Good News!

Good News comes in many stories.

After moving to Banbury nearly 10 weeks ago, I managed to clear the garage (final resting place for the stuff which doesn't fit anywhere in the house) sufficiently, on Saturday afternoon, so that our car was able to spend one night inside! It is a small thing, but a significant marker on the journey of getting settled. Good News!

But much better news is that God has chosen to step into our world of mess and muddle, with all its junk and rubbish, and items of beauty and preciousness.

It is wonderful that God didn't take 'No room'! as the end of the story, because I know that many are times when I have made no room for Jesus. Yet, in his loving and gentle patience, the God who made the universe has beckoned me to join him on the journey.

Yesterday afternoon, having missed listening to Desert Island Discs in the morning, Betty & I listened to it on the BBC iPlayer, as Archbishop Justin Welby was interviewed by Kirsty Young. 

It was brilliant, and it did our souls a lot of good. Archbishop Justin spoke so compellingly of how Jesus has changed his life. If you haven't heard the programme, click on this link - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vd69f

In a nutshell, the Good News can be summed up in these famous words from John's Gospel. 

' He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.' (John 1.10-13)

It is wonderful to know that God calls us into his family, to become his children by adoption and grace. In the midst of all else that happens at Christmas, I want to keep looking at the Good news.

Best wishes,

Richard