January is a time for resolutions- it’s the start of another year- I think this represents the desire of every man and woman to take every opportunity to try again- even though its only a date on the calendar and the numbers become increasingly irrelevant once you are over 30- yet so many people make some attempt at , at least , making resolutions- I have made none apart from a general desire to be better at- a host of things!!! Often I think along with DH Lawrence, that it would be great to rub out humanity and start again- as happened at the flood, or a sneaking desire to start life again or build the church from the ground up but I know that the fault of my human nature is that I would make the same mistakes all over again. John takes us back to basics- to the very beginning- here we have another Genesis. In the first Genesis we are told that God is the only one who existed before man measured time “In the beginning GOD created the earth” . It was “formless and empty” and shrouded in darkness. God took it and gave it both shape and light and He said it was “very good”. We know that before too long all this good work of God was damaged so badly that it looked irreparable. His prized possession was lying in shattered little pieces. But John knows all about the divine initiative which has led to the very thing which looked impossible- the repair of the whole earth to such an extent that when God is finished you will not see the join- but since God is not ALTOGETHER finished with us you can still see the join. Paul says that the whole of creation is groaning in expectancy for its redemption. So John wants to tell the world, his world all about this Good News Let’s give some thought to the world that John was living in- his world was very like our world: He was living In Ephesus-a city of about the size of Belfast It was a centre of commerce and trade- the most important city in the area It was also a very religious city ** Emperor cult ** Temples to Claudius, and Hadrian ** The temple of Diana was one of the wonders of the world ** fertility cult was also prominent There was also a fairly large colony of Jews It was a place where religious tolerance and plurality had led to syncretistism [all the religions becoming like each other And this led to problems for the Christians who rejected this – led to persecution One of our difficulties today is that with the growing pluralism there is the danger of syncreticism – the nearest we have come to this, so far, is what we call ecumenism but with the arrival of immigrants from Asia and parts of Europe and Africa it is changing- on Wednesday in Derry they held a prayer service in which they all prayed together including the Sheik leader!!???? For many years the President of the Irish Republic has invited all the religious leaders, including Jews and Muslims to her inauguration and all take part- so what do we think of that? What do we think of that- I heard no one even question it! Not even a hint of a question from those who are wont to picket the General Assembly on the opening night every year! We need to think that one through because it impinges on the whole idea of tolerance. How far do we take that? In Revelation John has some good things to say about this church in Ephesus – it has resisted evil and remained doctrinally true BUT their problem is the loss of their first love- in remaining doctrinally true and staying pure they have lost sight of something just as important- the reason for this pure doctrine- love of God- so they have become legalistic and cold and lost the power of their witness. I think we share that problem also. One of the dangers of the all embracing response to the Asian Tsunami is that we embrace the doctrine as well as the humanity of all the people and so some say- see there is no difference or we stand apart and they say- see they are more concerned with their system of belief than with basic humanity. Now the problem for John and for the contemporary Christian is the same- how do you share the good news in a time of darkness when people feel no need? In the history of the church we can see periods of greater and lesser darkness but God has never left himself without a witness. Paul says “When the time had fully come God sent His son…” In the dark days when most needed God sent His prophets and poets and evangelists to proclaim the word and in the first century he even sent his own son. Ever since there have been times of great darkness- like the Dark Ages so called and this was followed by the witness of people like Martin Luther, John Calvin, then Jonathan Edwards, John Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley etc. The societies that they lived in were not perfect but they represent moments I the history of the world when many people responded to the preaching of the world. In this New Year we need to remind ourselves that GOD MOVES MEN AND WOMEN AND HE CHOSE HIS MOMENTS – in the beginning was the WORD, was GOD. This was AN ACT OF GOD- God sent His son in this new beginning In this mixture of good and bad, light and darkness we see that it is an unfair battle- in John’s day there was the idea that there was a constant battle between good and evil and this was a battle of equals but John makes the point that this is not the case- God gives life-by his word of command and that life is the LIGHT and the darkness has NEITHER UNDERSTOOD IT NOR OVERCOME IT. I think this came out very clearly in the debates on the radio after the Tsunami- for some what happened on Boxing Day was proof that God did not exist but if God did not exist then you can’t blame him either and then the next day the goalposts were changed- now it was a case of saying that this God was some kind of sadist who didn’t care. The real problem is that there is a spiritual darkness which will have to be penetrated before any real answer can be given- unless you accept the idea of man’s fall from grace you will have no answer at all. Our problem is that if we just rely on our human thinking then our logic will fail us, since none of us are logical in our actions all the time- Paul describes the problem well in Romans 7- I know what I want to do and just can’t do it- so that instead of doing the good I want to do I do the very evil things I do not want to do. Now in the midst of all this John says that it is possible to have a new start- to start again with the clean sheet that Lawrence asked for- because this God who is accused of being a sadist has given men another chance- just as at the flood days- Jesus has come and died that we might live. In this dark world we have hope- I know this is not the complete answer but it is a starting off place and we will have all the answers when God is finished His work- without him there is no answer at all- apart from the Stephen Dawkins answer which is that you are either lucky or unlucky in the world because its all a matter of time and chance and then there is no value to human life at all- no more than for any other kind of life. When Jesus lifted the bread and said this is my body and the wine and said this is my blood he was indicating the answer to all life’s questions and the possibility of new life and life in all its possible fullness. If we want to have this life the way to have it is to walk in God’s way- CS Lewis- Happiness is a bye-product. John’s point is that the story he has to tell is God’s story but men can only understand it, it will only make sense when they have the eyes to see. This is truly an ACT OF GOD. Through the “earthquake, wind and fire” there was the “still small voice of God” This is my body, this is my word, this is the Lamb of God, this is my Son. John asks the question, the same question down through the generations- Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name?