On Saturday, 3rd June, we were lead to Norwich.
On Sunday we heard how that day in London 3 Islamic extremists had driven into the pedestrians on London Bridge and then went on a killing rampage with knives, leaving 8 dead and 48 wounded. Following a similar incident at Westminster and the Manchester bombing this was the third such “attack” on England within a few months.
The words of a well known nursery rhyme started playing in my head,
London bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London bridge is falling down
My fair lady
As children we played a circle game to the song that then continued. “Build it up with wood and hay” Apparently there are several more verse each using a different and stronger material to try and establish the bridge…..but all without success.
A few days later Father began speaking to me about the connection between what we were doing in Norwich that day and what was happening in London
That Saturday afternoon we had ended up at the far end of Norwich Cathedral behind and below the elevated chair on which the human bishop would sit. There we found the icon pictured above.
Notice how it depicts the resurrected Jesus standing on the cross holding the hands of Adam and Eve who are being drawn up out of death and Hades. Jesus is standing on the cross. This, God’s bridge, is the only hope for the redemption of all of creation (Rm.8:21) including mankind, for “As in Adam all have died, so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor.15:22).
As we drove through England the word PRIDE kept cropping up on notices, being claimed by everyone from the British farmers to the parking lot owners! It reminded me of the verse in Psalm12:8 which talks about the generation “when what is vile is exalted among the human race.” The Great Sin, as Lewis described it, was being flaunted!
In his book “The Harbinger” Jonathan Kahn points out how when the same London Bridge ‘terrorism’ was said to bring down the Twin Towers in New York the words of Is.9 were quoted by American political leaders at a ceremony at the site,”We will rebuild…we will replant” (v.11) Looking however, at the context of those words in scripture, we find a defiant people who are under God’s judgment because of “PRIDE and arrogance of heart.” (v9)
Gazing at the icon in that humble, hidden corner, Hilary and I once again began to sing to the Lord Jesus,”…we proclaim You are King – of England.”
The inevitable success of God’s bridging work to establish his kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy on earth in this song seemed to stand in contast to the futility of human efforts and scheming expressed in the sad little ditty …..”London bridge is falling down…”
As we walked out of the cathedral I noticed a statue at the western door of the only person I knew, or rather knew of, from Norwich – the ‘fair lady’ Julian! She had lived in the city hundreds of years earlier as a Christian mystic. She is well known for her book describing her visions, “Revelations of Divine Love”, and most, for the words Jesus spoke to her, as she contemplated His cross, that in the end,
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”
P.S. Lovely to get this resonating email from our Thai missionary friends after last week’s blog,