Advent One -Christ for All Nations

 1) Arabia

Hagar in the Desert by Marc Chagall.
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24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women (Hagar and Sarah) represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.  Galatians 4

There are significant miraculous births throughout the Hebrew scriptures. This one makes a fork in the road.  The passage relates to the birth of Ishmael/Ismail, followed by Isaac.  Half brothers though their father Abraham, or Ibrahim, Ishmael is regarded to be the father of the Arab nation. Isaac, the father of the Jews.    

In the Torah, Hagar (Ishmael's mother) was Sarah's maid/slave.  Abraham and Sarah, doubted the assurance that they would be parents and decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarah gave her slave Hagar to her husband, This of course, did not go well.  Later Sarah conceived a child - Isaac.

In the letter to the Galatians, Paul describes these two ways of living.  The first is led by human intuition.  This is what Sarah and Abraham did to Hagar.  Though "successful" it was cruel and selfish.  The second is lead by the Spirit of the Creator.  It is omnipotent and transformative.  It also involves faith and peace.  It will happen because it has been prophesied. God has read (and written) the whole story already.

PRAYER: May the people of Arabia be free, and lead by the inspired Word of the Creator.

9 Questions about The 39 Steps

 

These are the questions that arise from watching Alfred Hitchcock's 39 Steps. (Click for a link to a free viewing of the film.)

1) The film was made in 1935.  John Buchan wrote the novel in 1915.  He died in 1940.  What did Buchan make of the adaptions to his novel.  Did he like the film? Answer: Apparently Buchan liked the film.  He was 'sanguine' about the adaptations made to the plot, and even said it was an improvement on the original story.  He was paid £800 for the rights (about £73,000 today). 

2) The mysterious lady (alias Annabella Smith) is killed in the early morning whilst staying in Richard Hannay's upstairs flat.  We see an open window,  She staggers into the sitting room and collapses with a knife in her back.  What happened?  Answer:  We can only assume that someone climbed the outside of the building, or broke in in the night, and escaped through the window.  It was quite an impressive feat, whatever happened.

3) Why was Hannay spared?  His association with the mysterious lady was noted, and the gang was clearly ready for murder.  Answer: It would have wrecked the plot.

4) What happened to the milkman?  Hannay exchanged clothes with the milkman in order to escape.  Did he think about what might have happened to the milkman?  Did he care? Answer: Do we care?

5) How did the news of the murder get into the papers so quickly, following Hannay where ever he went right up into the highlands of Scotland?  Answer:  technology is going backwards.  Things were more advances in 1935.

6) Hannay escapes on the Forth bridge.  He then makes it all the way to Alt-na-Shellach, in the Highlands.  That is pretty good going. How did he do it? Answer:  He is a well paid professional actor with a team behind him.

7) Hannay makes it to Alt-na-shellach but discovers that it is the home of the well connected gangland leader Professor Jordan.  He is shot in the chest.  He collapses, and Professor Jordan leaves his slumped body to go for supper without checking that he is dead.  Surely this is shoddy work?  Hannay is able to make his escape because the bullet hit the prayer book in the breast pocket of the coat he borrowed. Answer:  Life is full of shoddy work and miraculously placed prayerbooks.

8) It is a remarkable deduction that Mr memory (the savant) has memorised the military plans. This twist is needed to round the plot off.  Would anyone else have guessed it?  Would you have guessed? Answer:  Mr Hannay, you are the savant.  

9) These are Mr Memory's  dying words before being shot by Professor Jordan, "The 39 Steps is an organisation of spies, collecting information on behalf of the foreign office of ..."

Very cleaver.  What was the word that was never said?  Answer: