Rector’s Reflections
Wednesday 8th January 2025
Some Thoughts for the Beginning of a New Year
I wonder if you have already made some resolutions for the New Year? Perhaps you have been thinking about your relationship with God, and wondering about how you might grow closer to God in the year ahead.
In the spiritual life, we often think about the things we need to do, as if everything depends on the actions we take. Of course, there is some truth in this approach. God has given us the ability to make choices, and we cannot expect to grow closer to God unless we make some effort to do so.
But this is not the whole story. Our spiritual life is the result of God working in us and through us. In the spiritual life, it is God who does the heavy lifting. Of course we can help or hinder God in this work of spiritual growth, but the work of spiritual growth is fundamentally the work which God does in our lives. Sometimes we are aware that God is at work, but sometimes this is hidden from us. Sometimes we only become aware of God’s work in our lives when we look back and see how we have grown and developed over the years. There are often times when we see God, but only by looking through the rear-view mirror.
One way of picturing the spiritual life is to think in terms of the growth of a seed. I think the image of a seed has much to teach us as we reflect on how we might deepen our relationship with God in the weeks and months that lie ahead.
I wish to start with the idea of sowing a seed. A seed is, of course, the promise of a new beginning. I wonder if God is already at work sowing some new seed in our life? What might this seed look like? What particular type of new beginning might lie ahead?
Or perhaps God is giving us the seed packet, and inviting us to go and sow the seed of the new beginning, either in our own lives or in the lives of others. God is giving us the opportunity to be the agents of a new beginning- should we wish to do so.
But sowing seeds is not for the faint-hearted. It takes faith and patience. Sometimes it is hard to imagine the wonderful plant that will, in due course, come to be. And of course we know that not every seed we sow will germinate – or germinate when we wish it to do so. Sowing a seed in the ground is an act of faith. We entrust it to the earth, tend it and hope for the best.
I am reminded of the words of Jesus in chapter 12 of John’s Gospel: “Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”. Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour”. (John 12, verses 20-26).
This passage from John’s gospel focusses on the image of a “grain of wheat” which “falls into the earth and dies”, and in due course, “bears much fruit”. It is an example of a seed, full of the potential of new life. But the seed will have to be sown before it is able to release the new life hidden within it.
Of course, more will be need to be done once the seed has been sown. We shall look at this in tomorrow’s reflections. But the seed itself is the starting-point.
As we start this New Year, I wonder where we might be seeing the seed of a new beginning, waiting to be sown in our own lives?