[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during September 2020]
The decorators have been in. Such a simple statement; such profound implications. It took more than a week to prepare the rooms in which they were to work. Pictures to be taken down, electrical fittings disconnected, furniture removed, cupboards emptied, shelves cleared of those mementoes of long-forgotten holidays – ironically the outcome that the souvenirs were intended to prevent. No time to ponder and procrastinate; pass them on to the next generation to deal with.
But there are more significant memories. This house is over 120 years old and has been in the same family of most of that time. Children have grown up in these rooms, their own children have grown up in theses rooms, and so for at least four generations.
One of the most dramatic memories comes from the communist era. Certain men of the village used to gather in one of the rooms to listen to radio broadcasts from the West, which was strictly illegal. Eventually one of the men sneaked and the house was raided by the police. They found the radio tuned to the foreign station and as a result the owner spent spent six months in one of the Romanian prisons that Richard Wurmbrand described with such graphic detail.
Memories, and dust! Dust from the tops of the cupboard that you can’t reach, dust from pulling down the old ceiling, dust from the packed-earth insulation in the attic, dust from replastering, dust from finishing surfaces, even the dust has dust.
The Bible has quite a lot to say about dust. Genesis 2 tells us that God made man from the dust of the earth. Psalm 103 reminds us that God “knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” but reassures us that “the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children”. 1 Samuel 2 contains a promise: “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and makes them inherit a throne of honour”.
Ancient alchemists searched for a way to change base materials into gold. The death of Jesus Christ provides the way to turn dust into gold-dust, precious in God’s sight. Have you been refined?
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
