麻豆约拍

Good morning.听 In EM Forster鈥檚 novel A Passage to India Mrs Moore is taken to visit a cave.听 She becomes lost and disorientated, alone, but feeling someone or something touch her in the darkness.听 The parallels to the human religious quest are obvious.听 But they are not encouraging.听 Mrs Moore speaks into the cave, but every sound comes back muffled and confused.听 And this puts her in mind of religion 鈥� and particularly what she calls 鈥減oor, talkative little Christianity.鈥澨�

It鈥檚 a crushing phrase, and one that has a ring of truth. But it also has an element of caricature. However many words are spoken, however many sermons preached, however many books published in the name of Christianity, the heart of Christian faith, the intimate exchange between an individual and God, can only happen in silence.听 It was the Scottish evangelist Robert Murray McCheyne who once said 鈥淲hat a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more.鈥澨�

听John Greenleaf Whittier was a contemporary of McCheyne.听 His poem Dear Lord and Father of Mankind speaks of the uncomplicated trust of the first disciples who heard the call of Christ and acted upon it.
听
In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.
Amen