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We live in a world which is always crying out for something new! New technology, new fashions, a new house, new things to spend money on, and new philosophies to give meaning to people’s existence. No sooner have people enjoyed one new experience than they tire of it and move on to something else.

It may seem strange therefore that, as a church, we are rejoicing this year in a three hundredth anniversary. The fact that a Christian community has been worshipping and fellowshipping together for three centuries makes us one of the oldest features of the village! Many special meetings has been planned, the first of which is this month; meetings that I hope as many of you as possible will attend. Maybe you wonder what the value of celebrating these things is, particularly as we seek to engage with the people and the issues of the day, and as we look forward to the future. It is good, perhaps to remind ourselves of the words of Winston Churchill who wisely commented, “The further back you look, the further forward you are likely to see!”

There are a number of reasons why we celebrate anniversaries, though we should make sure they are the right reasons. We shouldn’t use the opportunity simply to praise men of the past, even if they did praiseworthy things. Nor should we use the occasion to exalt ourselves, or pretend that our church is in any way better than any of our ‘younger’ sister fellowships. Even the best of men and women in church history have been wretched sinners, saved only by the grace of God. Throughout the Bible, however, we see that God’s people were encouraged to look back at how God dealt with His people in times past, so that they might see His faithfulness, and trust Him more as a result. But perhaps there are two additional reasons that flow from this.

The history of our fellowship, if we are honest, has had its spiritual ‘ups and downs’. There have been times when our practices were not always governed by God’s Word, times when we have done what we should not, and not done what we should. In all that time God has been faithful and merciful, not treating us as we deserved. This year we need to thank Him for that. We also need to learn from such times and recommit ourselves to walking in His paths; being Bible centred, faithful in prayer, eager to take the gospel to others, supportive of mission at home and abroad, showing God’s love to one another and a lost world around us.

But our church history also shows us things that thrill our hearts and give us hope. It encompasses times like today, when things were at a low spiritual ebb in the land. And then suddenly God broke into the life of the nation by sending His Holy Spirit upon the preaching of His Word. The church was revived and built up, thousands of people were converted, and the life of the nation transformed. Church anniversaries like this one should cause us again to cry out to God that He might do a new sovereign work of spiritual revival in our land and in our village. As we look back to 1710 and celebrate something very old, let us cry out that God might yet do something new in 2010.