I was never a big fan of politicians, but the past two years have eroded any residual trust I had in these people. Their policies, outright lies and obfuscation of truth have left me cynical and untrusting, and it’s sad that these feelings can often be transferred to other areas of life. We all need to be able to trust those in authority if we are to feel secure, but this is not always possible. When people’s words are found to be contradictory and false, we are left with a sense of disillusionment. Trust is like broken glass, they say: easy to shatter and hard to repair.

I always end the year reading the book of Revelation, a book which has aroused much controversy and whose details leave us scratching our heads in puzzlement. It’s an apocalyptic, allegorical book which reminds us there is much in life that is invisible to the natural eye. I don’t pretend to understand all of it, but one thing that struck me as I reached the last chapters was the repetition of the phrase ‘trustworthy and true.’ (Rev 21:5, Rev 22:6)

Revelation 21 starts with a picture of a new heaven and a new earth, the consummation of God’s plans for our world. It’s a tremendously reassuring picture of the ‘new Jerusalem’ as a bride for God, with the hope of a new world order better than anything any politician can offer: ‘“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”’ (Rev 21:3-4) Whilst we may not understand when or how this state can occur, the Bible is emphatic that this is what awaits those who have put their trust in God through His Son, Jesus Christ. God reminds us He is making everything new (Rev 21:5) and then John is told, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev 21:5) In the next chapter, the angel reminds John that all he has seen and written down, this vision of Eden restored (Rev 22:1-4), can be trusted: ‘These words are trustworthy and true.’ (Rev 22:6)

I find it tremendously reassuring that these words are both trustworthy (literally worthy of our trust) and true. So often, we can’t trust what people say and we can find it very difficult to sift truth from lies. It seems that most people believe if you say something often enough and loud enough, it will be accepted as truth. The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6) and that the truth has the power to set us free. (John 8:32) God defines truth, and therefore we have to learn to measure all words against this plumb line. Secondly, truth can be trusted. It’s not a chameleon. It has seemed that ‘facts’ can be twisted and manipulated to justify whatever policy politicians want to impose on us at any given time, but words that are true are not like that. They will remain true whatever the circumstances and therefore can be trusted. God’s words are both trustworthy and true. We may not understand everything He says, but we can trust Him and He will not let us down.

Garry went on to remind us that as we enter a new year, we often start with new resolutions (some of which don’t last very long!) Last year was very difficult for many people (perhaps an ‘annus horribilis’ for many, as the Queen once described 1992), but he reminded us that God makes a new way for us all. We now have a new and living way to approach God because of the sacrifice of Jesus (see Heb 10:20); the old way of animal sacrifices has gone. Now we have been released from the law and can serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Rom 7:6) The Old Testament way of doing things reminds us of the old telephones, which had limited access (because they were wired in to a socket and could not be moved around much); it used to be much harder for people when they could only access God once a year or in set places. Now, we have an open access to God and can come to Him at any time and in any place.

John 16:33 reminds us that life has many troubles or pressures, but Jesus has overcome the world and therefore we need not fear. Jeremy Camp reminds us that ‘what the Lord gives, the world can’t take away’ (‘Can’t Take Away’), and therefore we all have the opportunity to be made new in the attitudes of our mind and put on the new self available to us in Christ. (Eph 5:22-24) God’s renovation of us restores us to our original state and we are able to live as we were originally created to. This gives us a certified, guaranteed future, because God is making us new and renovates us to a God-standard (better than any gold standard!) This new year may bring many challenges as well as opportunities, but we can be sure that the new way of the Spirit means we have access to divine power and help and therefore we can go forward with hope and confidence.

Garry spoke tonight about things that are old and new and how things change. We looked at cars, houses, phones, hair styles and clothes, and saw that most people find the newer versions of these things preferable!

The first cars often did not have a roof or protection from the elements and had to be started with a starting handle, whereas new cars have many mod cons as well as being more efficient.

Older telephones looked very different and lacked the portability of mobile phones!

Whilst we tend to believe the new is better, there are, of course, some things that we cannot make (and improve!) The sunset and sunrise happen each day: we do not control these, but God is able to give us new days, a new year and is with us through all the changes we face. We can’t improve on what He does, but we can embrace the new year as His gift to us and move forward with hope and trust.

To perceive means ‘to become aware or conscious of (something); come to realise or understand.’ Perhaps the most surprising use of this verb in the Bible is in Genesis 19, the story of Lot and his daughters. After Lot’s miraculous deliverance from Sodom, which resulted in his wife being turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back (a sermon in itself!), he and his daughters settled in a cave. The daughters, frustrated by their isolation and fearful for the future, decided they would take matters into their own hands and sleep with their father in order to keep the family name going. We read, ‘That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.’ (Gen 19:33) Lot was not aware of what was happening. He did not perceive it! The daughters decided this was hugely successful: ‘So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.’ (Gen 19:35) Obviously this story shows us the dangers of drunkenness as well as the sheer folly of taking matters into our own hands (their children, Moab and Ammon, were to become thorns in the side of God’s people, Israel, in time to come, an indication that it’s always better to wait for God’s ways than doing things in the way of the world.) But it also shows us how we can fail to see or perceive or be aware of things that, for most of us, would seem an impossible situation. How can you really not be aware that you have had sex with someone?! How can you not notice that this is your daughter?! But so often, we simply do not see spiritual things. Spiritual truth can only be seen with spiritual eyes: as Paul puts it, ‘in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.’ (1 Cor 2:13) He goes on to say, ‘the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.’ (1 Cor 2:14) We need spiritual vision if we are to perceive and see what God is doing.

