Happenings 11 June 2020

There is a poem made popular by Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch woman who, along with her family helped Jews escape the Nazis in World War by hiding them in her home, and who was later sent to a Nazi concentration camp. It is a poem about the enormous contrast between the upper and under side of a tapestry. We don’t see too many tapestries today, so perhaps the metaphor is less clear than it once was. However, for those who have seen the back of tapestries, they truly are a chaotic mess of yarn. This riot of disorder is in stark contrast to the upper side of tapestries where the clear design and artistry is seen, and it is a wonderful picture of the way we may struggle to see God’s plan in the messiness of our lives, yet by faith we know that he is creating something of beauty and design that we will one day be amazed by. It is a picture that applies both to all the ‘threads’ that make up our lives as individuals; it is also a picture of the way each of us are individual threads that make up a bigger canvas. This is the theme of Prayer and Self Denial this year – we are all part of God’s growing masterpiece of weaving; we in New Zealand are connected with those who are serving overseas on our behalf in Christ’s name. God is weaving a global picture, and over the coming weeks we will be reminded of the way all of us are bound together in God’s plans. Here is the poem for your reflection:
THE WEAVER’S POEM
My life is but a weaving Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors He weaveth steadily.
Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper and I the underside.
Not ’til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas and reveal the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver In the pattern He has planned
He knows, He loves, He cares; nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him.

In Him,
Murray