I wonder howmany of you have seen the TV game show, All-Star Family Fortunes. This is a game show that features two teams of five contestants. Each team consists of a celebrity and their family, who are trying to win money for charity. The two teams are asked to guess the most likely answers given in surveys where 100 people were asked a series of questions.
I have a list of the top five most common New Year’s resolutions in the UK (taken from a YouGov poll for 2018) and would like you to guess what they are.
- Eat better.
- Exercise more.
- Spend less money.
- Get more sleep.
- Read more books.
6. Learn a new skill.
7. Get a new job.
8. Make new friends.
9. Get a new hobby.
10. Focus more on appearance.
Has anyone has ever made a New Year’s resolution? Has anyone has managed to keep it? At New Year, people often think about making some significant changes to their lives. However, it seems that these good intentions do not last long. According to a story in U.S. News in 2015, 80 per cent of people fail in their resolutions by February. In fact, the second Friday of January has been coined ‘Quitters’ Day’ because that’s when people are most likely to give up!
So, why do people persist with making New Year’s resolutions when most people will break them within three weeks? Perhaps it’s because our culture often sells us the dream of a ‘new you’: becoming a version of ourselves that is fitter, stronger, wealthier, brainier, more physically attractive, more popular and so on. We believe that when we find this ‘new us’, we will feel better, happier and more fulfilled.
Clearly, there’s nothing wrong with deciding to eat more healthily or having a go at a hobby that we’ve always fancied trying. However, what if we are looking for the best version of ourselves in the wrong place? What if the person we really want to be is not out there somewhere, waiting to get in? What if that person is already inside us, waiting to get out?
Jesus told the story of a rich businessman who goes away and leaves his fortune with three of his employees (Matthew 25: 14-30). He gives five bags of money to one of them, two bags to another and one bag to the third. He instructs his employees to use the money wisely so that when he returns, there’s a profit. Sure enough, two out of the three end up making a big return for their boss, which leaves him delighted. However, the third one doesn’t. He buries his bag of money in the ground, which makes the businessman very angry.
We can often end up focusing on all the things about ourselves that we feel dissatisfied with and wish we could change. However, this ancient Bible story provides a different perspective on the person we are. In the story, the businessman is God and the radical message is this: God has invested his treasure in us.
The word used in the Bible for the bag of money is ‘talent’, which is where the English word ‘talent’ comes from. In other words, every single one of us has been given unique gifts, abilities, passions and interests – a wealth of things that make us uniquely ‘us’ – that can have an extraordinary impact when they are put to good use.
Think about how it feels to do something that you really enjoy. How does it feel to discover that you are good at a particular thing or to talk with somebody about something you are passionate about? When we discover and begin to use our God-given gifts, it makes us feel great! It gives us a sense that this is who we really are and what we’re made to do. It makes us come alive.
When we feel this way, it is not just us who feel the benefit. In the parable, the businessman wants to see a return for his generous investment. It’s often the case that the world is changed for the better by people who use their God-given talents well, such as:
So, here’s a simple challenge for us: forget the new you; find the true you instead! Reflect on this quotation from Howard Thurman, a twentieth-century American theologian. ‘Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’
Think about the things that make you ‘come alive’. Think about your talents and gifts: the things that you are naturally good at or enjoy doing. Think about your passions and interests: the things that excite you, or stir you up. Consider how you can develop these talents this year and how you can use these to help and benefit other people.
Our Parish needs a whole series of contributions at present as we need new volunteers across the whole range of our ministry. We are looking for a new PCC Treasurer, for churchwardens at St Mary’s and St Andrew’s, for members of our District Church Councils (the DCCs) and Parochial Church Council (our PCC). We would value musicians and singers, people who could work with children when they come to our services, and people who can volunteer at the foodbank. We always value help with administration, pastoral visiting, prayer ministry and with our publicity (website, social media etc). The packs that you have been given include more information about Stewardship and response forms to help you think more about the ways you give currently and what might be possible in the future. The packs include a form you can fill in to offer your help but we don’t want you simply to do a job because it needs doing. Ideally, we want to match the skills and passions and interests you have with the needs we have for volunteers. Filling in and returning the response form on Stewardship Sunday will help us to do that.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you that you made and love each one of us. Thank you that you have given us interests, passions and talents that bring us happiness and fulfilment. Thank you for the many talents that you have given us. Please help us to use these wisely and to share them so that others might benefit from what we have been given. Help us to use them to their full potential and in so doing to bless other people too. Amen.
