Armour alone not enough to stand up to challenges
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This is a column by Rev Duncan Macleod, minister at Dornoch Free Church
Just as Brexit was the word on everyone`s lips last year – and is coming back into vogue now – so words
such as unprecedented and self-isolation have been among this year’s buzzwords as personally and collectively we have all had to face many challenges as a result of Covid-19.
It’s now clear that until a vaccine is found, many of these challenges are going to be with us for some time to come.
Quite understandably, these momentous events are causing many to worry and there’s no doubt that, for some at least, fear has been and still is very much in the air.
Because of this, our leaders have been encouraging us not to go abroad at this time and indeed in so doing have come up with another word I can’t remember ever having heard before! The word staycation, I believe, means “a holiday spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.”
Though we have very good friends there who have asked us to come and visit them (which we can’t do at present due to the most recent restrictions), one part of the British Isles my wife and I have never been to and about which we don’t hear very much is the Isle of Man.
It’s not part of the United Kingdom but it is a Crown possession, self-governing in its internal affairs under the supervision of the British Home Office.
Its coat of arms is quite fascinating – it is called in Manx “Trje Cassyn” – very similar to the Gaelic “Trì Casan” which translated into English means “Three Legs.” It consists of three legs clad in armour, bent at the knee, joined at the thigh, with one foot directed skywards.
The figure is surrounded by a garter in which are the Latin words “Quocunque Jaceris Stabit”, which mean: “Whichever way you throw me, I shall stand.”
It’s thought that this symbol was originally found on the coins of the Norse-Irish kings, some of whom once ruled in Man, and that later it came to be used on the island’s official coat-of-arms.
These words are worth pondering – “Whichever way you throw me, I shall stand”. In other words, “it’s impossible to bowl me over – nothing can knock me off balance.” I wonder how many of us can say the same thing in these uncertain times? I find it interesting that the three legs are clad in armour.
The Bible says that if we are to stand firm against all the evil things that threaten to overcome us, then we too need armour, and that God will provide us with all the armour we need.
As the hymn writer puts it, Soldiers of Christ arise and put your armour on / Strong in the strength which God supplies through his eternal Son.
Paul tells us what this armour is in his letter to the Ephesians. There is the belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace as shoes to provide a firm footing; the shield of faith; the helmet of salvation; and a sword which is the word of God.
But armour alone is not enough. If we are not to fall in fighting against evil, there is something else we need to do: that is why Paul gives us a further piece of advice.
For when we have put on all the armour he mentions, we must remember to keep praying.
Then we shall not fall, even when things are at their worst. Instead we call be able to stand and nothing will “throw” us.
