Becoming a New Creation

Here's my April article:

This year we've been having some work done on the Vicarage including having a new kitchen fitted. Anyone who has had work done on their house will know how disruptive it can be, but hopefully the end results make all the trouble worth it, because after all the chaos there's something new - a new creation.

Easter is all about new life and new creation: chicks hatching out of eggs; spring flowers growing from dormant bulbs; new-born lambs gamboling in the fields; and chocolate… well I'm not quite sure how that fits in! These are symbols and God-given signposts of how Jesus' resurrection ushers in a new creation: that is the new heavens and new earth that will fully come when Jesus returns (Revelation 21) but can be seen in part here and now. But this new creation is not just about the world being redeemed, renewed and put right, it is also about us as individuals being redeemed, renewed and put right. In both cases, this new creation comes through disruption.

This sounds very similar to countless self-help books and motivational talks. Phrases like "No pain, no gain" are applied not just to physical transformation but also to personal, mental, professional and even spiritual transformation. The message from the transformation gurus and influencers is that you need to kill your old self in order that your new self can emerge, and this transformation is hard work, disruptive and painful, but worth it in the end.

But this is not the message of Easter. It might seem like the new creation of Easter only comes after the hard self-discipline of Lent and the self-sacrifice exemplified by Good Friday, but that would be a misunderstanding of the Christian message. Jesus is not a transformation guru who coaches us from the side, encouraging us to work harder. Instead he tells us that we cannot transform ourselves, no matter how hard we try: we don't need a trainer, we need a Saviour.

Just like I would not be able to fully fit a new kitchen but need someone else to do it for me, so I cannot transform myself. That's why God says "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you…[and] I will put my Spirit within you" (Ezekiel 36:26-27). It's God who transforms us; we do not create a new heart within ourselves because we cannot. We need something from outside of ourselves to redeem, renew and put us right. We don't just need a better version of ourselves, we need God's Spirit to transform us and re-create us. The pain and disruption we need to go through is not the pain of self-correction and trying harder to be good, it is the pain of admitting we cannot redeem ourselves no matter how hard we try; it is the pain of swallowing our pride and admitting we need help. This is the message of Easter: God offers us the new creation we long for and that we cannot achieve by ourselves.

Do you want a new start?

Here's my article for the Scawby and Hibaldstow magazines for August:

This year's Year 6 production at Scawby and Hibaldstow schools was High School Musical. They did this previously in 2019 and the children who performed then have just finished their GCSEs! With the recent change of government it seems appropriate to look at the HSM song “Start of Something New” though of course it's nothing to do with politics!

“Start of Something New” is the opening song of HSM and is the first time the two main characters, Troy and Gabriella, meet; both being called to sing this karaoke duet at a New Year's Eve party. The song sets up the premise of HSM that people will change from 'living in their own world' to 'taking a chance' and 'opening up their hearts to all the possibilities' and this change is going to come about through Troy and Gabriella's relationship.

Change is a part of life, and both advertisers and politicians want to make us discontent with our lives so that we will want the change that they're offering. But so often the change that's offered is either illusory or it doesn't solve the problems we have.

Jesus' call and invitation is also to change, to the start of something new, which he describes as being 'born again' (John 3:3). As we repent of our past sins and failures, of how we live in our own worlds not caring about others; and as we trust in him, putting him at the centre of our lives, we become, as the apostle Paul says, “a new creation...the old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But this isn't just a call to moral reform, as we know that however hard we try to make ourselves better people, we will always fail. This is instead a call to a relationship that changes not just how we see the world but how we respond to it and behave within it, as Troy and Gabriella sing “the world looks so much brighter / with you by my side” and that is the start of something new.

As we live in a relationship with Jesus, we start to see the world as he sees it. In some ways it is much brighter because we see in the natural world God's love of variety and God's love for us as humanity in providing such a wonderful universe for us. We also see in each other the dignity that we each possess because we are made in the image and likeness of God. But we also see the darkness in the world and in ourselves, especially the darkness that comes from rejecting God and his ways, and ignoring the dignity in all humans.

It is only through a relationship with Jesus that we can truly be a new creation; without it our 'changed' lives are just window-dressing or a quick dust, and our 'something new' is really just the 'same old, same old' pretending to be different. So if you are disillusioned with your life, however outwardly or superficially 'successful' it seems, turn to Jesus who comes to bring us life in all its fulness (John 10:10) and it will be the start of something new.

Life is the name of the game

Here's my March article:

When I was young, I noticed how older people would often tell the same stories or talk about the same subjects over and over again.  Now I'm an older person, I find myself doing it too; repeating stories and subjects.  A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about my magazine articles and I realised how often I write on the subject of death!   I don't think I have a particularly morbid interest in death, but I am fascinated by people's beliefs about death, especially those who don't identify themselves as being 'religious.'  And so, despite Good Friday being a perfect opportunity to talk about death again, I'm going to restrain myself and instead focus this month on Easter and on life.

As Brucie said, “life is the name of the game” and this is certainly true of the Christian faith: the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  Jesus talks about the small gate and narrow path that leads to life, which only a few find (Matthew 7:14) and declares that he is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).  He says that “my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son [Jesus] and believes in him shall have eternal life” (John 6:40). But this eternal life is not 'pie in the sky when you die' Jesus also says “I have come that [those who listen to me] may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).  Indeed, Peter describes life without belief in Jesus as an “empty way of life” (1 Peter 1:18).

