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Reverend Paul Collings BTh (Hons) - - - - paul.collings@methodist.org.uk - - - - 01392 206229 - - - - 07941 880768

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Tuesday, 11 January 2022

New Every Morning


Ezekiel 11:19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity," "the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will," and "the centre of a person. The place to which God turns."


Robbie Williams, the pop star, once went on a shopping spree in Los Angeles. He bought seven cars, including a brand new Ferrari, a brand new Porsche and a brand new Mercedes. Within a week he wished he had not bought any of them. I admire Robbie Williams’ openness about himself. He is ruthlessly honest about his self-obsession and addictions. In his song, Feel, he sings:


I just want to feel real love…
There’s a hole in my soul
You can see it in my face
It’s a real big place.


God implants this desire ‘to feel real love’ in humanity. This ‘hole in my soul’ is common to all human beings. It cannot be filled by cars, wealth, success or drugs. It is a God-shaped hole. It is a spiritual hunger and thirst. Jesus said that if we come to him and drink, he will satisfy this spiritual thirst by giving us the Holy Spirit to live within us (John 7:37). 


The image of Our Lord standing at the door and knocking is an awesome symbol of his eternal newness; of the one who has the power to open new possibilities on our horizons.


David Adams, one time vicar of Holy Island has the ability to articulate in a few words the deep desire of many a heart.


O Lord God, Creator of all

Open my eyes to beauty

Open my mind to wonder

Open my ears to others

Open my heart to you.


Maybe then, we we be able to say, I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am mak ing everything new!” (Revelation 21:1).  

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