Kirkspire article march 2008
St Andrew’s Church egmore
symbols in and around the kirk building
Murdoch MacKenzie
Having looked in the last months at the Caledonian Society Chair, the Burning Bush and the Burning Lotus, this month we raise our eyes to the triangle above the portico of the church. There we see written in Hebrew the name of God YHWH. This is the name which was revealed to Moses at the burning bush as found in Exodus 3:14.
The word Yahweh, mistakenly written sometimes as ‘Jehovah’, means ‘I am who I am’ or ‘I will be what I will be’. Moses was standing on holy ground and had removed the shoes from off his feet. As we enter St Andrew’s Kirk we too are standing on holy ground but unlike our Christian sisters and brothers in our village churches we do not remove our shoes from off our feet. When I was Presbyter in the Kirk I was the only person with bare feet at the worship Sunday by Sunday but no-one in the whole six years I was there ever mentioned it.
To return to Moses, when God reveals his name as ‘I AM’ it is the very being and presence of God that is being revealed not just at that moment but for all eternity. ‘I am what I am’ and ‘I will be what I will be’. ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name for ever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’ (Exodus 3:15)
The Lord Jesus was well aware of the significance of the Name as he referred to it so many times in his ‘I AM’ sayings: ‘But who do you say that I AM?’ (Matthew 16:15) In answer to the question asked by Caiaphas, the high priest, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ Jesus replied ‘I AM’. (Mark 14:61-62) But it is particularly in John’s Gospel that Jesus clearly speaks about himself as I AM. ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6:35) ‘I am the light of the world’ (John 8:12, 9:05) ‘ Before Abraham was I AM’ (John 8:58) ‘I am the door of the sheep’ (John 10:07) ‘I am the door’ (John 10:09) ‘I am the good shepherd’ (John 10:11) ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25) ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:06) ‘I am the true vine’ (John 15:1). Finally on the cross the chief priests said to Pilate: ‘Do not write “The King of the Jews” but that this man said : “I AM the King of the Jews”.
All this and much more gives us food for thought as we cross the threshold of St Andrew’s Kirk day by day and Sunday by Sunday. High above us is the kirkspire and written above the portico for the whole of Chennai to see, are the words ‘I AM’. As with Moses at the burning bush and as with Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:17) perhaps as we are crossing the threshold of our lovely church we should be a little afraid and say: ‘ How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’
Murdoch MacKenzie
Having looked in the last months at the Caledonian Society Chair, the Burning Bush and the Burning Lotus, this month we raise our eyes to the triangle above the portico of the church. There we see written in Hebrew the name of God YHWH. This is the name which was revealed to Moses at the burning bush as found in Exodus 3:14.
The word Yahweh, mistakenly written sometimes as ‘Jehovah’, means ‘I am who I am’ or ‘I will be what I will be’. Moses was standing on holy ground and had removed the shoes from off his feet. As we enter St Andrew’s Kirk we too are standing on holy ground but unlike our Christian sisters and brothers in our village churches we do not remove our shoes from off our feet. When I was Presbyter in the Kirk I was the only person with bare feet at the worship Sunday by Sunday but no-one in the whole six years I was there ever mentioned it.
To return to Moses, when God reveals his name as ‘I AM’ it is the very being and presence of God that is being revealed not just at that moment but for all eternity. ‘I am what I am’ and ‘I will be what I will be’. ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name for ever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’ (Exodus 3:15)
The Lord Jesus was well aware of the significance of the Name as he referred to it so many times in his ‘I AM’ sayings: ‘But who do you say that I AM?’ (Matthew 16:15) In answer to the question asked by Caiaphas, the high priest, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ Jesus replied ‘I AM’. (Mark 14:61-62) But it is particularly in John’s Gospel that Jesus clearly speaks about himself as I AM. ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6:35) ‘I am the light of the world’ (John 8:12, 9:05) ‘ Before Abraham was I AM’ (John 8:58) ‘I am the door of the sheep’ (John 10:07) ‘I am the door’ (John 10:09) ‘I am the good shepherd’ (John 10:11) ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25) ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:06) ‘I am the true vine’ (John 15:1). Finally on the cross the chief priests said to Pilate: ‘Do not write “The King of the Jews” but that this man said : “I AM the King of the Jews”.
All this and much more gives us food for thought as we cross the threshold of St Andrew’s Kirk day by day and Sunday by Sunday. High above us is the kirkspire and written above the portico for the whole of Chennai to see, are the words ‘I AM’. As with Moses at the burning bush and as with Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:17) perhaps as we are crossing the threshold of our lovely church we should be a little afraid and say: ‘ How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’
Murdoch MacKenzie
