Hopes and Fears for the New Year

During today's service we welcomed Steve and Carrie and shared in Oliver's baptism. 

There’s something very special sharing in the baptism of a little one who is just six months old on the first Sunday of a New Year.  There’s the freshness, the wonder, the joy of the new born right at the start of life: and there’s that sense of freshness at the start of a new year with new beginnings and new things stretching out in front of us.

The other side of the coin is that with a new born and with a new year there are hopes and fears, expectations and anxieties about what lies ahead.  What kind of a world is this little one going to grow into?  What will this year bring for us?  If we’re not careful anxieties can squeeze out the sense of wonder.

I think coming together in church on the first Sunday of a New Year when we share in a celebration of baptism, is a recognition that what is at the heart of the Christian faith has something to offer to us in our hopes and fears, in our expectations and anxieties about all that lies ahead.

Oliver is not quite old enough yet … but it won’t be long before he can begin to enjoy some of the delights of Gloucestershire.  One of the real delights at the turn of the year is to go to Slimbridge as we did a couple of years back.  At the end of our afternoon as dusk was falling we made our way to the wonderful observation room overlooking the lake at the back of the visitor centre.  It was feeding time and the person we were watching was giving a wonderful talk as they were feeding the swans.  But that’s not what I found inspirational that day.  He suggested that those who were interested in looking at the starlings could go out and have a look as they were circling in the sky.

I slipped out and saw something I had seen pictures of but never witnessed for myself.  Masses and masses, thousands, tens of thousands perhaps of starlings swirling and whirling through the sky.  It was simply a magnificent sight.

Overwhelmed by the anxieties and the fears of the world around us, it’s no bad thing to look at the wonderful world of nature and somehow those worries and fears fall into place.

One of the things that appeals to me about the Christian faith is that it is down to earth.   Jesus lived in a world that was fraught with fears and anxieties as much as hopes and expectations.  One of those favourite carols we have been singing speaks of the way the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Christ.  To counter those fears and anxieties, he urged his followers to look to that wonderful world of nature and see in it the wonder of God’s creation.

Matthew 6:25-34

 “This is why I tell you: do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worth more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? 27 Can any of you live a bit longer  by worrying about it?

28 “And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. 30 It is God who clothes the wild grass—grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!

31 “So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ 32 (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. 33 Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.

Cecil Alexander wrote a sequence of hymns to illustrate the different aspects of the Christian faith – that sequence began with a celebration of God’s creation – it’s a hymn that’s special in Steve’s family.

Hymn:  283 All things bright and beautiful

The Christian faith then offers us a set of values that in our baptism service we acknowledge are worth handing on to the little ones as they start out on life; but they are values not just for the beginning of life, but for the whole of life, values to celebrate at the start of the year that are actually there for the whole of the year.

Jesus boiled those values down to two basic principles:  Love God and Love your Neighbour.   Recognise that there is a spiritual dimension to life, and live your life for the good of other people.  In that sermon on the mount, in the very next chapter of Matthew’s gospel he boils it down to one main principle that sums everything else up – do to others what you would have others do to you.

Jesus fills out those basic principles in teaching that addresses all sorts of issues, he lives it out as he brings healing wherever people are hurting.  His is a life of compassion and love for others, a life he maps out for us to follow.

One thing he is continually stressing is the need to care especially for those most vulnerable, those rejected by other people, your neighbour includes the ones difficult to get on with, the ones who are at the bottom of the pile.

His values turn on their head many of the values of the world.  There’s one moment when some of his closest friends are arguing among themselves who is the greatest.  It is a classic argument – it is reflected in al sorts of organisations.  You will spot them in any organisation – those who want to get to the top to have positions of power.  My observation would be that they are the ones who don’t really have what it takes.  The truly inspirational leaders who gain the respect of those in their organisation are the ones who have a commitment to service.

It’s interesting to see how Jesus counters that desire of some of his followers to be the greatest for the sake of getting into a position of power and authority.

Mark 9:33-37

33 They came to Capernaum, and after going indoors Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you arguing about on the road?”

 But they would not answer him, because on the road they had been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest.   Jesus sat down, called the twelve disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all.” 36 Then he took a child and had him stand in front of them. He put his arms around him and said to them,   “Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me.”

 But they would not answer him, because on the road they had been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest.   Jesus sat down, called the twelve disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all.” 36 Then he took a child and had him stand in front of them. He put his arms around him and said to them,   “Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me.”

 But they would not answer him, because on the road they had been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest.   Jesus sat down, called the twelve disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all.” 36 Then he took a child and had him stand in front of them. He put his arms around him and said to them,   “Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me.”

Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all.

Then he took a child and made him stand in front of them. He put his arms round him and said to them,  “Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me.”

From its very beginning in 1827 this church has been committed to working with children.  In a couple of weeks our oldest member will be 100 – Alice Brown recalls going to our Winchcombe Street church at the invitation of a friend and starting to teach in the Sunday School in Grosvenor Street.  There was real need among the youngsters living in those tight-knit streets around there at the time – they would often find youngsters throwing stones at the windows, difficult youngsters.  Alice went on to a life-time of teaching and a passionate concern for children and young people.

It was great to see Steve coming along to our children’s club we run jointly with St Luke’s, Transformers  and then to our Cubs on consecutive nights just before Christmas.  It’s interesting to see the priority the police give to working with youngsters – the churches of Cheltenham have been working closely with the police through Street Pastors in what’s sometimes known as the night-time economy and recently we have been working together on daytime initiatives.  I am a Governor at Pittville and belong to Aston House – so named after PC Aston who worked tirelessly among the young people particularly of Whaddon – the police now support the Aston Project which is based around giving youngsters the opportunity as it were to redeem themselves – through doing community service earning treats that can be quite exciting.  This really is getting to the heart of what society is all about: it’s an example of being prepared to put yourself last of all, put yourself as servant of all – a measure of our worth is a society is how we treat facing the greatest disadvantages, not least the children who are most vulnerable -   Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me.

To see something of God in each other and in the most vulnerable is at the heart of those values that are not just for the beginning of life but for the whole of life, not just for the beginning of the year but for the whole of the year.

The great thing about that Aston Project is the way it gives youngsters an opportunity to make a new beginning, make a fresh start.

That’s where I want to finish with what is so important at the heart of the Christian Faith.   Christ maps out a wonderful set of values to follow – but then he works with those who fail to live up to those values – and is there to give them a second chance.

Take seriously the values of the Christian faith and we are only too aware that we don’t quite live up to them.  In Christ we see the forgiving love of God reaching out to us always there to give us a second chance, to enable us to begin all over again.  And with that forgiving love, there is a strength that can see us through the most difficult times of all, a strength and a power from beyond ourselves.

No matter what the fears may be for this new year – in our individual lives, maybe around health, or work or loneliness, in our family lives or around us in the community the message at the heart of our Christian faith is that we are not alone.  There is a strength to draw on.

Among the last words Jesus shared with his friends he spoke of leaving them a strength, a comforter, a presence of God – unseen yet very real.  A strength we can be aware of in prayer and in the living of our daily lives..

That to my mind is one of the most precious things the Christian faith has to offer and something that’s not just for a little one but for us all, not just for the beginning of the year but 24 / 7 throughout the whole year.