St. Mark's Church of Ireland, Portadown

“The heavens declare the glory of God.” These are the first words of Psalm 19 and form the motto which surrounds the crest of Armagh Observatory. In one of my new roles I now find myself as a Governor of the Observatory which was founded by Archbishop Richard Robinson in 1790. Since then, the Observatory has received support and encouragement from the Church of Ireland, although it draws its present financing from government departments and academic and scientific institutions across the world. There are twenty five astronomers working at the Observatory; four holding Professorships from various universities and most of them engaged in post doctoral research. To listen to the annual report describing their areas of research is truly amazing, and to discern the degree of enthusiasm that they have is very encouraging. For someone like me who has rarely looked up to the skies except to try to tell what the weather is going to be like, this opens up a whole new world. And why should that not be so? In Genesis chapter 15 verse 5, childless Abram is told by God to “Look up to the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them…so shall your offspring be”…and we are told that “Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

What a wonderful vision Archbishop Robinson had almost 220 years ago when he established the Armagh Observatory. He knew that the exploration of the heavens would lead to a greater appreciation of the majesty and power and the mystery and beauty of God. And that is something that we need more than ever today and in particular something we need to remember in our Christian lives. In an age when everything has to be explained and classified we are in danger of trying to do the same with God. We are in danger of losing the vision of His power and control over His creation and our individual lives.

It is all too easy to allow ourselves to become immersed in our problems. Rather than looking downwards and inwards, we need to look upwards and outwards to a God who loves us and knows our fears and our needs. In this Easter season we are reminded of the first appearance of the Lord Jesus to His disciples. They had locked themselves away in an upstairs room in Jerusalem, fearful that the authorities would be searching for them to bring them to trial and possible execution. They had many other worries as well. The tomb had been found empty and some of the woman who belonged to their group seemed to be carried away with some notion that Jesus was alive. Then in the middle of their turmoil and anxieties, Jesus came to them. He spoke to them. “Peace be with you,” he said. He showed them himself, the nail marks in his hands and the wound in his side. He ate some of their food and convinced them by physical evidence that he really was alive. More than that, he convinced them by opening their minds to the truth of Scripture, explaining how everything about his life, suffering, death and resurrection had been foretold in them.

Those anxious and frightened disciples received from their Lord just what they needed: the reassurance of his presence with them, his love for them and the absolute certainty that he was in control of everything. So too, it has to be with us. We have to learn to rely on him, to place our trust in him no matter how dark and worrying our situation may become. Above all else we have to lift ourselves out of the tendency to dwell on the downside and look up to the Lord. St Paul gave some very sound advice when he wrote, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things……and the God of peace will be with you.” (Phillipians 4: 8,9)

Christ is our peace. The peace of the Lord be always with you!

Your friend in Christ's service,
Jim Campbell

Rector's Blog