Zetland Park Methodist Church Pastoral Letters
A brand-new diary
There’s something about a brand-new diary!
Its fresh, unadulterated pages beckon the pen and the
innumerable scribbles which become the historical document
of 2005. The creation of an historical document?
Yes, as each entry is made, you are in effect, recording
your part of history in this Year of Grace, 2005. Do you,
like me, browse through old diaries and check up what you
may have been doing on the same day in years past?
Surprising sometimes is it not? Did I even THINK of doing
that ---- or, it may provoke a deep memory of an event of
lasting proportions ---- or that thought of a life-changing
holiday, or romance, or whatever else. Recalling history in
that format can be both interesting as well as
disturbing.
My diaries recall for me my travels around the British
Methodist Connexion: many are good, some are best
forgotten. Some recall the treasures I have shared, and
others the tragedies that are life and its living. Many a
time it stuns me into silence as I recall the events as
well as the people with whom I have been involved and are
all part of that great tapestry which is the Kingdom of
God.
But enough of the past [for the time being], let’s
look ahead and what may constitute the entries for this
year. There are the ‘constants’: the birthdays
and the anniversaries; the ‘regular’ meetings
with family and friends; holidays and times away; but there
are also those one-off entries which may cause us in latter
years to stop and reflect on those ‘special
moments’ that will evoke all sorts of emotion and the
like.
Whatever our intention, create that record of history
however insignificant YOU may think it is, for others may
not.
So, when you recall those who recorded the life and times
of a wandering race, called out of the comfort and
complacency of affluence into desert situations and the
virtual unknown, do you not ask yourself if they ever
stopped and asked, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Yet,
they faithfully stuck to their task and provided for many a
generation thought-provoking material of life and living
which affects us even in this over-affluent 21st century.
For this was to be the record of the history of the
travelling people of God --- a motley crew that we may
think twice of being associated with in this time of self
and self alone. Yet we ARE part of it, as we too have been
chosen to be God’s in this part of His Kingdom. Now,
that’s something to begin to think about!!
So, as a New Year resolution [which hopefully we can ALL
keep], look at the diary/historical record of those people
and see what you can discover.
· They were chosen to be God’s, and asked to
follow Him
· They did, for a while, and then got restless and
demanding; seeking control and in the process became
disobedient
· They screwed up the rules and made them so
overburdening that they held the people back rather than
encouraged them to move on
· They failed to read the signs which God sent among
them nor to heed the people sent with a very important
message
· They dismissed the teachings of those
‘prophets’ as over-bearing and too demanding;
totally beyond their perception of what God should be
like
· They took the ‘law into their own
hands’ and fashioned God to their own image
· Yet despite all that, GOD REMAINED FAITHFUL and
His people survived and multiplied. The presence and
message spread and many came to faith; the ‘Word of
the Lord’ remained a sharp sword and the preachers
continued the ‘journey of faith’
And today? You will find that the story of the Christian
community is very similar to the above. Even with that
‘historical record’ and its accessibility it is
still not the centre of many peoples’ lives, and
remains a ‘curiosity’.
A new year allows us an opportunity to ‘let go the
past’ and look ahead ----- look ahead down that road
of faith and see first of all that God, through Christ is
already there, calling us on. Yes, there are tasks to do,
and we will be given the strength to do them, however we
may feel at this present moment in time -----IF WE HAVE
FAITH AND BELIEVE. For nothing is impossible for God -----
we NEED to believe that and TRUST that in the days ahead,
for that is all wrapped up in the promise which God gave to
His people and is STILL ‘alive’ today, namely
‘I am with you always’. If we can but hold onto
that we WILL be able to move on. We will be able to get
over our negativity which can become endemic and
destroy.
We HAVE a future, and God is at its centre. How that
‘future’ will be worked out, let’s trust
God and not in ourselves. Get closer to Him and we will
begin to discern what He requires of us all, and as we stop
whinging, we may hear what He has to say.
And when others read the historical record of 2005 will
they be able to say, ‘That was truly the year they
found God in their midst’