What are your big dreams for the coming year?

    I would love to see world peace; an end to poverty; no more human trafficking; refugees able to return home; access to healthcare, education, decent housing for all, and fragile relationships restored.

    Wouldn’t it be great, if all those things were to happen in 2018?

    Sadly it is very unlikely that any of these things will occur. Our world and its people are broken in so many ways.

    There are different responses we can have to this situation. Some might be:

• There are such big issues, I can’t make any difference at all, so I’ll do nothing.

• I can’t change worldwide problems, but I can do my best to make my home and community, my workplace, my school, wherever I find myself better through love, generosity and kindness.

• If I join with others together we might be able to change some of the bad things in the world.

I wonder which of those best represents your thoughts.

    I can’t believe that God, whose very character is love, can be unaffected by the hurting world and its people. Watching us mess up this beautiful world, causing anguish and sorrow to one another, must surely bring heartache for our Creator who treasures all that has been made. 

    Built into creation is the sense that to love means to set free. Giving us the freedom to make decisions about how we treat one another and the world is a sign of true love. God doesn’t demand or force us to accept anything – that wouldn’t be love.

    Christians look to a time when all creation will be restored and transformed, where love and joy and peace will rule the hearts of all who dwell there – there’s a lovely picture of this in the book of Revelation in the Bible.

    In the meantime, we try (and often fail) to live by the values of Jesus Christ, who showed us what it means to love God and to love others.

    One of my big dreams is that by encouraging all Christians to do that we can make a difference to this world where we live. And others may well want to join us in that. There is no monopoly on goodness, though only God’s grace will open the gates of heaven to us. Love cannot be earned by good works.

With all good wishes for the coming year

Sarah