in 1989, she thought . . . I have given thirty-five years in service to the Lord in this place. Perhaps my time here is done.

A choir was singing and began that final verse: Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small . . . And as they sang the final lines, the words reached down into the depths of her spirit: Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Tim remarks that she’s still going strong, helping the people in that city.

Truly a gaze-raiser!



Credit:english4U2.info

In our culture, calling someone a weasel denotes the idea of a sneaky individual who can’t be trusted. Yet, the related Hebrew word from which Huldah’s name is derived bears the ideas of sleek and swift; weasels certainly are. They're typically fearless, tenacious fighters, considering their small size. This is true of this woman.

Huldah Buntain responded swiftly to the call of God in her youth. And then as a senior, standing by her husband’s open grave, she responded without hesitation to the renewed call that came to her heart.

My being reminded of her at the conclusion of Lent, prior to Good Friday and Easter (Resurrection Sunday), brought me – also in my senior years – a resonating, confirming sense of divine call. The words that gripped her heart have gripped mine, too.

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*Impact Asia website. Accessed March 30, 2015. Compiled also from several sources and information I recalled from many years ago.

** Isaac Watts P.D.

~~~

The above post was adapted from a draft prepared for Peter's weekly column, P-Pep! to be published in The Guide-Advocate, April 9, 2015. 

Peter's second book is a compilation of inspirational articles from his weekly column—on a variety of themes. These are interspersed with brief expressions intended to encourage.  Ebook edition is now available on Amazon.

 

ISBN: 978-0-9920074-2-3 (Angel Hope Publishing)

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To be Served? Or to Serve? - Peter A. Black

“What is a weekend?” she asks, incredulous. Presumably, Lady Grantham – Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham – had never heard the term before. She frames the question, her steely eyes bulging and her expression conveying her typical overbearing air. She has no idea “how the other half lives.”

Veteran British actor Maggie Smith plays splendidly the imperious matriarch’s role. Violet heads the aristocratic Crawley family of the fictitious Grantham estate in the widely popular and critically acclaimed television series, “Downton Abbey.”

Lady Grantham’s whole existence having been spent as a member of the aristocracy, with her every need in life catered to by hired servants, resulted in her having no sense of common working-class people’s working long hours all week and looking forward to a break from their labour. Therefore, the idea of a weekend was a foreign concept to her. (By the way, I think Downton Abbey will likely be my favourite period series for a long time to come, and Lady “Granny” Grantham,” in some respects, steals the show!)

Set in a large manor home in England, with much of the filming done in a castle, the first series spans two years beginning with news of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and concludes with the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. It provides insight into the cultural divide prevalent in the class consciousness of that time.

The second series concludes the war and follows developments to 1919, and in the process shows the distinctions between the classes beginning to break down. That was barely a century ago and is still within living memory for some.

Recently my Lenten journey approaching Good Friday and Easter transported me in thought on a trip to the Grantham household, in particular to considering “Granny Grantham.” To some extent she viewed that the role of the common classes was to serve, while her role and that of those in her privileged station in life was to be served.

For me, the inspirational significance dawned with the freshness of a bright spring morning in the immortal words of Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, in declaring of Himself, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”(Mark 10:45).

What a contrast – the Lord of glory, through whom the worlds were formed, voluntarily stepped into time, took on human flesh, assumed the role of a slave and served humanity with love and compassion, in truth and grace!

He knew beforehand that despite the healings and miracles He wrought by the power of God and His blessing of multitudes, many hearts would be hardened. Knew that they would reject Him and ultimately call for His crucifixion. Knew he would serve them and all humanity by giving His life up to the death on a cross; to be cruelly nailed – suspended, bleeding and broken in nakedness, at the crossroads of the nations. His life, a ransom.

A ransom is a price paid to redeem; that is, to buy back and reclaim. This is what Good Friday is about: Jesus Christ, promised Messiah and sinless Son of God, in agreement with the Divine Will, gave His life a ransom to redeem humanity from the curse of sin and bring us into restored relationship with God.

On the third day He arose. Resurrection Sunday. Unbounded joy!

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Peter Black writes a weekly inspirational column for Southwestern Ontario's The Watford Guide-Advocate. A version of this article is to be published there on April 5, 2012.
Black's children's / family book, "Parables from the Pond," is published by Word Alive Press; ISBN 1897373-21-X, and is available through Christian bookstores and Amazon.

Freedom and Freedom - Mann

For a significant portion of time, I served as volunteer chaplain at a men’s maximum security prison. This was probably one of the most significant training opportunities that I received in my journey toward ordination. It began as a CPE (Certified Pastoral Education) course and extended into two years of ministry. Freedom was a word often used as the men talked about walking out the door and going home to be with loved ones. Although I celebrated those days with them, I began to cherish the occasions when I would hear testimonies of experiencing new freedom inside the walls. Maybe it was a change of attitude, or a discovery of a positive personality trait. Maybe it was the opportunity to share one’s story during group time or play a guitar during worship. Maybe it was a new understanding of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Is the most important test of feeling free when we are limited physically in some way? I’m always inspired by Joni Eareckson Tada’s witness of freedom as a paraplegic. Think about how handicapped people are able to overcome what others might see as limiting, or veterans who have learned how to interpret freedom as those who have risked their lives to secure it for others.

Do you ever wonder if church doctrines enhance or limit people’s freedom in their faith experience? Is there freedom in our invitations? Do we offer or accept, only to receive? Do we make it difficult to follow the Master?

Today, while cleaning out a closet, I found a verse written by Menno Simons (1539), given to me by an inmate when I left the prison. It initiated this blog.

True evangelical faith
cannot be dormant.
It clothes the naked,
It feeds the hungry,
It comforts the sorrowful,
It shelters the destitute,
It serves those that harm it,
It binds up that which is wounded,
It has become all things to all men.

There is freedom here in spite of limitations the situation may provide. There are no rules, just love in action with abundant grace.

Donna Mann
http:www.donnamann.org
http:www.homestead.com/the_meadows/mann.html
Take Time to Make Memories: A memoir
WinterGrief: A personal response to grief
Aggie’s Storms: The childhood of the first woman to be elected to Canadian parliament

Tale of the Field of Clay -- Black

Word spread amongst the farms and gardens of King Solomon’s Kingdom that a certain piece of ground wasn’t at all happy.

Now, the hills of Bethlehem were very happy with their being honoured as the place where King Solomon’s father, King David, had kept sheep and played his harp, and where he sang songs of praise to the Lord. So, they weren’t the unhappy ground. Besides, these hills were raising sheep to be used in sacrifices at the magnificent Temple, which was then being built, and lamb would also be served at royal banquets around King Solomon’s table!

The land of the royal gardens in Jerusalem prided themselves in the many beautiful shrubs and fragrant flowers which graced the King’s palace. And the royal produce garden grounds were especially proud of the herbs, vegetables, and fruit, grown for the royal table. No – they too, were very content. So then, which of the grounds wasn’t happy?

Word eventually came that it was a field near Succoth and Zarethan, across the River Jordan, which was very upset. That field complained, "The fields of Bethlehem don’t have to do anything; they just sit there and rich, tasty grass grows! Sheep just love it and grow big and strong. The ground of the royal gardens is so easy and workable that the gardeners say it’s a pleasure to till and work it. Besides, King Solomon’s always showing the gardens off to his important visitors."

"So what’s your problem?" asked the other grounds.

"Well, whenever anybody comes to till my ground, they run into all this tough, heavy clay, and the poor oxen just about die from the strain of plowing it up. And then, because I don’t produce a good crop, farmers just give up."

"Oh, poor Succoth-Zarethan. It’s too bad!" the other grounds said.

Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story. One day the king learned that many years before, things made from bronze were cast there, and so he sent a clever man called Huram to head up the work of casting all the bronze articles needed for the Temple.

And so it was that the old clay-soil field became very useful, and the beautiful huge pillars, the gleaming altar, the laver – that is, a huge wash-basin for the priests – as big as a small swimming pool – and all the basins, tongs, and equipment necessary for the priests to offer sacrifices to the Lord God, were cast in this field using its clay in the process. How honoured and happy this piece of ground now was, after all!

Reflection:
How honoured we are to be used of the Lord to help influence people’s lives, so that they too, may be strengthened in character and the likeness of Jesus Christ, and be fitted for His Kingdom’s service!

Scripture References: 2 Chron 4:16-17; Ps 40:1-3; Rom 8:29-30
© Peter A. Black 2000 / 2009 (This piece was written to accompany and illustrate a sermon.)

Peter writes a weekly inspirational column in the Watford Guide-Advocate, a Southwestern Ontario newspaper.

His first book, "Parables from the Pond" (written for children, read and enjoyed by all ages) is published by Word Alive Press. He can be contacted at raisegaze@execulink.com and www.freewebs.com/authorpeterablack