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A New Year – A Fresh Start?
Manchester was awash with New Year fever this year. Everyone seemed to have a plan for seeing in the New Year – often a very expensive, over priced plan! Text messages, e mails, tweets and Facebook updates were flying back and forth wishing everyone a Happy New Year.
New Year is heralded as a great beacon of hope giving everyone an opportunity to start again; washing away the old and bringing in the new… And yet… correct me if I’m wrong… Has anything changed? The economy hasn’t sprung into life and the Euro Zone is still faltering. The streets of Manchester have not given up their homeless for a brighter future. New jobs for the unemployed are not growing on trees. The sick have not become well with the ticking over of the calendar from 2011 into 2012. Broken marriages and fractured relationships still face the same challenges that loomed large in December 2011.
 Is a New Year really such a powerful catalyst for change and progress that it warrants such widespread celebration and jubilation?
When I was 18 I became a Christian. Developing a relationship with Jesus was an absolute revolution that changed everything! I came to understand my past against the backdrop of God’s creation and his faithfulness to his people. My weaknesses are no longer all consuming and painfully limiting as God’s grace has become sufficient for me. God’s affirmation releases me from constant striving to achieve and be accepted My future stretches out into eternity with confidence and assurance that Jesus is leading me home.
I could give you so many examples but there just isn’t the space here… Just let me tell you though that Christ Central Church begins a new Alpha course in January for anyone interested in living life to the full. Alpha is a low-pressure, fun and informative course. It is a place to relax, share your thoughts and explore the meaning of life. The course is designed primarily for people who don't go to church, but are interested in the Christian faith.
You can sign up right here on our website or ask someone to contact you with more information. If you’re not local to Manchester you can find an Alpha course near you at: http://uk-england.alpha.org/
Finding out about Jesus just might be the fresh start you are looking for.
David Atkinson 04/01/2012
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