Monthly Letter - March 2010

Something New

Poundstretchers. The new shop on the High Street is going to be called "Stretchmarks"! Does the word "new" make you feel optimistic or pessimistic? You see, depending upon its context, "new" can mean "refreshing" or it can mean "inexperienced". New potatoes are bliss, but new fangled fads are empty.

The Bible is full of the new. God’s people are to be called by a new name (Isaiah 62). They will sing a new song (Ps 98) and they will have a new heart (Ezekiel 18). Jesus gave them a new commandment (John 13) and a new promise (Luke 22). God’s compassion is new every morning (Lamentations 3) and promises to be so until this world gives way to a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21).

Jesus was certainly immersed in His Jewish tradition, and yet time and time again, Jesus promotes a new way. New wine for new wineskins. The New Religious Movement of Christianity (now 2000 year old), requires continual renewal today. The old passes and the new comes. Inviting Jesus into your heart and asking Him to forgive you, frees us to be born anew. Each new day with Jesus, experiencing the love of God, brings joy through the renewing power of the Holy Spirit.

How do you mend a cracked bell? Apparently by one of two methods: The first is to repair the bell by wrapping metal bands around it. This isn’t ideal as you can easily hear the crack of the bell in the sound. The only really effective way is to re-melt the bell, recast it, and make it new. Then the bell will ring clear, and its tone will be flawless.

In the same way, the best way to mend us as broken human beings, is not to be surrounded with the steel hoops of outward laws, regulations and man-made religion, but to allow the Maker to re-melt, recast and remould. In Christ, there is a new beginning for every person, no matter what we have been through.

A brand new Vicar came out to his first parish. In his first four weeks, he was run off his feet with funerals, visiting and getting settled in. Consequently, he did not have time to write his regular Sunday Sermons. So he used the same sermon four Sundays in a row. The Church Council went to the Bishop complaining that this new Vicar had used the same sermon four times in a row. The Bishop asked what the sermon was about. They scratched their heads, but nobody could remember. The Bishop said, "Let him use it one more time."

We can hear the same message over and over again, but then one day, we REALLY hear the message as though we had never heard it before. It’s new.

A little girl asked to be left alone with her new baby brother. The parents weren’t too happy because they thought she might be a little jealous of the new arrival. Reluctantly, they left the room, but ensured the door was left ajar. The little girl was overheard to say to say this, "Baby, tell me what God feels like, I’m starting to forget."

Perhaps we need to share that same sense of wanting to return to God. To return to that first love. It’s never too late. At any stage of our life, we can return to God and become a New Creation in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5)

It’s been said that, to realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who has failed his final exam. To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby. To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask an editor of a Sunday newspaper. To realise the value of ONE DAY, ask somebody on the minimum wage with four children to feed. To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet. To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who has missed the train. To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who has survived an accident.

The life we have, is the time we have and the way we use our time has eternal significance. Don’t delay. Be made new and continually be renewed.

Rev Philip Bromiley

On Good Friday 2nd April everyone is welcome to join us for the Good Friday Devotion which will be led by Rev’d Bill Franklin at 1pm followed by the Procession of the cross from St James Cherhill at 2pm we have a new and lighter cross this year and hot cross buns will be waiting for you at the top of the monument.