Drenched

The clouds were so black they darkened the whole panorama that lay before me. On a clear day what an amazing panoramic view it would have been.

Just last night, with a friend, I was visiting a place I had long wanted to visit. Since reading the story that I will share with you now I have somehow felt drawn to this place, like something was pulling me towards it.

Heavenfield, near Hexham is a pivotal site in the spreading and enabling of Christianity to the North of England.

It is in the middle of dramatic countryside, close to the remnants of the Roman architectural wonder that is Hadrian’s Wall. Heavenfield is a tiny little enclave seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There are a couple of houses set at great distance from each other, pretty and quaint in appearance. There is a tea shop and a church in the middle of a field, and that’s it.

At the entrance to the gate that enters the field, that leads to the tiny remote chapel, that supposedly marks the actual spot where the following historical incident I will share with you happened, stands a thick and tall wooden cross with a plaque carved in stone sitting at its base.

The stone plaque reads;

“ Where King Oswald being about to engage in battle erected the sign of the Holy Cross and on his knees prayed to God and obtained the victory as his faith deserved. A.D. 635 Laus Deo”

This is the story of that battle.

Oswald, leader of a small army, met Cadwallon, who had a much larger army, in battle at this very spot. Before the battle, Oswald had a wooden cross erected; he knelt down, holding the cross in position until enough earth had been thrown in the hole to make it stand firm. He then prayed and asked his army to join in prayer with him.

Adomnán, in his Life of Saint Columba gives a much longer account, which includes that Abbot Ségéne had heard from Oswald himself. Oswald, he says, had a vision of Columba the night before the battle, in which he was told:

“Be strong and act manfully. Behold, I will be with thee. This coming night go out from your camp into battle, for the Lord has granted me that at this time your foes shall be put to flight and Cadwallon your enemy shall be delivered into your hands and you shall return victorious after battle and reign happily.”

Oswald described his vision to his council and they all agreed that they would be baptised and accept Christianity after the battle. In the battle that followed, Cadwallon and his army were routed despite their superior numbers; Cadwallon himself was killed outright.

I stood on this field looking at the cross.

The rain began to fall from the kind of green-black sky that hung over my head.

The rain became torrential within seconds.

As I looked at the cross I imagined how Oswald must have felt faced with this massive battle. A battle that on the face of it he couldn’t really win. Yet he put the cross first, he prayed and he obeyed God without any chance of renegading on that.

He put faith ahead of his own life.

I began to think of the battles that I face in my life especially my ministry and indeed have faced over the years. I think particularly of the last few years ministering in a very tough geographical area and how spiritually dry I have felt at times.

But I’ve managed to hold on to my faith. Put the cross first, pray through the dry times and because of that have seen the same sort of victory as Oswald experienced.ie overcoming seemingly big enemies that on the face of it could have finished me off altogether.

But I’m still standing.

The rain was hammering down and I was soaked in an instant, and I wasn’t exactly dressed appropriately either.

In an attempt to get out of the rain we dashed over to the little remote chapel looking for some shelter. We tried the door and to our relief it was open. Inside it was a very simple small ancient church space, with that old church aroma a mixture of wood and mustiness that hung thickly in the air. I walked up to the front and was drawn to a simple lectern with a carved Celtic cross on the front of it facing the old wood pews. On the lectern there was a big old bible and it was open.

It was open at Isaiah 35.

1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus,
2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The splendour of Carmel and Sharon;
They will see the glory of the LORD,
The splendour of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
Steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
Your God will come,
He will come with vengeance;
With divine retribution
He will come to save you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
Wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
Nor any ravenous beast;
They will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and those the LORD has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
Everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

As I stepped outside the Church, the rain was lashing down even harder than before. So I stood at the door for a moment looking out over Heavenfield, the battle field that once hosted an horrific event, and how parched and bloodstained and barren this same piece of land must have been afterwards.

Yet, the grass and the trees, having being hit by massive clear raindrops looked fresh and green and amazing. I thought of the first verse of the scripture I had just read. The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

I suddenly wanted to be out in the rain.

To be drenched.

To be drenched in God, immersed in his supremacy.

I had contemplated past battles, especially the spiritual dryness I have had to battle against since being in the North east.

But I also had contemplated Oswald’s impossible situation and how his extreme faith had resulted in a massive victory.

And God declares in his word that the parched land, the parched land of our daily battles will be glad.

If you are feeling dry and out of the loop with God, erect a cross on your personal Heavenfield today, on the field of your battle.

Pray.

The battle will be the Lord’s.

The battle will be won.

Holding on to faith means the victory is ours.

No matter how big the enemy may seem.

Because God always wins.