From the newsletter ...

999 We are now at the start of the last year in the second millennium. Already millennium mania and some millennium tensions are beginning to show. As so many people become strangely obsessed with the fact that next year ends in 000 it struck me that this year ends in an even more familiar number - 999. That number - our code to call for help - contains in it the heart of the Christian message. We dial that number in an emergency. When we need help urgently. When we phone, we are asked what service we require. Each of our possible answers provides a helpful image of the Bible's message about the problems of our world. The police service are called when someone has done something seriously wrong, when a law has been broken. The Bible tells us that we have all failed to be the people God wants us to be. We have all done things which are wrong. We have all broken God's law. We have - in short - all sinned. The fire service are called when someone finds they are faced with an uncontrollable and dangerous power. A force which threatens them and what is previous to them. Again this fits the Bible's picture. It shows us that it is not just that we have sinned. It sees Sin as a frightening power. Something which can take control of our lives and our societies and destroy us. We see that today in the damage caused by drugs or gambling or the arms race or working more and more hours in order to earn even more money. The ambulance service are called when someone is suffering and in great pain. Once more we know that is often how life is in our world. The Bible explains that this is how the world is because people have disobeyed God and because of the power of Sin in the world. But what the Bible is most keen to tell us is that there is good news in these situations. There is, if you like, a 999 service. We are not left on our own to sort out these problems. We can call for help. That is because Jesus came to rescue us from all these. He saves us from our sins and from God's judgement on them. He has defeated the dangerous power of Sin. He himself has suffered and so he can help us in our suffering. One year from now we will be celebrating 2000 years since Jesus' birth. How can we best prepare for that in 1999? Perhaps the best thing would be to recognise the mess we're in, to stop trying to sort it all out by ourselves, and instead to call for Jesus' help. If we do that then we will discover for ourselves what a great Rescuer he is. Andrew Goddard Cogges Parish | Other articles | Following issue © 1999; Published in Cogges Parish monthly newsletter, number 236, January 1999 cogges.pcc@comlab.ox.ac.uk