PAUSE FOR THOUGHT TONY

Noble

OVER the past few months, I’ve been pon ‐dering my life. It has been long and eventful, I’m sure many of you have done the same. There is a certain time in our lives when we look back at things we could have done better and things we should not have done. I was reminded of the part of St John’s gospel where Nicodemus goes to Jesus by night and asked about entering the Kingdom of God. Jesus replied “I tell you the truth, no ‐ one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he has been born again.” Nicodemus was confused and questioned the answer. How can he be reborn, a question I and many have questioned. It’s not about being reborn in the literal sense but in the spirit. By nature we are unclean we are sinful and constantly need to be washed clean with the waters of God’s forgiveness. We also need to be reborn of the spirit, it means we need to have the spirit of Jesus living inside us, it means that God’s gra ‐cious love comes and lives in our hearts. There is so much going on in our lives that is routine, and we can all fall into the trap of losing our ‐selves in apathy. We can drift away from God, we just go through the mo‐tions without inner motivation. Age doesn’t define this but the older we get the more it comes into our thoughts. We can lose the meaning of worship, we have the pattern but not the power. We have the rituals but not the faith. One night it may be one of us who are knocking on Jesus’ door and telling him things don’t seem right. He will say “That’s ok, I under ‐stand it happens all the time, you just need to be reborn, you need to expe‐rience rebirth and be born again in the water and spirit.” What better time to be reborn than Easter when our Lord died for us. Amen.

For more from our columnists please scan this QR Code

Beethoven, in the front row, was unable to hear the thunderous applause behind him. He was motioned to turn round to face the rapturous audience.

His only opera, Fidelio, with the emotional depth of its own story of triumph over ad‐versity could only have been conceived and expressed by somebody who has confront‐

Many celebrities have moved upward from difficult beginnings. So have even more who are only known within their immediate circle.