
Exminster Methodist Church, Main Road, Exminster EX6 8BT
Email exminstermethodists@yahoo.co.uk, Minister: Rev Ben Haslam, Telephone (01392) 256716
Monthly Message from Rev Ben Haslam
In
Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet is given some advice by an older
character, Polonius: “To thine own self be true”. It sounds
like very modern advice, this idea of being ‘true to yourself’,
of doing what feels right to you regardless of any other
considerations. Personally, I’m not really sure what ‘being
true’ to yourself actually means. Does it mean doing whatever you
feel like? Does it mean following your own values at all costs?
The
nature of truth is a hot topic in this day and age. We’ve heard
much in recent years about ‘fake news’, of clashes of values
between generations, and of people going on telly to talk about
‘their truth’. I won’t mention names…. Pontius Pilate
famously asked Jesus the question: “What is truth?” as have many
philosophers and writers down the ages. I think we can all agree that
truth isn’t something we can manipulate to suit our own purposes,
though it seems that many people do just that. Truth is also about
much more than just feelings, in that we can react strongly against
something without that being an indication that it is untrue. Our
feelings can be a highly unreliable guide to truth, and sometimes we
rely on them too much. We might even have to overcome our feelings
to reach the truth sometimes.
What
Jesus has to say about truth is powerful and hopeful. “You will
know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8.32). He
means the truth about Himself, that He is God, and therefore the key
to all truth. What’s more, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth
and
the life” (John 14.6). Some people take exception to this. How
can Jesus be so arrogant as to make such a claim for Himself? Or
else they try to water down the words, as if what Jesus really
meant
to say was, ‘I am a
way,
a
truth and a
life’. But He didn’t and we can’t get round that. There has
been no convincing way of ‘reinterpreting’ Jesus’ words, though
those who find them offensive have tried. Instead, why don’t we
celebrate them? Here is God Incarnate, maker and sustainer of all
of creation, revealing Himself to us, and inviting us to share His
life? Here is God, revealing the
truth about
Himself, that He is our loving Father and love is His very essence.
If Jesus is
The
Truth, then Jesus is our gateway to how things really are and our
faith in Him is the lens through which we are called to see life.
This truth is something which can transform us: we are set free from
false versions of how to be human beings so that we are free to
become who God wants us to become. Something to celebrate indeed.
God bless, Ben