Our expectations of how God will act, our preoccupation with self, our obsession with the past or with the future can all hinder us from seeing the new thing and the now thing God is doing. To perceive and understand what God is doing means we have to have spiritual vision; we have to look beyond what our natural eyes see and hold on to the promises of God. John, in his great vision of the new heaven and new earth, heard these words: ‘He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”‘ (Rev 21:5) God’s words and promises are trustworthy and true. He is making everything new and this can be His word to us today.

Will be like Elijah, people of faith? We’re told that ‘Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.’ (1 Kings 18:42) In other words, Elijah prayed. He sought God’s face for the rain. He refused to let doubt rob him of seeing the invisible, of experiencing with his physical senses what he knew God had assured him in the spiritual realm would happen. He refused to dwell in the past; he wouldn’t even rest in the great victory over Baal he had just witnessed. Instead, he continued to seek God’s face for the physical manifestation of rain which would prove to the king yet again that he spoke the word of the Lord. He wanted to see God move in the here-and-now. We too long to see God move in this way, but must learn to perceive His actions and hold on to His promises, no matter what. Without spiritual perception, we will not see spiritual victories, but when we hold on to God in faith, we will see Him making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

This morning, at our first service in 2022, we looked at Isaiah 43:18-19 and investigated the ‘new thing’ God is doing (see also Rev 21:5). God is a God of creativity and is always doing new things, but so often, we fail to perceive what He is doing. It’s too easy for us to dwell in the past or to fantasise about the future, but whilst we must remember what God has done (Deut 4:9, Deut 5:15), we must also learn not to dwell in the past, either reminiscing with rose-tinted glasses or being weighed down by failure. Like God, we must actively choose not to remember (see Heb 8:12, Heb 10:17) and learn to live in the present, God’s gift to us.

To perceive what God is doing requires spiritual vision. We will never see the impossible unless we believe God’s promises are trustworthy and true. Abraham had to believe in ‘the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not’ (Rom 4:17) before he saw God’s promise of a son and heir come true. The things God has promised must be received (and held onto) by faith. We see this in the life of the prophet Elijah. He prayed, and for three years there was no rain in Israel. (1 Kings 17-18) At the end of this period, we see him and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel; we see the conclusive victory God brings by sending fire onto the sacrifice Elijah had prepared. (1 Kings 18:22-39) After this, Elijah tells the king, Ahab, ‘Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.’ (1 Kings 18:41) The only problem was that there was no rain.

Elijah’s servant told him numerous times there was nothing to see, no sign of rain. (1 Kings 18:43) Seven times, Elijah told him to go back. Most of us, I think, would have given up at this point. But Elijah did not give up, and the seventh time, the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ (1 Kings 18:44) This did not look like much, but Elijah knew this was the answer to his prayer, and sure enough, ‘the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling.’ (1 Kings 18:45) The word of the Lord, spoken through Elijah, proved true. There was the visible evidence of rain for all to see.

Each time that Elijah had spoken of rain, there was apparently nothing to see, nothing to perceive. But ultimately, all the people saw and felt the rain. This was no hole-in-the-corner miracle. And what God is doing now in Goldthorpe may seem insignificant, ‘as small as a man’s hand.’ It may seem like He is doing nothing, but I believe He is working now, doing a new thing, that a new thing is springing up like flowers blooming in a desert place after the rains. I believe that as churches work together in unity and faith, as God’s favour is upon us and we work alongside other organisations, God is doing a new thing, something that will bring refreshment, that will be seen as a way in the wilderness, that streams of living water will effectively be seen in the wasteland known as the Dearne Valley. The question He asks us is ‘do you not perceive it?’ and we can only perceive, see and observe if we seek God as Elijah did and believe what He says.

Casting Crowns have a song about the diversity of the church being its strength, reminding us,

‘It was the rhythm of the dancers

That gave the poets life.

It was the spirit of the poets

That gave the soldiers strength to fight.’ (‘City On A Hill’, Casting Crowns)

I spend much of my life trying to champion creativity and arguing for the value of the arts – a value which cannot be measured in monetary terms alone. Yesterday, I took my grandchildren to the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield, a wonderful place tracing the history of the emergency services in the U.K.

What stunned me there was my granddaughter’s reaction to a Victorian painting depicting a firefighter carrying a young girl from a blazing house. What was he doing? Why was she asleep? What happened? Would she be OK? This five-year-old girl poured forth questions about this painting and later, she said this was the most memorable part of the visit for her.

I found the painting sentimental and not particularly interesting. She found it romantic, symbolising bravery, heroism and strength. She gazed at the smoke billowing in the house as I explained the fireman was rescuing the girl from a house fire; she wanted to know why the girl was in a nightgown (I explained the fire must have started when she was asleep); she spent at least fifteen minutes in front of this painting and wanted to see it again when she got home (grateful thanks to the Internet for that!) and then went on to copy the painting herself. She was clearly inspired by it.

The arts have the capacity to capture our attention and to help us see life in different ways. I suspect my granddaughter learned more about the history of fire-fighting from this one painting than from all the vehicles and artefacts on display, because that is the way she is made. My son would have been drawn to the vehicles, to the engineering, to the precision of rescues because that is how he is made. As Casting Crowns remind us, diversity is not meant to provoke envy, competition or disdain, but to enable us to live alongside each other in harmony.

We live in a society that claims to be rational and pragmatic, but we need painters and poets as much (if not more) than politicians. The Government’s advertising campaign last year urging ballet dancers to retrain in IT was reprehensible. There is nothing wrong in ‘re-skilling’, but the notion that our society can function without the arts leads to a soulless society which most of us would shun.

My visit yesterday made me see the emergency services with new eyes, thanks to the skill of an artist and the wonder of my granddaughter. May we all see the world not only through the wonder of a child’s eyes but through the insight, foresight and vision of those people we call the creatives.