Happy New Year brothers and sisters,
My prayer for you as you begin this new year is that you will experience all the richness of the spiritual blessings that are in Christ Jesus. That you will grow more and more in favour with God, and love God from your heart. That you will love your neighbour from your heart as well. I pray that we all continue to be anchored to the word of God, which is unchanging, in a world that is forever changing. This is critical for the following reasons.
We have just completed a year which had many surprises and disappointments, disasters and disturbances.
Disappointments
The wars continue between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and Hamas. It has been disappointing as it has shown yet again that for human beings using weapons against each other, rather than talking with each other, is the pre-ferred way to bring about peace and resolve conflict. This is disappointing as it reflects the immaturity in human relationships despite the technological strides we have made in other areas of our lives.
We are reminded in the Word that we are to ‘study war no more’; that the day will come when we shall beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks (Isa. 2:4, Mic. 4:3) and that the wolf will lie down with the lamb (Isa. 11:6). That’s why we must be anchored to the Word for when we are, we will realize that peace is not just a dream, but a possibility and a demand.
One of the other disappointments is that the hostility which sometimes exists among members of the household of God, may not lead to the use of the same physical weapons of war, but it is so thick, that it requires dynamite to break it.
My appeal to us is to let the disappointment in global warfare and interpersonal conflicts lead us to make the struggle for peace in our relationships become the desired option as we relate.
Disasters
There were several natural disasters that affected the world, and closer home the impacts of hurricanes Helene on the United States and Beryl on Jamaica. The parish of St Elizabeth was almost devasted. The resulting effect was food shortage across the island for months. Not to mention the fact that residents in the parish were without electricity for many weeks. Some lost their whole roofs, some parts and many lost their livestock and crops. One bright element during the hurricane was a Christian family where the youngest child started singing with the rest of her family the ‘Goodness of God.
Despite watching their roof being blown away, the Lee family sang while sheltering under a bed. This, for me, was a demonstration of what Paul means when he says, in everything give thanks and rejoice always, and again I say rejoice.
It is without doubt that we will always face disastrous events, but how do we deal with them? The Bible’s teachings, practiced by the Lee family, have offered a model of how to manage when disaster strikes.
Disturbances
This year is a general election year. A government must be chosen to run the country for another five years. As I write this, the US is preparing to install a president with a not-so-enviable record of public morality and probity but elected to serve a second term. We are not sure what it will be like in Jamaica, but each of us must make the right decision and choose the better leaders.
How will we then proceed in the new year?
I return to my early comments and prayer, that each of us must decide that we will love God from the heart. That we will not just be engaged in doing good things, but we will practice being good people. Being good comes from the heart, not from the head. When we love God from the heart, we will end up doing the right things which please God. Leaders, what in your heart are you hearing from God concerning how He wants you to be? Congregants, what are you hearing from God in your heart about being the best person? Through God's grace, I encourage you to maintain your practice of biblical faith, not cultural Christianity.
Your Pastor