The Bishop's Letter

The Bishop's Letter: January

Last Updated on Tuesday, 07 February 2012 16:44

A different sort of resolution

Record numbers of people will be taking unwanted Christmas gifts back to the shops early in January. That suggests there will be a fair amount of dissatisfaction and unhappiness around us as we begin a New Year.

One of the ways we react to that discontent within us and the sense of new beginnings is to make New Year Resolutions.  Normally we resolve to give up certain things or to do things in a different way.

New Year Resolutions can be good and helpful and I will be making some of my normal ones this year and not all of them will be kept.

But here is a different sort of resolution. Try and take more time in 2012 to remember how much God loves you. Understanding we are loved is the key to change.

For many years I worked in a college helping people prepare to be Anglican priests and Methodist Ministers. For everyone their two or three years at the College were years of being changed. I learned to watch carefully what helped that change to happen.

Usually people don’t change if we point out what’s wrong with them. Most people can work that out for themselves. What really helps change is to understand more deeply how much you are loved and especially loved by God.

When Jesus enters the city of Jericho he spots a man watching him from a tree. Zaccheus is the most hated person in the town yet he is somehow drawn to watch Jesus as he approaches. When Jesus speaks to Zaccheus it isn’t to embarrass him, rebuke him or point out his faults. Jesus speaks to Zaccheus to honour him and to ask for his help: “Zaccheus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today”.

A rebuke would have sent this lonely man scurrying away to his counting house. Kindness, courtesy and honour do their work in Zaccheus and he is changed for ever.

So let your New Year resolution be to make this year one in which you come to understand much more fully how long and wide and high and deep is God’s love for you. Take time in prayer, in reading the scriptures, in the Eucharist and in Christian fellowship to reflect on that love. And then let God’s love and grace work in your life to bring change.

Happy New Year to you and yours

+Steven Sheffield