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I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year! We had a good mix of being with family and friends, but also time to chill and relax, with a few (rainy) runs thrown in as well.
I’m not one to stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve anymore. We did that when our kids were teenagers and all living at home. I was in bed by 10:30pm, because the following day was what I was looking forward to…
New Year’s Day is when I take down all the Christmas decorations! I have to say that this year’s tree was one of the best real ones we have ever had. Normally there is a carpet of needles around it as I remove all the decorations and lights. But this year most stayed on.
By the time my wife woke and came downstairs, the was no sign of Christmas left to be seen. She was a bit bemused, but ever gracious. I was delighted, a record time to get it all down and away. I was one very happy ‘completer finisher’!
There is another thing I do enjoy at this time, and that is concluding the ‘Bible-in-a-year’ and starting again. I have done this for a long time now; it’s part of my devotional rhythm. By doing it year after year, it keeps me in God’s Big Story, I read books that I may otherwise ignore, and I find God always speaks to me through it.
The first book in the Bible is Genesis, the book of beginnings! In its simplest form, it states that there is an author or ‘Intelligent Design’ behind our universe. In chapter 1 it says this about humans…
“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
What struck me this year when reading these familiar words is this: All people are made in God’s image. It does not say some people or just a few, but all of humanity.
This to me is profound, as it makes me think how do I then treat my fellow human? Do I see them as created in the image of God?
There is something in us all that reflects or is like God. For example, the capacity to be creative comes from God, after all, He is ‘the’ creator. The ability to love, to care, to provide, are all Godly characteristics.
The trouble is, in this broken world (read Genesis 3) the image of God in people is distorted, corrupted or worse case, lost.
My role as a Pastor includes helping people to rediscover who they are in God. In other words, to help someone to see again that they are made in God’s image.
As we start 2024, let me encourage you to look again at people, through the lens of Genesis 1:27 – ‘all’ people are made in God’s image. Let’s treat one another in a way that honours and respects this.
God bless you :)
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader