For The Byrds…(November 2023) - Clare Baptist Church

by Rev Paul Graham

The change to a tri-monthly magazine presents some interesting opportunities for me as I contemplate this article. For example, the edition you now clutch tightly in your hand (or are browsing on screen for the online version) covers the period that includes fireworks and Remembrance, through the anticipation of Advent and the celebration of Christmas, past the end of 2023 and the conclusion of the first twelfth of 2024. A lot to cram in to a few words, you might say.

And, you’d be right, but then I reflect on the way that this demonstrates quite ably the feeling that our weeks go past like days, the months like weeks, and the years like months. It hardly feels two minutes ago that we were singing “Auld Lang Syne” and enjoying watching the televised firework displays over the Thames (other ways of marking the New Year are available), and we’re already bemoaning that fact that we’ve been able to buy Christmas decorations for at least a month. 2023 has galloped by with the pace of a thoroughbred.

Of course, this is not true for everyone. For some, it will feel like each day lasts a week, each week a month, etc, and they can’t wait for 2023 to bid us a final farewell in the hope that next year they, like Del Boy regularly reassured Rodney, “will be millionaires.” Or at least will be dealt a better year than this one.

There is a chance, for those of us who are in the “blink and you miss it” camp of time passing, that there’s no opportunity to take stock before the next Big Event is upon us. We scarcely seem to draw breath once we pack away our summer swimmies before we’re wading through the fallen leaves of impending winter. And it can all get very confusing, particularly for those of us who always seem to be planning ahead. Fortunately, being a good Baptist, I’m not an adherent to the full ecclesiastical calendar, so don’t need to know that the 20^th November is the day we commemorate the death of local legend and 9^th century king of the east, Edmund. Equally, I’m not going to get myself tied up in knots knowing which colour is right for which season, either in my choice of jumper or altar cloth. So far, so nonconformist.

However, this may be an encouragement for you to pause while reading this and allow yourself a moment to take stock of 2023. What were the high points for you? The low points? The middling bits? What stood out for you most and why?

Think of those who you shared the year with; those who were there at the beginning, those who you’ve met on the way and those who won’t be there as you reach the end of 2023. This may be a moment that brings a bit of emotion to the fore, but don’t worry about that. This is the time not to wallow, but rather to recognise the people who have shared our journey with us.

Once you’ve taken the appropriate amount of time to reflect and ruminate on the last year, please read on…

Space in my brain has been taken up recently on two aspects of God’s character that we encounter through the Bible, and are backed up by experience (my own, though you may also agree with this). The Psalmists encourage us on a number of occasions to “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (Psalm 106, 107, 118 [twice], 136). All 150 Psalms are full of experiences, both good and bad, and on occasion lament the seeming absence of God (or at least evidence of his presence). And yet, these particular Psalms speak very much of God being good (even if the times the writers were living in were not) and that his love endures forever (even if people showed an alarming lack of it).

Add to this the words of Ecclesiastes 3, where the unnamed writer reminds us that there “is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens” before going on to list a number of contrasting examples. In the 60s, these verses were set to music by The Byrds, and many people of a certain age will not be able to resist the opportunity to start singing “Turn, turn, turn” now. Whilst enjoying this moment of musical nostalgia, I suggest that a pattern emerges as we put those parts of the Bible together.

The list in Ecclesiastes reminds us that events happen in life, some of which are under our control, but an awful lot of them happen to us without our invitation or initiation. The Psalmist reminds us that throughout all of life’s experiences we are to give thanks to God for his enduring love, even when life has thrown us more than our fair share of rotten eggs.

As a church family we have recently been spending time in the letters of John. Written by someone who had either spent an appreciable time with Jesus as his self-proclaimed beloved disciple (if you believe some scholars), or by someone well acquainted with that apostle (if you believe others), the underlying messages of the letters are nonetheless straightforward:

God is love and light;
God takes sin seriously and offers sufficient grace to those who admit they need it;
God, in the person of Jesus, is our companion and advocate;
God is love and light (in case we hadn’t realised it the first time).

It is the Holy Spirit accompanying us that demonstrates these attributes best; as we have gone through all that life has given us through 2023, we have been joined on that journey with the Holy Spirit, and hopefully as we look back we will see how he has demonstrated his love and light, his sufficient grace, his company and advocacy and more of his love and light.

Later in this magazine you will read a creative imagining of an event that must have happened in the Bible, though it has been missed up ‘til now. However, as I finish this article, the last one of 2023 and the first one of 2024, go with a reminder of these ancient words:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”