2nd January 2017

As New Year Fades…

“…The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1:8-9 (NKJV) 

As usual I stayed up until midnight to see in the new year. There were the usual high jinks, parties and fireworks, and it was all very jolly. I don’t do depression, so I wasn’t fazed by it, but I have to say as I watched it, a sense of realism led me to conclude that I had seen all this before. I remember watching a film about a Times Square celebration of around 1924, the pictures from which, apart from being in black and white, could have been used for 2016. Solomon may have gloomily opined that there is nothing new, but actually that becomes one of our strengths as a species—we are eternally optimistic. Perhaps one of the reasons Christ delays his coming—we have to be convinced beyond any reason that our way of life just doesn’t work. At the present, we’re not convinced. “Just a little more time….” How much proof do we need?

And then we also get used to things—another of our strengths and weaknesses. Ezekiel tells us God remembers those who sigh and cry for all the abominations done in the world. But we get used to them and we don’t sigh and cry. There’s a murder at least once a week in London—and that isn’t just better reporting. Our Victorian forebears would be aghast at our complacency. People still starve to death in our society. On our hospital wards and in our old people homes the elderly are seen to be at risk from those who are supposed to care for them.

And yet, you see, statistically we are a nation of givers, more so per head of population than any other nation. One might ask concerning Syria, why isn’t Saudi Arabia or one of the other oil-rich states contributing to help these people? Or China? Their contribution for one recent Filipino disaster was reputed to be a mere few thousand dollars.

And that’s why all those people along the Embankment singing Auld Lang Syne, cheering loudly and kissing policemen, when at other times they would be throwing petrol bombs at them, can truly welcome in a new year. No matter it will turn out just like all the years before. The news won’t improve, their living standard probably won’t get better. But there’s always hope, you see.

Our hope, on the other hand, as Christians is founded on a much surer foundation than mere hope. Our future is secure in the faith we have in Jesus Christ and his plans for the future. Yes, we can cheer in a new year because, at the very least, it brings us a step closer to our goal. But let us use the sheer repetitiveness of the optimism of our nations, founded on nothing more than an unknown, uncertain future, keep us focused, keep us sighing and crying, and above all praying: Thy kingdom come!

Prayer
Heavenly Father, you made us the way we are, with our hope and despair, our love and hate, and you love us despite everything bad that we are, and everything good that we are. Bless you, Father, and thank you for your unswerving mercy toward us.
Amen 

Study by John Stettaford

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About the Author:
John Stettaford is an Elder in the Reading Congregation of the Worldwide Church of God UK.

Local Congregation:
Worldwide Church of God Reading
Prospect School,
Room A1 (Main Building)
Honey End Lane
READING RG30 4EL

Meeting Time:
Saturday 11am

Local Congregational Contact:
John Stettaford
Phone: 01923-241426
Email: pastor@wcg-reading.org.uk