(Adapted from ‘Come Alive! Forget the new you; find the true you instead!’ by Rachel Noyce - https://www.assemblies.org.uk/sec/3447/come-alive)
7. Get a new job.
8. Make new friends.
9. Get a new hobby.
10. Focus more on appearance.
Has anyone has ever made a New Year’s resolution? Has anyone has managed to keep it? At New Year, people often think about making some significant changes to their lives. However, it seems that these good intentions do not last long. According to a story in U.S. News in 2015, 80 per cent of people fail in their resolutions by February. In fact, the second Friday of January has been coined ‘Quitters’ Day’ because that’s when people are most likely to give up!
So, why do people persist with making New Year’s resolutions when most people will break them within three weeks? Perhaps it’s because our culture often sells us the dream of a ‘new you’: becoming a version of ourselves that is fitter, stronger, wealthier, brainier, more physically attractive, more popular and so on. We believe that when we find this ‘new us’, we will feel better, happier and more fulfilled.
Clearly, there’s nothing wrong with deciding to eat more healthily or having a go at a hobby that we’ve always fancied trying. However, what if we are looking for the best version of ourselves in the wrong place? What if the person we really want to be is not out there somewhere, waiting to get in? What if that person is already inside us, waiting to get out?
Jesus told the story of a rich businessman who goes away and leaves his fortune with three of his employees (Matthew 25: 14-30). He gives five bags of money to one of them, two bags to another and one bag to the third. He instructs his employees to use the money wisely so that when he returns, there’s a profit. Sure enough, two out of the three end up making a big return for their boss, which leaves him delighted. However, the third one doesn’t. He buries his bag of money in the ground, which makes the businessman very angry.
We can often end up focusing on all the things about ourselves that we feel dissatisfied with and wish we could change. However, this ancient Bible story provides a different perspective on the person we are. In the story, the businessman is God and the radical message is this: God has invested his treasure in us.
The word used in the Bible for the bag of money is ‘talent’, which is where the English word ‘talent’ comes from. In other words, every single one of us has been given unique gifts, abilities, passions and interests – a wealth of things that make us uniquely ‘us’ – that can have an extraordinary impact when they are put to good use.
Think about how it feels to do something that you really enjoy. How does it feel to discover that you are good at a particular thing or to talk with somebody about something you are passionate about? When we discover and begin to use our God-given gifts, it makes us feel great! It gives us a sense that this is who we really are and what we’re made to do. It makes us come alive.
When we feel this way, it is not just us who feel the benefit. In the parable, the businessman wants to see a return for his generous investment. It’s often the case that the world is changed for the better by people who use their God-given talents well, such as:
- the eager engineer who pushes the boundaries of what technology can do
- the songwriter who creates music that brings joy or comfort to others
- the gifted peacemaker who builds welcoming communities for others
- the talented teacher who inspires and brings out the best in others.
So, here’s a simple challenge for us: forget the new you; find the true you instead! Reflect on this quotation from Howard Thurman, a twentieth-century American theologian. ‘Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’
Think about the things that make you ‘come alive’. Think about your talents and gifts: the things that you are naturally good at or enjoy doing. Think about your passions and interests: the things that excite you, or stir you up. Consider how you can develop these talents this year and how you can use these to help and benefit other people.
Our Parish needs a whole series of contributions at present as we need new volunteers across the whole range of our ministry. We are looking for a new PCC Treasurer, for churchwardens at St Mary’s and St Andrew’s, for members of our District Church Councils (the DCCs) and Parochial Church Council (our PCC). We would value musicians and singers, people who could work with children when they come to our services, and people who can volunteer at the foodbank. We always value help with administration, pastoral visiting, prayer ministry and with our publicity (website, social media etc). The packs that you have been given include more information about Stewardship and response forms to help you think more about the ways you give currently and what might be possible in the future. The packs include a form you can fill in to offer your help but we don’t want you simply to do a job because it needs doing. Ideally, we want to match the skills and passions and interests you have with the needs we have for volunteers. Filling in and returning the response form on Stewardship Sunday will help us to do that.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you that you made and love each one of us. Thank you that you have given us interests, passions and talents that bring us happiness and fulfilment. Thank you for the many talents that you have given us. Please help us to use these wisely and to share them so that others might benefit from what we have been given. Help us to use them to their full potential and in so doing to bless other people too. Amen.
(Adapted from ‘Come Alive! Forget the new you; find the true you instead!’ by Rachel Noyce - https://www.assemblies.org.uk/sec/3447/come-alive)
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Robert Plant - Shine It All Around.
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