A kind friend recently found a very old photograph of herself with my late sister. It was taken in 1976 and gave me a flash back into what seems like a former life. In the hope that other family members may like to have a copy too, the photograph has been on a journey to the restorer. The finished article is twice the size, the colours are all back and the old days now seem as real as yesterday.
Our Christian life is a mixture of old stories from thousands of years ago blended with the reality of God in our midst now. It can feel hard to picture the ways of life and the issues faced by men and women like Abraham and Sarah. Jesus looks back to those former days too as in his teaching he bridges the gap of years and invites us all to be part of his one Kingdom.
At times our lives lack lustre, especially if we are overwhelmed by circumstances. We can slide into a depressed state over the cruelty around us, or at humankind’s abuse of creation. We who were young in the 1970s are now in our mid-fifties to mid-sixties and we may be feeling as grainy as the image in the old photographs.
In the half millennium before Jesus was born God’s temple was ransacked but lovingly rebuilt. Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. In the Revelation, Saint John foresaw a renewed heaven and earth and declared, ‘behold I make all things new’.
Christianity is about renewal, not just the eschatological writings in the scriptures, but in ourselves now. We may get physically grainy but spiritually, full technicolour is the blessing of spiritual restoration.
A Prayer
Lord, help us remember that renewal is available to us if we ask in faith. When we struggle to believe, grant your spirit to win the struggle for us. As physically we age, bless us with reinvigorated and refreshed spiritual youth and vigour. We ask it for Jesus’s sake who overcame death’s decay for us. Amen.