{"id":15645,"date":"2020-12-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-saturday-12th-december-2020"},"modified":"2020-12-12T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-saturday-12th-december-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-saturday-12th-december-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion Saturday 12th December 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday 12th December – The Lamb<\/strong><\/p>\n

William Blake plays with the image of Christ the Lamb in his children\u2019s poem yet the image of Jesus as the Lamb of God, so often used in our Communion liturgies, is rather more sacrificial.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

St John 1: 29-37<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, \u2018Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, \u201cAfter me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.\u201d  I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.\u2019 And John testified, \u2018I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.  I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, \u201cHe on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.\u201d  And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.\u2019  The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,  and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, \u2018Look, here is the Lamb of God!\u2019 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lamb<\/span><\/strong>
William Blake<\/span><\/p>\n

You can hear this sung here<\/span>
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oXc7p-Qt6K0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Little Lamb who made thee <\/span>
         Dost thou know who made thee <\/span>
Gave thee life & bid thee feed. <\/span>
By the stream & o’er the mead;<\/span>
Gave thee clothing of delight,<\/span>
Softest clothing wooly bright;<\/span>
Gave thee such a tender voice,<\/span>
Making all the vales rejoice! <\/span>
         Little Lamb who made thee <\/span>
         Dost thou know who made thee <\/span><\/p>\n

         Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,<\/span>
         Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!<\/span>
He is called by thy name,<\/span>
For he calls himself a Lamb: <\/span>
He is meek & he is mild, <\/span>
He became a little child: <\/span>
I a child & thou a lamb, <\/span>
We are called by his name.<\/span>
         Little Lamb God bless thee. <\/span>
         Little Lamb God bless thee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Blake\u2019s \u201cThe Lamb\u201d poem was published in his book \u201cSongs of Innocence\u201d. That <\/span>collection was later combined with his \u201cSongs of Experience\u201d to form a joint publication \u2013 <\/span>illustrated by Blake \u2013 \u201cSongs of Innocence and Experience\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The poems are pairs. \u201cThe Lamb\u201d is not really meant to be read without also reading \u201cThe <\/span>Tyger\u201d. A child asks the cuddly lamb who lives in a nice green field, \u201clittle lamb, dost thou know <\/span>who made thee?\u201d  The poet asks the scary, wild, dangerous tiger who lives in the shadows of the forest, <\/span>\u201cwhat immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Essentially the same question. What kind of God could have created the cute and cuddly, <\/span>nice, gentle, \u201cinnocent\u201d things of life but also the wild, scary, untamed, dangerous things of <\/span>our actual \u201cexperience\u201d. Songs of Innocence and Experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

John introduces Jesus as \u201cthe lamb of God\u201d. Perhaps in their \u201cinnocence\u201d the people <\/span>imagined a God who had fashioned a salvation for them that would bring warm, fuzzy <\/span>feelings of wooly tenderness; a gentle, meek, non-threatening salve for the ills of the world<\/span>
\u2013 a lamb.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe, being fanciful for a moment, John\u2019s portrayal of John the Baptist is from the <\/span>\u201cSongs of Innocence\u201d. Matthew\u2019s portrayal is from the \u201cSongs of Experience\u201d \u2013 he speaks <\/span>of axes wielded and tree roots chopped, unquenchable fire, winnowing forks and chaff \u2013 <\/span>much more like the scary tyger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blake intended the truth to be in the whole rather than the part. The book of revelation <\/span>pictures Jesus as the \u201cLion of Judah\u201d, this would work better if it said \u201ctiger of Judah\u201d \u2013 but <\/span>it\u2019s close enough! Jesus is both lamb and tyger, both tame and wild, both winsome and <\/span>terrifying, and absolutely real and present to us in gentle fields and dark forests. Thanks <\/span>be to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lamb of God whose gentle spirit would not break the bruised reed;<\/span>
Lamb of God who lovingly took the Gethsemane cup;<\/span>
Lamb of God who forgave his torturers from a cruel cross;<\/span>
have mercy on us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tyger of God who roamed the shadows of the desert;<\/span>
Tyger of God who dazzled on the mount of transfiguration;<\/span>
Tyger of God who roared at injustice and smashed temple tables;<\/span>
have mercy on us.<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday 12th December – The Lamb William Blake plays with the image of Christ the Lamb in his children\u2019s poem yet the image of Jesus as the Lamb of God, so often used in our Communion liturgies, is rather more sacrificial. St John 1: 29-37 The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and … <\/p>\n

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