Now and Not Yet

So, I am now a Reverand. I occasionally get letters in the post which remind me of the fact and we had a whole big party to celebrate it! And yet in reality nothing much has changed. I’m still the same person, doing the same job. It’s a big change and yet nothing is different. It seems a little strange and paradoxical and yet this is something that often happens in life. It could a birthday party to celebrate a milestone year, a long-term resident getting citizenship, or someone who has been ill for a long time finally getting a diagnosis.

These are strange times when we mark, acknowledge, or understand that which already is. Whilst our reality is unchanged it can feel like we are whisked forward through time, our understanding of our place in the world, or our expectations for tomorrow suddenly changing. The person who lived here yesterday belongs here today. The person who had lived for one day longer than they had the day before yesterday, has lived for 75 years today. The person who was ill yesterday, knows what to expect from their health tomorrow. I was a trainee and then overnight I was qualified. Of course, if we see being qualified as having the necessary skills rather than the necessary piece of paper, then it can more easily be seen that I became qualified over three years and not one night! And I am still learning, after all, that’s literally what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

This big change in our world, even whilst everything seems to remain the same, takes time to adjust to. Whether the change is good or bad, our mental worlds need time to catch up as our view of the world changes. This is normal and healthy. And as we adjust, the way we think and even how we act changes, even though to the outside world nothing has changed at all. You might not have noticed it, but as Christians we are constantly going through this process. As we learn from Jesus and come closer to God, He constantly challenges the way we think and our understanding of the world. The world itself is unchanged, but we begin to see it more as it really is. It might be realising that our time is more precious than our things. That completing tasks isn’t nearly as important as caring for each other. Or that our greatest joy can be found not by chasing after what we want, but only by laying those things down to allow God to give us what He has for us. It is a lifelong process, the question is, are we still willing to have God change our minds?

Originally written for the October 2024 ABC Newsletter