The text that we have chosen for the church’s 2022 text card comes from the ancient words of Isaiah 43:18-19: – ‘…do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! …I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’
As we leave behind another year ravaged by the Covid pandemic, with its associated loss of freedoms and of loved ones, it can be easy to want to forget most of the past two years. Of course, in many ways, it’s important to let go of the past if we are to venture freely into the future of a New Year.
But the irony of Isaiah’s words is that the preceding two verses contain specific reminders of what God had done in this ‘past’ that his readers were apparently meant to forget! In other words, whilst there are aspects of our past lives that it is helpful to forget and not to dwell upon, at the same time it is important to remember what God has done in the past, because that reminds us of his capability to work in the future.
One of the blessings of the last two years has been that we have seen God do new things in the life of the church which might not have happened without the pandemic. We have learnt new skills in making our services available to those who cannot attend in person. Our recent Carol Service was for the first time aimed specifically at our Noah’s Ark (toddler group) families and so was done in a new way, much to the delight of the children and the appreciation of their parents. And the way that Covid restrictions forced us to do Messy Church when it returned in the autumn turned out to be something that was particularly helpful to children with special needs – so we saw God do something new, which we wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
As we enter this New Year, let’s not dwell on the past, other than to remind ourselves of what God can do… and let’s look out for the new things that he wants to do in our life together, and resolve to join him in those things.
With our love and prayers for God’s blessing throughout 2022,
Matthew and Pauline