Seventh-day Adventist® Church

The Olympic Torch reached the City of York today. A city steeped in history, being the city of the House of York, which fought against the House of Lancaster around the 1400's. The House of York was the dominant force, but were overthrown by Henry VII of the House of Tudor, supported by the Lancastrians. 

The War of the Roses, between the Houses of York and Lancaster, took place mainly in open fields, with England's castles playing little role in royal allegiance in this era. One of the older castles, Windsor Castle, was built by William the Conqueror soon after 1066. It was added to over the centuries, and was favoured and developed by Henry VII in the early 1500's.

So my link with the Olympic Torch today is through Henry VII. The torch is in York tonight. Henry defeated the House of York. Henry vastly developed Windsor Castle. I have been inside Windsor Castle and drove past it today!

A tentative set of links, but an association anyway. And hereby lies my ponderings for today. 

I got invited to a gathering of friends at Windsor Castle once. Basically, some friends of mine have a friend who used to live and work in Windsor. She hosted the party. I got to enter some of the staff living quarters, and I wasn't a tourist! 

While the social gathering played out its time, I remember gazing out of a window. We were in an old tower, round as I remember, and while the view was interesting, the thickness of the walls are what I remember. They must have been about six feet, 1.8m, thick. You almost have to step out of the room, into the alcove, before you reach the window. 

These walls were very thick. A defence. A fortress. A mighty fortress!

These walls have always reminded me of the Martin Luther song, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Luther wrote this hymn between 1527-1529. What a coincidence, Henry building the walls in parts of Windsor Castle, walls I have marvelled at, at about the same time Luther wrote this hymn. 

The words are a paraphrase of Psalm 46. In this Psalm there are loud, raging words like "roar, foam, quake, uproar, desolation, wars, breaks, shatters". There are words of peace too. Indeed, these words are the pearls of the Psalm. 

10 He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.’

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

As we seek the presence of God, remember "a mighty fortress is our God", and amidst the fury of life, we have an invitation from God to "Be still, and know that I am God". Be still in God's presence.

-Pr Nathan Stickland