Dear Friends,

Suddenly, the world is changing. The global financial crisis is shaking the very foundations of our society. How can we find hope and security in these troubling times? I mean real solid hope in a way forward into the unknown and uncertain future.

I have come to believe that Christianity is about that sort of hope for this world – and the next. People often think that Christianity is just about life after death, "pie in the sky when you die." However, nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, if the benefits of being a Christian were only for this life, I would still follow Jesus. He shows us the best way to live life, with passion, joy and purpose – and above all with hope.

Jesus preached a message that was not primarily about life after death, but about a new way of life on this earth, which He called the Kingdom of God. The way of the world is often far from what God wants it to be, or what He intended. If we are honest, we know that it is not what it ought to be! Jesus came to start a process where the whole world is renewed from top to bottom, as it chooses to come under His just and gentle rule – that is "the Kingdom of God". There, as we co-operate with God's Holy Spirit, we will see the world begin to be transformed. As incredible as it seems, the Church (that is Christian people everywhere) is God's main instrument for this change. We are called to live by a different set of values and priorities. People have tried to change the world by force, or by using power to influence events, but the Church is called to love people into changing and returning to God. To reach out to the poor and lonely, the frightened and hurting, and slowly but surely see a different world emerging, where the rich and powerful do not, after all, have the last word. Where individuals start to recognise Jesus as their King, and start to live as He showed us, assisted by the Holy Spirit. That is the Kingdom of God. It stars here and now.  One day it will be completed. That is God's promise.

Hope is what we get when we realise that a different world is possible. But hope has to be based on truth if it is to be real. The historic events of Jesus' life, death and resurrection provide us with evidence for this hope. Jesus comes to us out of the fog of the unknown future with the promise that God will do for the whole creation what he did for Jesus that first Easter. In these troubling times He asks us to rediscover this hope and join Him in building a new world order where things are done very differently, done His way, in the Kingdom of God.

With my love and prayers,

Yours in Christ,
John.

Verse for the Month

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God."
Psalm 42:11