Tag: change

Change

~ Mel Eyeons ~ Leave a comment

A ‘Thought for the Day’ for Black Cat Radio – 12th June 2021

As I write this the G7 summit is starting, and the leaders of the 7 most-advanced economies in the world have descended on Cornwall. Apparently, the big discussion this year is recovering from the Covid pandemic, as well as climate change and trade.

As a world we seem to be facing big challenges all round, and although things are definitely improving with Covid, there’s uncertainty about whether restrictions will be lifted on the 21st after all.

We can react to uncertainty in different ways. We can sit back and say “Well, everything will go wrong, so why bother doing trying to do anything about it?”. Or we can resist change by stubbornly clinging on to how we’ve always done things or denying the need to think or do things differently. We might even blame the messenger telling us we need to change.

In his life on earth Jesus met with some of these reactions, and his message that people needed to change wasn’t always popular, yet he never gave up patiently giving his message and doing what he knew to be right. Dealing with change is hard, whether because it makes us uncomfortable or because other people don’t approve, but it’s important to keep going and show patience with ourselves and others if we want to see good things happen. And for people of faith, it’s also helpful to think of God knowing what dealing with change is like and understanding our situation.

I hope that the G7 summit will lead to some positive outcomes, and that we will see the change in Covid restrictions that we’re hoping for, but even if change is a long time coming and harder than we want, let’s never give up hope.

Take care,

Mel

All Change for Autumn

~ Mel Eyeons ~ Leave a comment

A ‘Thought for the Day’ for Black Cat Radio’, broadcast 17th October 2020

Recently I was in an online discussion about why people love autumn. There were hundreds of answers. A lot included the beautiful colours, the crisp air, the smell of bonfires and snuggling down indoors while it’s all cold outside. I would also add seeing and hearing flocks of geese flying in their V formations. My chickens always look up at the geese as they go past. I’m not sure if the hens are annoyed about the noise or wish they could fly like that too.

The geese and other birds come to us in the autumn while other birds go south. This makes autumn a time of change for them as much as it is for us. It’s a time when we see leaves changing colour, days getting shorter and cooler, and our thoughts turn to winter. It’s also a time when many people decide to do something like taking up a hobby or starting a course. Such things aren’t just for young people, either. People do degrees and take up new hobbies into their 80s and 90s because we all have a divine spark of creativity in us, whatever our age.

So, as we start moving into a new season, maybe now would be a good time to something different, that will make a positive change for us, however small. This is especially important this year, as we face a rise in coronavirus cases and a difficult winter. I’m going to try watercolour painting, which I may or may not be good at, but I’d like to try. And maybe when you see the geese flying or notice golden leaves they will inspire you to wonder what you could do this autumn to help you through the months ahead and bring something good into your life.

All change for autumn!

With all good wishes

Mel

John the Baptist

~ Mel Eyeons ~ Leave a comment

Isaiah 11.1-10 / Matthew 3.1-12

2nd Sunday of Advent / Year A

Elections

I’ve heard a rumour that there’s some kind of election coming up.

I don’t want to speculate on what the result will be, but in this country, when there’s a change of government the changeover is instant.

On polling day itself there are removal vans standing by in case someone needs to leave Downing Street so that someone else can move in straightaway.

Things are different in the USA, though.

In normal times, at least, when the president isn’t being impeached, the election is held in November but he, or hopefully one day she, doesn’t take over until January.

This time between being elected and being sworn in is known as the transition time.

It’s when the old regime begins to withdraw and the new one prepares to start governing.

Change

And we are also in a transition time, now, not only politically but also spiritually.

For Advent is, among other things, about transition, and the prime symbol of that is John the Baptist.

John is a symbol of transition because he’s the link between the Old Testament and the New.

Some people don’t see the relevance of the Old Testament.

They think that the Old has given way to the New, so we can get rid of it.

Or they think that the Old Testament shows a nasty God and the New Testament a nice one.

This is obviously oversimplifying things but understandably people would rather focus on what they see as the nicer New Testament God.

But what we now call the Old Testament was the Bible of Jesus’s day, so if we’re to understand Jesus’s story we need to understand the scriptures of his time, the ones he grew up with and which shaped the worldview of his time and people.

So, in that spirit, let’s go back to our Old Testament reading from Isaiah for a moment.

Prophecy

This reading contains a prophecy that would’ve been very well known to people at the time of Jesus.

It gives a promise that one day a Messiah will be born in the family line of Jesse, who was the father of King David, whose hometown was Bethlehem.

Suddenly we are in the royal town of Bethlehem, looking at a little baby in a manger who is in the family line of Jesse and David.

This Messiah will establish a new world order where righteousness and justice bring about safety and peace, where there’s an end to violence, destruction and fear, and where God rules over all.

A new era

This is what the Jews were waiting for when John the Baptist appeared.

They wanted a new world where they didn’t have to fear invasion, where they were no longer occupied by a foreign power, and where God would rule the world from Jerusalem.

Then John appeared in the wilderness, wearing camel’s hair and a leather belt.

It’s interesting that we get a description of his clothes because nowhere do we get told what Jesus or any of his disciples wore.

The gospel writers weren’t often very interested in people’s clothing in general.

But John the Baptist’s appearance was very much like that of the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 1, verse 8, where Elijah is described as ‘A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist’.

