Happy new year (although, as we all know, the official Mid-faith Crisis New Year isn’t until March).
Back after our Christmas break and we talk about a bit of an anniversary: Jan 1 2025 marks 45 years since I became a Christian. Fair to say a few things have changed in that time, so we discuss how we understood ‘conversion’ back then and how we understand it now. And we think about how our sense of purpose has changed.
My thoughts turned to Mark 1:15, where Jesus declares what his purpose is: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
In the WBC volume, Rober Guelich translates the Kingdom of God is near, as ‘The Kingdom of God has come in history.’ It’s a moment of fulfilment.
Nowadays I see repentance as about much more than sin management. Not that that isn’t important, but Jesus doesn’t mention sin in this statement at all. Instead, I think repentance implies a whole-life change of perspective. This is about turning around and moving God-ward direction. I think the eighteen-year-old Nick would not have seen it as a holistic thing. The Kingdom of God had not come into history - it was very much about our future destination.
But Jesus' message was good news for the here and now.
And it still is. As we enter a new year full of anxiety and apprehension, I am trying to remember that the Kingdom of God is a safe space. It doesn’t insulate you from the world, but it allows you to see that there are different ways of living.
At the end of the episode Joe asked me to re-read my version of the good news, which I wrote back in 2020.
Here it is again.
There is a God.
And God is good. And God loves you.
Because God is good, and because God loves you,
You don’t have to be afraid;
You don’t have to suffer alone;
You don’t have to worry about riches or status or pretending to be someone you’re not;
You don’t have to feel insignificant, unnoticed or unloved;
You don’t have to be trapped in guilt or shame;
You don’t have to be scared of death because death is not the end.
You don’t have to walk through this world alone.
The world is beautiful. And the world is terrible.
No-one knows why. But we do know that it’s not as God wants it,
And that we can change it – a little – by changing ourselves.
That’s why God invites us to a different life.
A life of freedom, kindness, hope, courage, honesty and forgiveness.
We can live this life by copying Jesus, who shows us what God is like,
And by asking God’s Spirit to work with us, because we can’t do it on our own.
So here’s the thing –
You are not your wounds.
You are not your fears or your failures.
You are not your possessions or your career.
You are not what has been done to you, or what you have done to others.
You are not what others say about you, or even what you say about yourself.
You are a child of God
A God who is good.
And a God who loves you.