January 2019

It’s now early January. But a couple of days before Christmas, I remember a particular cold and frosty morning with clear skies. A Sunday morning. There was no wind, very little traffic, quietness and peacefulness reigned as the sky started to lighten in the East and birds started to wake up. A raucous bleat from the village goats (the local pub has a menagerie of chickens, ducks, geese and several goats) broke the silence, but then stopped. Plumes of steam rose up vertically from central heating flues, lifting and spreading under the street lamps, creating ghostly wraiths emphasising the stillness of the morning, bringing a sense of mystery. But in all the peace and stillness of that morning, I felt a sense of anticipation, as though someone had hit the pause button. Like a suspended chord of music, or a semicolon in a sentence, that morning was awaiting the next stanza, the next verse. On that morning, I was meditating again, but with a new freshness, on the fact that the Creator of the Universe loves me and all mankind so much that He left Heaven and came as a human baby, born out of wedlock to a teenage Jewish girl, in humble circumstances, into the bottom end of society; an inauspicious start, but one that developed into a miraculous ministry culminating in His horrible death at Calvary. His message and life invites everyone to come to Him for the forgiveness of their sins so that they can enjoy eternal life with God Himself. What a wonderful Saviour! What a wonderful future! What a wonderful invitation!

And the bright morning star, Venus, was shining a welcome, as it has done for countless millennia. The stability of the natural world reminds me of the message that God brings, that He has world events well under control. Yes, looking at the political and economic fragility of our times, it may be hard to see social stability, if any in fact exists at all, but God is there. He cares enough to have sent His own Son to declare a different order, the Kingdom of God, which overlays and infuses our society with a future and a hope. And God will allow nothing to happen that threatens His order, His Kingdom. And in this post-Christmas period, I still feel a sense of anticipation because the Babe in the manger is still with us, touching us through His Spirit, bringing a message of hope and security to a lost world. Our world is full of suspended chords and semicolons, leading into the next stanza of life. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that Jesus will be there with us. Thank You Lord!