John presents himself almost as a stereotype of one of the old prophets that the Jews knew so well from the scriptures, so it’s no wonder that people flocked to him.

They wanted to be ready for the new kingdom of God and were excited that at last God seemed to be acting.

At last, an end to being looked down on by the countries around them, finally an end to Roman occupation, and a chance to be top dog for ever.

Some of them got a shock, though, those who thought they were automatically better than everyone else.

They didn’t think they needed to repent so much as be baptised to show off their piety.

They were seen for the hypocrites they were and denounced in strong terms, while those who came in humility and real repentance were welcomed.

But John himself wasn’t the new thing that God was doing.

He himself wasn’t the longed-for Messiah.

What John was doing was announcing the end of an old era and the start of the new.

He was preparing the way, making people ready, ensuring Jesus got off to a good start.

He’s fierce about it, but only because of the urgency of his message and his burning desire for people to be saved now that the Messiah is here.

This is why he’s the symbol of transition and the link between our Old and New Testaments.

He speaks, looks and acts like an Old Testament prophet but brings in the era of the New Testament, where the Messiah that the scriptures have been pointing to has finally come.

Still waiting

But, we might object, we don’t yet have all those promises of safety, peace, righteousness and justice.

And this is because we are still in a time of transition.

When Jesus came as that baby in a manger he came to start a process.

He started the process of bringing in the kingdom of God by being born as one of us, living with us and showing God’s power at work in him by healing the sick, raising the dead and showing compassion and mercy to the unloved and outcasts, before dying and rising again for us to win the final victory over sin, evil and death.

What Jesus didn’t come to do was judge the world and wrap everything up in the way that John was expecting.

I guess even great prophets don’t always understand everything.

This is probably why later, in Matthew Chapter 11, John the Baptist writes to Jesus from prison to ask if Jesus really is who John thinks he is.

John has got worried because things aren’t going as expected but Jesus reassures him by pointing to what he’s doing.

That final time of wrapping things up when there really will be safety, peace, righteousness and justice is still ahead of us

Right now we are part of the start of the kingdom of God coming on earth.

Right now we are all voices crying in the wilderness for people to come to God and receive his blessings.

We are charged to proclaim the good news that God has come to us.

Our work for God is to comfort, heal, help and bless, and to be light in the darkness for those who need it.

And we are invited not to try to do this in our own strength but to draw near to God, not only at Advent but all year round, to receive from him, learn from him, be changed by him and strengthened by him.

During this time of transition, when the kingdom of God is growing but not yet fully revealed, we are signs and buds of that glorious future which the Old Testament, John the Baptist and generations of Christians have looked forward to, when death will be no more, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be justice, righteousness, peace and mercy for all.

Transitions

~ Mel Eyeons ~ 2 Comments

A few things recently have got me thinking about those times when everything changes.

 

I read about someone who’s recently left his church after a long period of soul-searching and with a lot of hurt and confusion.

This reminded me of a similar thing I went through in my early twenties when I could no longer feel at home with the very conservative theology and ways of doing things that my student church promoted.

There were several issues in my decision to move back to the more middle of the road Anglicanism I had started out with –  but one moment really stands out in my mind now, even 20 years or so later.

I spoke to someone about my difficulties with the idea of people suffering in hell forever and their response was that it didn’t matter because God would make it so that we didn’t mind.

To me this was (and still is) a horrifying idea – not only the idea of people suffering forever but that God would want to make us hardened and indifferent to it and that this was a good thing.

 

There are other changes going on just now though.

 

There’s autumn, of course, a time that’s linked with another turn in the year both in nature and in the human world.

This autumn I’m starting an MA in Church History, along with many other people beginning or continuing or returning to academic studies.

I hope in this course to combine my interest in both theology and history, and to gain a better understanding of the Church through the ages and perhaps how and why it has developed in the way it has.

I also hope this will help me understand something of how the Church and Christians think and act today, and maybe I can share some of that in my ministry – both in preaching and in my writing.

 

Last year I also took up clarinet after a long break, and I began running after a lifetime of thinking I couldn’t do it.

They’ve both gone well and now I’m working towards Grade 3 on the clarinet and running 10km.

These are also changes in that I see them as new ways of taking care of myself, warding off the depression and anxiety which I’m prone to by taking responsibility for my own well being.

They are also ways of taking care of my physical fitness and getting more music and beauty into my life, all of which are important if we are to be healthy, happy and well-rounded human beings.

 

So there’s a lot going on, a lot of excitement and purpose, but also a need to adjust to new projects, timetables and priorities.

At times like this I find it helpful to remember that whatever the outcomes of new projects or ideas, regardless of how much change is going on around us, whether its’s positive or negative, God remains the same: faithful, constant and loving, ready to cheer us on, pick us up and keep us on the right path.

 

A Prayer for Times of Change:

God of Love,
You are with us in every transition and change.
When we enter new eras with excitement and even some anxiety,
help us to recall your deep compassion, presence and abounding love.
We thank you for the gifts, talents and skills with which you have blessed us.
We thank you for the experiences that have brought us to this moment.
We thank you for the work of others that gives breadth and depth to our own work.
Be with us as we move forward, rejoicing with you and supporting one another.
We ask this in your Holy Name.
Amen.