Preacher: Trudy Payne

‘For all that has been, thanks; to all that is to come, yes!’

I love making lists: it’s a big deal if I can’t find my ‘to-do’ list.  So I’ve made a list for this evening: Rishi Sunak; Captain Sir Tom Moore; Dr Ughur Sahin and Dr Ozlem Tureci; Marcus Rashford; Joe Biden and Kamala Harris; Professor Sarah Gilbert; my friend’s next-door neighbours; Her Majesty the Queen.

Whatever have they got in common?  Easy! ‘For all that has been, thanks’ …they are some of my heroes of 2021.  But we may need some explanation.  Rishi Sunak was the only member of the Cabinet to say publicly that Christmas is important because it’s a Christian festival, and he understands that because he’s a practicing Hindu.  Captain Tom and Marcus Rashford need no introduction, and if you’re tempted to think that footballers keep their brains in their boots, think again!  Dr Sahin and Dr Tureci (husband and wife and Turkish immigrants to Germany) and Professor Gilbert are the driving force behind the two vaccines which are now coming into use.  Biden and Harris – two of the most famous names of the year.  Thank God for them.  And as the results came in, we heard the glass ceiling shatter as Kamala Harris became the first woman and the first mixed race person to be elected Vice-President of the US.  My neighbours are the couple who delivered Christmas lunch to my doorstep and to my friend’s because we were both having to spend Christmas on our own.  And the Queen – no need really to add anything.

What would your list look like?

‘For all that has been, thanks.’

And as we look back at 2020, we thank God for the grace that has sustained us throughout this awful year.  Our readings all tell of his greatness and power; they all tell too of his involvement with humanity, in creation, in blessing and most of all in the birth of Jesus as we’ve just heard in the reading from John’s gospel.  And we thank God most of all for his coming into our world in the person of Jesus.

‘To all that is to come, yes!’   We are looking to the future now.  This service contains an act of commitment to God.  It’s called a Covenant, after the covenants God made with his people, first with Abraham, then with Moses, then with the whole nation.  It’s used by many different Christian denominations, most often at the turn of the year, as an appropriate moment to remember God’s goodness and to commit ourselves again to him.  And if there was ever a year when we needed to pause and look back before turning to an unknown future, 2020 is that year.  Our world has changed – and we  don’t know what the ‘new normal’ will look like.

You will hear, read on behalf of us all, the words ‘I am no longer my own, but yours’ and ‘I offer all that I have and am to serve you, as and where you choose.’  Those are big promises.  They’re like the New Year’s resolutions we know we won’t keep…the gym, the weight loss, we’ve all been there.  But if that’s how it looks to you, think again.  Look on these promises as saying ‘yes’ to God as we face an uncertain future, saying ‘yes’ to his love and his grace, and ‘yes’ to sharing that love with others.  The words of the Covenant make it clear that ‘the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ who strengthens us’, and that we can trust in his promises and rely on his grace.  What is asked of us is simply a willingness to take God at his word, and to accept the help he offers and say ‘yes’ to whatever 2021 will bring.  And may he walk forward with all of us into that future.

‘For all that has been, thanks; to all that is to come, yes!’

Amen