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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Starting right

Start the year focussed on God and God’s priorities (Matthew 3:13-17).

Context

• It’s a new year but the issue of workers striking over pay and conditions continues from last year.
• In a related topic, doctors have accused the government of not acknowledging the state of difficulties within the NHS at a time of high pressure on their services.
• Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government in Israel has taken a more confrontational approach to relations with the Palestinian people
• In the UK, the idea of ‘Dry January’ or ‘Veganuary’ has risen in popularity over recent years hitting a high in 2023 as people seek to start the New Year in a healthier way.

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

• Many people will have gone back to work this week with their travel disrupted by another round of rail strikes. Discussions about increasing the border force strikes continue and other unionised workers such as postal workers consider their next steps. Going on strike is a big step for workers to take - they lose money and aren’t able to help people the way they want to - but negotiations last year have not borne fruit. For those workers, and for us, the New Year is a time to think about what is important to us and what sacrifices we are willing to make in order to get there.
• After a 2022 with three different prime ministers, the nation is looking forward to greater stability in 2023 and intervention to support our healthcare system. However, the news reports this week suggest a difference in opinion as to how things stand and what the priorities for the government should be. Facts and figures are bandied about and the phrase, ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ comes to mind. What should happen next is impossible to agree as the starting point lies in different places for different people. As Christians, for us to make progress we need to begin by understanding things as they are. This starts with us: our position in God, our need of His forgiveness and strength. Once we understand that starting point, as Jesus did, we are better able to discern the way ahead and what our priorities should be.
• Whenever there is a change in government in a country, people watch to see what the first actions taken will reveal about that government’s attitude and approach to the problems facing that nation. As a church we pray consistently for peace in the Middle East but peace needs peacemakers. Individual actions might not make a big difference in themselves but they betray the attitude behind them. As we judge the words of those in leadership, it is important that we weigh the actions and discern whether those people have an attitude which is ready to build positive relationships or not. Our prayers are clearly still needed for those in the Holy Land and we should be prepared to go on praying throughout the year.
• Dry January continues a long-held trend of people taking steps to improve their health & lifestyle at the start of a new year. Our culture seems to like ‘silver bullet’ approaches to health where cutting one thing out or taking up a specific exercise regime will be the thing that changes our lives. The focus is on our willpower and our ability to identify what the ‘one thing’ will be that will turn our personal situation around. Jesus shows us a different way. In humility, He submits to John and allows the Holy Spirit to direct where He goes and what He does. To prepare for the year ahead, perhaps we need to change our perspective as to who is really able to give us what. It is obedience and humility in following God’s priorities that will enable us to live lives in right relationship with Him and with those around us.

 

Questions for discussion

• Have you made any resolutions this year? Are they resolutions that you have made before?
• What is most important to you in the year to come? What has made this a priority?
• How would you feel if you heard Father God say, ‘You are my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased’? Does it feel like something God would say to you?
• What does a right attitude to God and others look like in practice?

Steve Taylor is joint-vicar of St James Alperton CofE church, near Wembley. He shares the job with his wife, Ali, and shares his house with their two children, two cats and numerous fish.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

Let’s do this

This week we explore starting with the right attitude.

One week into the new year and how many resolutions remain standing? Chances are our young people will have heard umpteen assemblies, tutor times and thoughts for the day about the fresh opportunity a new year gives us, together with the need to start again - to change and be a different person to the one we were last year. And undoubtedly, many will already be feeling they have failed as old habits have not given way to the new that they hoped for.

Baptism is a sign of starting over: death to our old ways and rebirth into the new. For Jesus this was clearly not about death to a sinful lifestyle - it was a marker in the ground, a moment in time when he stepped up to begin his ministry. From the outset, Jesus was declaring that he knew who he was and whose he was.

As we start this new year, there can be no greater message to our young people. Not simply to focus on trying to fix our own failures, but rather knowing that we are created, known, loved and called by Father God and that everything we are and do stems from that.

Becky May is founder of The Resources Cupboard

 

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