We all have a deep yearning for life (dare I say that this is why even those who are 'not religious' cling to a belief that life continues in some way after death?) because God did not create us to die.  The apostle Paul reminds us that death came into the world through the sin of Adam, but that Jesus' death atoned for sin and his resurrection brings new life in the present and eternal life in the future to those who believe in him (Romans 5 and 6).  Thus what was lost in the Garden of Eden is restored and the new heavens and the new earth described in Revelations 21 and 22 are characterised by life in intimate communion with God.

We yearn for life because God has placed eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  But we often look for fullness of  life in the wrong places - in family, jobs, achievements, wealth, popularity, health or... But, as the angels said to the women at Jesus' tomb that first Easter day “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5)  So if you want life, come to Jesus who is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

The answer to suffering: caprice, karma, chaos or Christ?

Here's my magazine article for March:

Anniversaries are usually happy occasions, but this month marks a year since the first COVID lockdown and I suspect few of us thought that one year on we'd still be facing restrictions. The pandemic has prompted many people to ask deep questions about life and death; and meaning and purpose, some of which we've looked at in previous articles (see here for some of them). However, we haven't looked much at perhaps the biggest question of all: why does God allow suffering? The problem is often put like this “Suffering exists so God either cannot do anything about it, in which case he isn't all-powerful (omnipotent); or he is unwilling in which case he is not all-loving.”

The first thing to say about this is that this is a specifically Christian question. Although it is often used as the knock-out argument against a belief in God, philosophically, suffering is only a problem if Christianity is true. In other worldviews suffering may exist, but it's not a problem.

If we look at other ancient religions, and to a certain extent Judaism and Islam, the will of the gods is supreme. Norse, Greek and Roman gods were capricious and fickle, they would cause humans to suffer on a whim and were not expected to be fair or just. As ABBA sang: "The gods may throw a dice / their minds as cold as ice / and someone way down here / loses someone dear" ('The Winner Takes it All' 1980). Similarly, for strands of Judaism and Islam, God is so supreme that he can never be questioned even if he acts unjustly. Suffering is therefore not a problem, it should simply be accepted.

For those who believe in karma there is solace (and often glee) in the thought that those who have hurt them will be punished for the suffering they've caused. However, to be consistent the karma-believers should also recognise that the suffering they face is a just punishment for wrongs that they themselves have done. Suffering is therefore not a problem, it is deserved.

The problem for atheistic philosophies is that we see suffering as a problem, because logically there is no grounds for complaining about suffering. If everything that exists exists because of chaos - random atoms banging into each other and 'accidentally' forming the universe – then suffering too is part of this random process. Alternatively, in evolutionary terms suffering is natural: nature is red in tooth and claw, suffering is the by-product of evolution. Either way, suffering is not a problem, it is random or natural.

But we do find suffering problematic. That's because we expect the world to be good and we expect any suffering to be just, because the Christian God is good and just. Only in Christianity can you have a problem with suffering, and only in Christianity can you have the solution to suffering. God created a perfect world, but humanity through rebelling against God (what we call 'sin') corrupted that world and so suffering became part of our experience. Despite that suffering being a just punishment for our rebellion, God did not want to abandon us to that suffering. And so he came to earth as a baby in Jesus; grew up like we do; experienced our suffering and pain; and then took that suffering and punishment on himself by dying on the cross; and in rising from the dead he showed us the new life, free from suffering. By becoming a suffering God, God is able to sympathise with us in our suffering (Hebrews 4:15) but more importantly to enable us to enter the new creation where there is no more suffering (Revelation 21:4). If you have a problem with suffering, then Easter is your answer.

What's in a name?

Here's my article for August:

As any keen pub-quizzer will tell you, the months of July and August are named after two Roman Emperors; Julius Caesar and Augustus respectively. As humans we have a habit of naming things after significant people as a way to commemorate, remember and celebrate them. When I went to New York, I was amused to find that a slipway was named after someone (they obviously weren't important enough to have a whole road named after them!). And at the farewell service for the last Bishop of Lincoln, the Dean relayed some of the great Bishops of Lincoln and the additions they made to the Cathedral. He joked that the major addition that Bishop John oversaw was a new toilet block, suggesting that maybe they should name it after him!

Naming things after people is not always without controversy, especially commemorations we've inherited from previous ages. Colston Hall in Bristol is to be re-named because of the Bristolian slave trader Sir Edward Colston. Oxford University has recently resisted pressure from campaigners to remove statues, paintings and commemorations of Cecil Rhodes and other colonialists. Liverpool also resisted an attempt to re-name all of the streets associated with slave traders, as this would have meant renaming most of Liverpool's most famous streets, including Penny Lane!

This desire to re-name can spring from a laudable desire to recognise the parts of our history that by today's standards are regrettable, but they can also be seen as an attempt to airbrush history. The counter argument is that, as George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Whether we like it or not, our history, both good and bad, makes us who we are and our mistakes should be remembered so that we remember not to repeat them.

Very few people will ever have anything public named after them, which for most of us is a relief! The public scrutiny that comes with public recognition is not something that most of us would like. In our day-to-day lives we can often get away with 'airbrushing' our past and our present, hiding those bits of which we're ashamed or those bits we know others would disapprove of. Both Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle claim the urban legend of sending friends or upright citizens a telegram saying “Flee at once - all is discovered” and some or all of the recipients leaving immediately! The story rings true because all of us have things we'd rather others didn't know about us. And worryingly in this age of social media, our mistakes can become widely known within hours!

Even if we can hide our skeletons from those around us, God knows everything about us and one day we too will see the whole of our lives; the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet the amazing thing is that despite knowing all about us God still loves us! And more than that he wants us to say sorry for the bad things, and in his mind they will be airbrushed out so that we can start again.