Church News Volume 4, Issue 12

Dear friends,

As we reflect upon our lives we become aware that their course has depended upon decisions we have taken, or perhaps failed to take at various stages along the way. Those decisions may have arisen from chance meetings and casual conversations, or have been taken at official interviews and formal appointments. Such moments may well have affected the whole direction and content of our lives: the jobs we do, the locality in which we live, the people we meet, the relationships we have formed.

History tells us of great men and women who have taken big decisions and gone on to do important things with their lives and the lives of others, changing people and world history. What is true of our lives and those of others was also true of Jesus. His ministry at the age of thirty depended on the decision He made to emerge into the public eye to begin proclaiming the Kingdom of God as an itinerant preacher. He decided that His message would be preached to people who were poor and downtrodden, those who were sick, social outcasts, and people on the margins of society. The decisions He made led Him into conflict with the religious authorities and the entrenched attitudes of His society. So there could only be one outcome, and He knew it. The Gospels tell us that Jesus made the decision to go to Jerusalem and to His own suffering and death.

To support Him in the decisions He had to make, Jesus gathered around Him a group of people who each had to make the initial decision to follow Him.

'Who do people say I am?' Asked Jesus to His disciples one day. Some said one of the prophets, another that He was a new John the Baptist figure. 'But you', said Jesus, 'Who do you say I am?'.

The disciples had to make a decision on what they believed, their faith in Him.

'You are the Messiah, the Chosen One' proclaimed Peter. It was a significant moment in the disciples life. They decided to accept Jesus was the Son of God, the Incarnate Word.

That moment from the Gospel still speaks to us clearly and personally. 'Who do YOU say that I am?' Jesus asks each one of us. The question is asked firmly and openly.

The decision has to be made, and having been made then we have to live with it.

We may feel we have no time or space to accept Jesus as the one who has suffered and died in order to rise again and restore our relationship with God.

Or we may decide to accept Him as a necessary part of our lives, the One who alone brings purpose and meaning to life. He alone brings the message of acceptance, affirmation and renewal we so long for.

We can't have it both ways!

If we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God and that we want Him to be our Saviour, then we must acknowledge that the consequence of this decision is that we must follow His commands and worship Him in the Christian community.

Revd Ian M. Finn

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