I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God (Job: 19:26)

Radio 3 has been running a series entitled “Soundscape of a Century”.  Some of you may have listened to it this past week. It relives a hundred years of the BBC.  It is a soundscape of classical music and sounds from the archives, decade by decade.  Many of the musicians and artists have long since died but even the mention of the name of a song or radio programme will invoke memories not only for ourselves but also of our parents and grandparents. The decades I listened to recently were the 1940’s and 1950’s. These included Roy Plumley’s “Desert Island Discs” first broadcast in 1942; Kathleen Ferrier’s singing of “What is life without thee” from Gluck’s tragic opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” recorded in 1946; and “How does your garden grow” which became “Gardeners’ Question Time” in 1951. Think for a moment what these names invoke.

The month of November is traditionally a time in which the Catholic Church remembers those who have died. We had the great Feasts of All Saints and All Souls last week. In a fortnight’s time we shall celebrate the Feast of Christ the King bringing to an end the liturgical year and then a new year will seamlessly start again with the beginning of Advent. We look forward to those things which still await us and in which we have hope. The circle of life continues year by year yet at some point our own journey, at least in this life, will come to an end. We will move into a new dimension and realm, much of which is unknown, but to which we are given insights and promises.  Through our own faith; through what we read in scriptures as well as seeking to follow the one who said “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies”.

In our reading from Job, he has reached the end of his tether.  All those who should have loved and supported him have abandoned him. Those who have relied upon him and looked up to him as their master, provider, husband and father have all turned against him but still he cannot quite turn against the one who has been all those things for him – God.

The theologian, Jane Williams comments that “Job is certainly angry with God. He wants a written record of all that he has been through so that he can present it to God and demand a satisfactory answer. Does he want justice? Does he want health? Does he want his position back? More than anything he wants to stand in the presence of the living God and hear from him that he is loved and vindicated and that the relationship between them still exists. Like us, Job needed to know, above all else that his Redeemer lives”.   

In closing I want to read part of Malcolm Guite’s poem from “Sounding the Seasons” which picks up on today’s readings:-

Tangled in time, we go by hints and guesses,

Turning the wheel of each returning year.

But in the midst of failures and successes

We sometimes glimpse the love that casts out fear.

Sometimes the heart remembers its own reasons

And beats a Sanctus as we sing our story,

Tracing the threads of grace, sounding the seasons

That lead at last through time to timeless glory.