A La Recherche D'Amis Perdus

Proust had his tea and a morsel of madeleine, and I have music, which every now and then evokes involuntary memories of people, places, and events.

It happened again a few days ago, while I was listening to the last track on the Ramones’ first album - the 2016 remaster, that is. After “Eins - zwei - drei - vier!” came the last line, repeated several times over, and then the song closed with a crash of cymbals and feedback fading into the ether. And there he was in my mind’s eye: Ernest King. (Not quite his real name. Matthew 24.15b.)

Oddly enough, it was the recollection of sitting down to tea and biscuits with him in the front room of my parents’ house that came first. Yes, there he was, tall and blond, cheerful and chatty, talking about this and that. Then I pictured him where I first met him, amongst the young and not-quite-so-young people of the Baptist church that I attended in those days. And then, when I mentioned his name, my wife reminded me that I’d gone on holiday with him, to the Isle of Wight.

Ah, yes! It was a Christian holiday, organised by a Christian magazine, and the special guests were a few dozen young people from the Children Of God cult (see Wikipedia article on David “Moses” Berg) - which just goes to show how terribly, horribly wrong things can go when you really, really want to be seen to be embracing The Next Big Thing. They looked so sweet and so sincere, as though they’d been raised on sunshine and orange juice. However…

I missed you when you went away to Bible College. In those days, in many Baptist Union churches, it was the fashion to encourage young men who showed signs of promise to go off to study at one of the educational establishments linked to that denomination.

And then, when you’d been there for a while, you wrote a letter: not to me, but to our mutual friends, K. and D. How well I remember them: a young, married couple, cheerful and evangelical, keeping open house for any and all of the young folk from our church, always ready to listen to anyone in doubt or difficulty, always ready to offer tea and sympathy and sound, biblical advice to those who sought their help.

I never saw the letter, but I know what it said: at Bible College, you had discovered that you were of the homosexual persuasion. And they wrote back to you, of course, reminding you that, no matter how the Contemporary Christian Church might try to finesse it, homosexuality is sexual sin.

It would be K. who actually penned the reply. I never heard him say an unkind word to or about anyone; and knowing him as well as I did at that time, I’m sure that he was neither intemperate nor rude. He was your good friend. Why wouldn’t he try to warn you, if he saw you heading in the wrong direction?

And the letter you sent back? Couldn’t you just have thanked him for his concern, and agreed to differ? Why the “fascists” and “Nazis” and the obscene epithets that I can’t repeat here? I know it hurt them, but, I suppose that’s what you wanted to do. It’s not just you, of course. I’ve seen it over the years and in various churches: it’s as though a fair number of supposedly Christian folk have spent far too much time in the company of Sun Tzu. Treat everyone as your best friend, until they get in your way - and then attack them without mercy or remorse.

And then you simply dropped out of sight.

I wonder what you did with the rest of your life? I know that it’s perfectly possible for a Christian to turn to all sorts of sinful activities, for many and various reasons, and sometimes for a lengthy season. But, the born-again believer will always come at last to repentance and renewed faith.

How could it be otherwise? Speaking of those who belong to His kingdom, our Lord says: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” (John 10.28-9.)

After I’d thought about you for a while, I felt sad. How strange! After all these years, still a sense of loss. I pray that you did repent, in the fulness of time, and according to God’s sovereign will. How good it would be to see you again, and to be reunited with our mutual friends K. and D., and to keep company with so many of our other long-lost brothers and sisters - in “the land of unclouded day”. (J. K. Alwood.)

I will sit down in a few moments and listen to that song, “Unclouded Day” - and it will make me happy. But first, for those of you who aren’t entirely familiar with the aforementioned Ramones, I’d better give you the title of the final track on their debut album; it’s also the last line, the one that they repeat as the song comes to its close.

“Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World.”

Nevertheless…

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return

And come to Zion with singing;

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

They shall obtain gladness and joy,

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

(Isaiah 35.10.)