When it all comes down to it, the gospel message is very simple. The creator God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, so that all who believe wouldn’t perish but would share the life of God’s new age! The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me!

If those sentences don’t strike a chord for you, there might be many reasons, but one could be that it’s time for you at last to get down on your benders and say, “Yes, Lord, thank you: rescue me, remake me, fill me, make me a new creation and set me to work within your world-redeeming project.”

God is the God of surprises and new starts, of new covenant and new creation. The early church lived, and thank God many parts of the church today live, as a community in which it makes sense to say that the crucified and risen Jesus is Lord of the world, and to summon people of all sorts and all places to give him their believing allegiance. May God give us grace and energy to live and preach and pray this gospel to his glory. Amen.

(N.T. Wright, “The Michael Green Memorial Lecture“, 9 Dec 2019)