Same Old, Same Old
The idiom ‘same old, same old‘ is used to refer to a situation or someone’s behaviour that remains the same, especially when it is boring or annoying. Life seems to consist of familiar problems which recur over a period of years without any real solutions that change those problems being found.
The problems of poverty, famine, criminal behaviour and human need have remained largely unchanged throughout history, and there is a weary sense of déjà vu in many situations which leave us feeling perhaps helpless (and even hopeless) when we see these situation occurring yet again. Even the pandemic (a ‘new’ situation for most of us!) with its ‘waves’ of infections and repetitious cycle of lockdowns may provoke in us that familiar feeling of ‘same old, same old’. We feel paralysed, unable to change any situation by our actions, and sometimes this leads to self-fulflling prophecies which tell us change will never come.
I find it interesting that Jesus fed crowds of people on more than one occasion recorded for us in the Gospels. On one occasion, He fed a crowd of more than 5000 people (Matt 14:13-21); on another, He fed a crowd of more than 4000 people (Matt 15:29-38). I used to wonder what was the point of telling the same kind of story twice – surely the point is that Jesus can do miraculous things in provision, and it’s futile to keep hammering this point home as if we were tiny chidlren? We get it! He’s all-powerful!
However, I have come to think that we need reminders, not only of that fact (because we seem extraordinarily dense when it comes to realising Jesus’ power and His willingness to meet our daily needs), but also of the fact that even when problems remain the same, Jesus does not turn His back on us – and we should therefore persevere in ministry (acts of service), even if the situations we face seem unremittingly grim.
Jesus did not see hunger as a one-off problem (‘I’ve fed a crowd once, so I don’t need to do it again.’) He responded to the needs of people, even if those needs recurred. He didn’t shrug His shoulders in indifference or tell them it was their fault they were hungry. Instead, He showed compassion to them.
Many of the problems of the world are unchanging in nature, and the church is called to consistently and persistently do what it can to meet the needs of the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the addicted, the helpless. This is not glamorous or easy. It requires selfless devotion and maybe even the same old solutions to the same old problems: compassionate care, selfless love, practical help, money given regularly to particular causes. If Jesus performed the ‘same old’ miracles more than once, we can live life helping others with the same old tenacity and faithfulness which transforms situations – never giving up, never letting familiarity breed contempt, but always being willing to go the extra mile and reach out to others.
Refuge
Storm Christoph has been raging in our area this week, with heavy rain bringing flooding to some areas and strong, gusty winds adding to the rather miserable January weather which is often a feature of winter. It has made me realise that sometimes taking refuge indoors from the storm is not a bad idea, and Jesus’s words about strong foundations (Matt 7:24-27) have taken on new relevance at this time.
Ps 2:12 tells us that ‘blessed are all who take refuge in Him’, and the idea of God as our refuge is one found 43 times in the Psalms, perhaps most famously in Ps 46:1, which says ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.’
Other psalms talk of God as a refuge, rock, fortress, shield and stronghold (Ps 18:2) and remind us that it is better to take refuge in God than to trust in humans. (Ps 118:8) At this time of lockdown, when we may feel that ‘Storm Coronavirus’ is raging even more fiercely than Storm Christoph, we may feel helpless and hopeless, unsure what to do and how to respond. As we make God our refuge, hide ourselves in Him and put our hope in His word (Ps 119:114), we are not simply being passive; we are actively shielding in God until the disaster has passed. (Ps 57:1) God will protect us and deliver us as we trust in Him, enabling us to sing and be glad even in these hard times. (Ps 5:11, Ps 59:16)
Moments Worth Cherishing
When my father died, we discovered thousands of photographs in a wardrobe at his house. Looking through these was not only a trip down memory lane but a literal snapshot of eighty years of family history.
Before digital photography, taking and developing photographs was a skilled and fairly expensive business. Films of 24 or 36 photographs were developed by experts; you couldn’t ‘see’ what photos you had taken before they were developed, and so photographs tended to be of special events. Birthdays, holidays and Christmas featured on these photographs alongside weddings, christenings and significant events (in our case, the arrival of pets!) Everyday momnets tended not to be captured as they are nowadays, and so a family’s history was crystallised into these ‘significant’ moments.
Nowadays, most of us have cameras on our phones and can take photos and videos at any time. We capture the ordinary as well as the ‘significant’ events, the silly moments as well as the special. Although the sheer wealth of material this generates will make it difficult for our descendants to work through this material in the way I sorted through my father’s collection of memories, it gives us a more balanced view of our lives.
Life is made up of more than memorable moments. It consists of more than special events and staged scenes (photoshoots of special occasions). It is made up of the ordinary and the mundane: children playing, learning to bake in Grandma’s kitchen, parents reading stories at bedtime. All of life is worth capturing: the sunrise on the way to work, the scenery which surrounds us daily, the splashing in puddles and building of snowmen.
I was amazed at how much I had forgotten of my childhood and how the photographs offered proof of who I was and what I had done (much of which I could no longer recollect.) Don’t wait for a special occasion to mark a moment. Capture the memories now and create your own record, for even the ordinary marks moments worth cherishing.
Whispers of Love
The hymn ‘Blessed Assurance’ talks of ‘echoes of mercy, whispers of love’ and all of us need to hear these on a regular basis. Love is so needed in our world and the constancy and unchanging nature of God’s love needs to be shared with those who don’t know Him.
As part of our desire to be with God in the community and with God for the community, we, along with other local churches, will be giving out hearts on Easter Saturday – knitted hearts, crocheted hearts, decorated wooden hearts. Following on from our ‘Advent Angels’, we hope to inundate our local area with these hearts which for us are God’s ‘whispers of love’. If you can help by knitting, crocheting or decorating a wooden heart, please contact us and bring us the hearts so we can distribute them around the villages for people to take home a visible reminder that God loves them.
At Easter, we celebrate that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) What better way of celebrating than sharing His love? We’ll be distributing the hearts on Saturday 3rd April, leaving GPCC at 10 a.m. Please ensure all hearts are given to us by Wednesday 31st March at the latest.
Barriers to Growth
Under normal circumstances and with the proper conditions, growth in the natural world is a given, a part of God’s natural order. Seeds are planted and crops grow. But as Jesus teaches in the Parable of the Sower, there can be barriers to growth which hinder fruitfulness.
In Matt 13:1-23, Jesus talks about these barriers, naming them as lack of understanding (Matt 13:19), a lack of roots (Matt 13:21) and a lack of trust. (Matt 13:22) It is interesting to note that both the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth can cause us problems. Worry and anxiety cause us to focus on problems rather than on God, feeding doubt and insecurity which both stunt spiritual growth. We would not perhaps expect the benefits of wealth to cuase issues, but the temptation there is to put our trust in wealth and come to depend on its material pleasures rather than on God.
Jesus concludes this parable by looking at which soil produces good crops. Understanding, roots and trust will produce fruitfulness and growth. (Matt 13:23) This is God’s desire for our lives.
The Holy Spirit As Firstfruits
The Israelites were commanded to bring the firstfruits of their harvest to God as an offering, something which required obedience and trust that God would provide from the rest of their crops all that they needed. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is a promise of what is to come (Eph 1:13-14). The Greek word ‘arrabon’ means something given in security, a pledge or deposit. Once given, a person was legally obliged to complete the purchase; the deposit was a foretaste of something much greater to come.
