Sunday Sermons

Look Back with Gratitude 31st December 2023 

Back in 1958, there was a film released called “Look back in Anger”. It is still regarded today as being a classic movie based on the play written by John Osborne. In the film, Richard Burton plays the lead role, a young man called Jimmy Porter. Jimmy Porter came from a poor working-class family but managed to gain a place at university and eventually graduated with a degree. Unfortunately, he was unable to gain the kind of employment he was hoping for and ended up running a sweet stall in a street market. He married a woman from a middle-class family, but the marriage was quite a stormy relationship and eventually broke down. It is in the background of this lifestyle that Jimmy Porter bemoans the fact that despite all his efforts, the circumstance of life seems to be stacked against him and he spends his life, “Looking back in Anger”, as the title of the film indicates.

The year 2023 has been a terrible year for so many people for many different reasons. The economic problems have brought uncertainty to so many people, with businesses closing and resultant redundancy and un-employment. Who would ever have thought that a company like Wilkos, would ever close down. To have even suggested that this might happen, even a few months ago, would have brought the response that it could never happen, but it has. The closure affected the lives of thousands of people. The future for so many people from all walks of life now seems so uncertain. Many people will look back on 2023 as being a year that changed their lives in a way that they will feel they didn’t deserve. The sad fact is that they are right, and that they don’t deserve to be facing the situation they are in, because the problem was not of their making. They might do just as Jimmy Porter in the film did and “Look back in anger”. The bible tells us that “The love of money is the root of all evil” and it was the love and abuse of money by certain individuals and organisations, that started the problem that the country is facing. The sad fact also is, that in today’s world, any wrongdoing or error does not just affect the person or organisation making the error, or doing the wrong thing, but spills over to affect others, like ripples from a stone thrown into a pool of water.

So many unfortunate people will look back on 2023 and many, I am sure, will “look back in anger”. I can’t, and won’t, criticise them for that because I too have on occasions, looked back in anger at things that have happened in my life. Many people will feel justifiably aggrieved that life has dealt them a crippling blow.

In situations like this, it does make it difficult to preach about a God of Love. A God who cares. I wonder how many people will lose their faith in God because of the injustice of the situation, and the hardship they will face with their families in the future. I hope not too many.

It would be insensitive, and wrong, to tell them not to worry and that everything will work itself out, because we just don’t know. I believe that the only positive thing that we can do is to show them that we share their feelings of injustice, and to let them know that we are there to support and encourage them in any way we can.

I hope too that the state and the welfare system, will ensure that any benefits that they may be entitled to, are readily available to them. So often people are told that benefits are available for people in genuine need, but the benefits are not always easily passed on to the genuine cases or are readily obtained. Anger is a destroying feeling and can take so much away from a person’s life as it only causes you hurt, and not the person who caused your anger. I believe that Jesus only got angry once and that was when he saw how ordinary people were being cheated by the money changers in the temple. He was angry for the people and not for himself. He did not even get angry at the people who brought about his crucifixion.

When considering the year 2023, “Looking back in Anger” may be an understandable reaction for many, but I would hope that the whole year was not considered to be a disaster, and a complete waste of time. I would hope that we, and those who have had the terrible experiences, will also be able to look back and remember the good things that happened. Many wrongs may have happened because of what other people have done, but alongside side these wrong doers, there are people who have done good things for us. Whilst looking back in anger may be the feelings for much of what has happened during the year, I would hope that we, and they, can look back in gratitude for many of the other things that have happened during the year.

The bad things that have happened are the result of the actions of “Faceless” men and women in the offices of the various financial institutions in this country and around the world.

The good things that have happened are the result of the actions of people we can put a face to and people we know. These good friends do not do what they do for us, to gain a reward or commendation, but simply as an act of love and support. These people do deserve our thoughts of gratitude and the knowledge that we are grateful for the good things they have done and the care they have shown.

One Autumn night in the year 1860, a steamboat broke up and sank in Lake Michigan. Of the 393 passengers, 279 perished by drowning. Of the 114 survivors, 17 were saved by the actions of a young man, Edward Spencer, who was a student at a local university. Edward was a strong swimmer and he made 17 round trips out to the sunken boat, to save the lives of 17 passengers. The strain of the effort unfortunately affected Edward’s health, mentally and physically, and he eventually ended up in a wheelchair. Some time later, on his birthday, he was being interviewed and a reporter asked him what his most vivid memory was of that night when he showed such heroism. He answered with sorrow in his voice, “I remember that not one of the 17 people I saved, returned to thank me”. He did what he did, not to gain any reward, but it did cause him pain that not one of the 17 people he saved made contact with him and showed their thanks or gratitude.

Strangely, many of the other good things that have happened in our lives, were the actions of a “Faceless” being. We cannot put a face to God, but that matters not because we know, and believe, that he does provide for us in so many ways. The bible promises that in all situations in our lives, God will be with us. God says in his word. “I will never leave you or forsake you”. And that is a wonderful promise to cling on to as you go through life.

Whatever the feelings about God may be at the present time, I hope that we, and those who are disillusioned when things go wrong, can see that in the good things that happened during the year, God was a part of those good things. Don’t look back in anger because of the bad things but look back with gratitude for the good things that have happened because we have a God who cares.

I read about a man who lived his life as an Atheist, believing that God did not exist. But there came a point when he changed his view and began to believe in God. When asked why he had changed his mind, he replied that he had enjoyed so many good things in his life, but realised he had no-one to thank for the joy that he felt. He realised that so many good things could not have happened just by chance, and that there must be a greater power that the Atheist had previously not accepted. He talked of his joy at the sight of a beautiful sunrise or sunset. The wonder of the birth of a newborn baby. The simple joy he felt at the warmth of the love, seen in his wife’s eyes. He needed someone to whom he could express his thanks and gratitude and believed that God was the one to whom those thanks should be given. God does give us so much in so many ways, and it is right that we respond to his blessings with gratitude.

Looking back with anger is a normal human reaction when a terrible injustice is an experience we have had, but I pray that there is also a time for looking back with gratitude. For those who have had a terrible 2023, I pray that the year 2024 will be a better year. I don’t know what humankind will do to affect our lives in the coming year, but I do know that God’s faithfulness and love and care will still be there for each one of us, providing good new things to enrich our lives.

As we leave 2023, I wish you all a happy and blessed New Year. Amen.