01 Jan VICARS’ BLOG – January 2021 – Everyday faith – bananas are not the only fruit
Posted at 06:00h
in Vicars' Blog
So, 2020 has gone, and that may be a relief. It has brought disappointment, grief and challenges we haven’t known before. But we can also hold onto some treasures such as times with family, enjoying simple things like nature around us, valuing our neighbours and our town more than before. And we hope we have all experienced God’s care, acceptance, hope and love I fresh ways. He has not left us but is right here with us in all the turbulence of life.
And what of 2021? we are still fighting this pandemic, but there is the promise of a vaccine. Our hope is in the risen Lord Jesus Christ whose promises for us are even more sure and we know that whatever 2021 throws at us, he will be there in it with us. We have many blessings. So where should our focus be? What does a new year mean for us?
Our invitation for this year is to invest in our faith, what we might call Everyday Faith. The Church of England has produced some resources to help all of us to live out the unique calling God has placed on our lives. Our invitation in January is to a course called Fruitfulness on the Frontline.
Peter says: Because you have these blessings, do all you can to add to your life these things: to your faith add goodness; to your goodness add knowledge; to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add patience; to your patience add devotion to God; to your devotion add kindness toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, and to this kindness add love. If all these things are in you and growing, you will never fail to be useful to God. You will produce the kind of fruit that should come from your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8
And Jesus says: “I am the vine and you are the branches. You did not choose me. I chose you. And I gave you this work: to go and produce fruit—fruit that will last.” John 15:5, 16
Mark Greene, of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC), serves up a liberating view of how God can and does work in and through us in our daily lives. This is quite a life-changing concept. We are not just marking time, even in Covid times, we are here for God every day. And God respects our differences, it’s not one size fits all, we are different fruit, we are not all bananas!