GOOD NEWS

It is agreed, then. The word ‘Gospel’ means good news. Christianity is in essence a message. It is not an institution. It is not a make-over of an existing ideology. It is a new revelation.

So far so good. The snag is that news is ephemeral. It is today’s newspaper – and that becomes dated within 24 hours. It is no longer new. If Christian faith is indeed good news, then it is much more than perishable understanding that is immediately superseded by the next nine days wonder.

We are reminded of the news of, say, Trafalgar, or Waterloo. The first element in a report informed a reader of who won the battle. Successive reports filled the gaps. Historians set about using the raw material to explain what was not obvious at first sight.

This is not the whole story. No news outlet set the story of Jesus of Nazareth going immediately after his crucifixion. People talked about it. They talked for about 30 years. By then there was a sense of some permanent record being needed. Already Paul had been writing letters to those whose lives had been transformed by a new belief. People had memories of what Jesus said and did. First Mark and then others put the material together in a form we know as a Gospel. It was not a biography, more of a memoir or reminiscence. The four Gospels gave readers four aspects of events. There as no attempt at seeking an agreed definitive account. The four Gospels came into being as independent documents and have remained so through the centuries.

So we have a particular understanding of ‘news’ and of ‘good news’. It is news that is something more than an up-to-the-minute account of an event. Just as the storming of the Bastille was an event within a larger sequence of happenings that needed explaining, so the last days and resurrection of Jesus, as Christians believe, required more extensive treatment than the result of a local derby. The good news of the Gospel is in a class of its own, news that endures.

AWAITING GOOD NEWS

At St Peter’s and St Stephen’s, Burnley, Lancs. the church wardens are not the only ones hoping for good news. They are looking forward to the appointment of a new rector. Meanwhile the 39-page magazine ‘The Link’ has news of a busy church schedule. The editor, Pam McGrath, is keeping parishioners informed and the Rev Paul Payton is holding things together.

For St Saviour’s church, Bamber Bridge the waiting is over. Matt Cook was appointed as Vicar in August 2021.

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