|
I didn't tell you whether I have made a New Year resolution. I was looking at myself in the mirror the other day, and you know, mirrors just aren't what they used to be! It set me thinking about how the years come and go. It seems no time at all since I was up here last New Year - I know you have absolutely no recollection of that, but I do remember - we were about to fly to Australia the next day. And now a whole year has gone by. Yes - the years come and go!
"Come and go" Now how about that for a New Year resolution?
"Come and go"
You see Christmas is all about coming and going. We heard in our Gospel reading that - "when the shepherds saw the child lying in the manger - in other words, when they had come to the manger - they then returned, making known what had been told them, and glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen." They came and saw; then went and told. Come and go.
Likewise the wise men came on a long journey to see the child, and they knelt down and worshipped. Then they set off again for their home country, no doubt telling of all that they had seen. Come and go.
The Christian life is all about coming and going. The first disciples came to Jesus - He called them: "Come!" And they came, and followed. They sat at His feet day by day; they listened and learned; they changed. Then, when they were ready, Jesus said to them "Go!" "Go into all the world! Be light! Be salt! Preach, teach, heal, care, comfort."
In other words, "Come - and then go!" But it was no use going without first coming. And it was pointless, and selfish, to come unless it resulted in going.
When we first went out to Uganda I had just a few weeks of overlap with my predecessor, to learn from him how to run a bush hospital; how to diagnose and treat strange tropical diseases; how to do operations that I had never even seen done, let alone done. It was a time of intense apprenticeship. I had, as it were, to come to him, to see him in action, to learn at his feet all I could. And then to go - and put into practice all that I had learned. Come and go.
In the Christian life it is a similar process, and it is a continuing process; a day to day process.
We have to come to Jesus. Yes, of course, we have to make that first big step of committing our selves - our lives, our past, our present, our future - to God. But then we have to keep coming to Him - for forgiveness, for renewal, for daily strength to live the way He wants us to live.
How is your, how is my, daily walk with God? How good are we at coming to Him? Do we make time for worship, for prayer, for Bible reading, for other Christian reading? Do we come to the Lord regularly? If not - if we don't make the time - and be sure, it won't make itself - then we shall be like cars limping along on a near empty tank. We shall be like torches with flat batteries, letting out a dismal glow, and fading rapidly. We need regular infilling with the Holy Spirit.
So that's a good New Year's resolution: To make it a daily habit, a discipline, a sacrosanct part of your and my daily life, to "come". And with time a discipline, a habit, becomes a delight.
So the questions we need to ask ourselves are: "In 2012 how can I keep myself spiritually fresh? How can I know God more closely; more deeply? How can I better refuel my spiritual life?"
Maybe we shall need to be more disciplined about setting aside time for God each day - no, not the fag-end of the day, but quality time. Maybe we shall need to read more Christian books; - or go on a retreat - or take time out from time to time, like Jesus did, to go perhaps onto the hills, and spend time with God.
The solution - the resolution - will be different for each of us. But the question is the same. "How can I, in 2012, come to Jesus more?" Come.
And then - Go!
The shepherds were so excited after they had come that they couldn't wait to go, and to share the news.
They were positively bursting with it. They glorified; they praised; they told everyone they met.
How are we going to "go" for God this year? No, this doesn't mean that we've all got to go out and be street preachers. Thank God for that! Imagine what Church Street would be like if we did! But it does mean that we all go out and be God's presence in the world. Wow! What a responsibility!
St Francis of Assisi is said to have said: "Preach the Gospel always. When necessary use words." Sometimes it is necessary to use words. But that is only sometimes. Always, at every minute of every day, our prayer is that our lives may be a living testimony to God. Mine certainly isn't - far from it. But surely that is the aim, that is the longing, of every Christian. My life, your life, may be the only Bible that our neighbours, and work colleagues, and school friends, ever read. What do they see in it?
In her book "The Word on the Wind" Alison Morgan tells of a vicar in Dorset who was pleasantly surprised to find his church growing - new folk coming in and joining the fellowship on a fairly regular basis. He wondered why. He took a map of the village and put a red pin in it for every established member of the church, and a green pin for every new member. And he found that the green pins were all clustered round one particular red pin. He asked the newcomers why. "Oh, the car wouldn't start, and John came and helped me," said one. "The children were ill, and Sue offered to look after them while I was at work," said another. "John mowed the lawn for me when my leg was bad." And so on.
And every story ended - "and we knew that John and Sue went to church, and so we thought we would give it a try."
Being Christ in the world often doesn't involve talking. It always involves doing. Being. Representing. Jesus said to His followers: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel" Preach it by word, and preach it by example; by integrity; by consistency; by compassion. Live in such a way that it causes people to ask: "What is it that is different about you?" Then words - simple but genuine words - may become necessary. But any words have got to be matched by a consistent life.
I once met a lady in church who appeared to be a regular church-goer, husband in the choir, all very respectable. When I started working in the local hospital I discovered that she also worked there - and there she was a different person. Crude jokes, coarse language, cynical and back-biting. She was a Jekyll and Hyde. God looks for integrity, consistency - not hypocrisy - in our lives.
Remember the story in Acts, how Peter went to the home of the Gentile Roman centurion, Cornelius, and he had hardly started preaching when the Holy Spirit fell on them. What a blow for Peter! Sermon cut short by God intervening! Just imagine! And then news got back to the church in Jerusalem that Gentiles - yes! Gentiles! - had become believers. And so they sent Barnabus to Antioch to investigate just what was going on. And we read in Acts 11:23: "Barnabus came, and saw the grace of God, and he rejoiced."
"He saw the grace of God" in those Gentile believers. What did Barnabus actually see? He didn't quiz them.
He didn't ask for their testimonies, or question their theology to see if it was kosher. No. He just "saw the grace of God" in their lives. In some way they were noticeably different. God had changed them.
What do people see in your life and mine?
In the way we greet them.
In the way we do our shopping and speak to shop assistants.
In the way we drive. And in what we say about other drivers (are you listening David Webster?)
In the way we do our tax returns.
In the way we notice when others need help.
Do people see the grace of God in us?
Jesus doesn't ask us to go into the world and impress it with our theology. He asks us to go and spread His grace around. But to do that, to do that regularly, daily, always, we must first come and be regularly filled with His grace.
I said earlier that if we don't regularly come to Jesus we shall be like cars with empty petrol tanks. That's perhaps not a very good analogy. Because the coming for a Christian isn't just an intermittent thing, like every now and then going to the petrol pump for a refill. It is that, but it's more than that. It's a continuous, moment by moment process.
We come at the same time as we go. Or rather, God comes to us by His Spirit to help us and enable us in our going.
Perhaps a better analogy than a petrol car is a solar-powered car. As it drives along, so it is constantly re-fuelled, re-empowered by the sun's rays. We do need to make special times in our busy lives for God. But we also need to be in constant touch with God - what Jesus called "abiding in Me". To absorb His power by His Spirit.
So, for our New Year Resolution 2012 how about "Come and Go"?
Daily, constantly, to come to Jesus. Daily, constantly, to go for Jesus.
And so a prayer:
Lord, in 2012, may we day by day see Thee more clearly,
love Thee more dearly,
and follow Thee more nearly,
day by day, day by day, day by day. Amen.
David Webster
| 