Ear Pods

So I had another birthday. Not that that I wanted one. They just happen. Every year at the same time! Kind people gave me presents and one present was ear pods. Ear pods are earphones that don’t have a wire attached to them because they work on Bluetooth, a wireless network. They are latest way of listening to music or podcasts. All the young people have them. And older people who consider themselves cool! I didn’t have any until my birthday because I’m old fashioned. Actually, I didn’t see the need for them really. After all I have earphones that work perfectly well. I can still remember buying headphones when I was younger. I went all the way to Bournemouth to buy them because I wanted to get good ones and Wimborne didn’t sell good ones! And in those days you had to go to a shop to buy electronic goods like headphones! I still have them and they still work. But now I have ear pods! And I’ve used them. They’re great - don’t get tangled up in the wires. But here’s the thing: this morning I went to the gym but didn’t use my ear pods for one simple reason: they don’t work with my iPod Classic! They don’t work with my iPod Classic because my iPod Classic doesn’t have Bluetooth! It’s too old! So today I used my earphones with my iPod Classic. And guess what? It worked perfectly. Which got me thinking: some things that are old still work! I was in the gym a month or so ago and another guy saw my iPod Classic and commented on the fact I still had an iPod Classic (which for the uninitiated, is only about 10 years old). I said: “It still works.” To which he said, “And it will for years to come yet!” And that’s the point: it’s old but it still works. Like breathing! It’s been around for a long time, but it still works. Parts of the Christian faith are like that. We have some old doctrines that still work: we are greatly loved by God; we are saved by the Easter story. Demonstrating love, kindness and compassion to to others is still the best way to live. I’m completely convinced that there are really important old things, Christian doctrines, that still work. And we should go back to them if we want to live well, as people and in community. But now I have ear pods, a new thing. Which work with new things. And it’s made me wonder: are there some things too that need to change? I think the answer is yes. Some things already have: we no longer justify slavery, as we did at one time, from the Bible. In fact, we’re now apologising for ever thinking that was slavery had anything to do with truth. We’re slowly figuring out that colonialism hasn’t been good for most of the world, and that it isn’t an appropriate way of being today, even though for centuries it was justified by followers of Christ. We have work still to do there. And maybe there are other things that might need to change. Saying old things still work doesn’t mean we ignore everything that’s new. Theology has always been changing. Christian history is replete with discovering more about who God is and how we live in the light of that, and so is the Bible! I have ear pods and earphones and head phones! There is wisdom in using the old thing that still works. But there is also wisdom in using the new thing. Perhaps the wisdom I most need is the wisdom to know what to keep and hold onto, and what needs to change. And maybe that’s a challenge for us all.