I’m quite a sci-fi fan and remember as a teenager loving most of the 60’s classic ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ – at least the bits once the apes had stopped bashing jaw-bones and there were some space ships involved. In 1984 they made a movie of the sequel, ‘2010’. It was a very different kind of movie to the original. Where the original was slow, ponderous, philosophical and, frankly, a tad self-important the sequel was being made by someone much less interested in philosophy and much more interested in making a political drama set in space with some great effects. Although much shorter and less weird the result was, by no means, Star Wars and it failed to appeal to many of those brought up on such pop-corn science fiction. However it also failed to appeal to the purists who loved Kubrick and Clarke’s 1968 original and so it didn’t do especially well at the box office, the sixteen years between the two films probably didn’t help much either. The reason I’m rambling on about 2010 is that I watched it again recently on DVD with my daughter who is 14 and we both quite enjoyed it and I was struck by the tag line for the movie – ‘The Year We Make Contact’. More than struck actually, I can’t get the phrase ‘The Year We Make Contact’ out of my head!
Contact has so many meanings – our computerised lists in our address books are referred to as ‘contacts’, estranged parents seek ‘contact’ with their kids, WW 1 fighter pilots shouted ‘contact’ to the ground-crew to indicate that a spin of the propeller will start the engine, electrical circuits have ‘contacts’ where testing can be done or power drawn off, spies always have mysterious informants referred to as ‘contacts’ who tell them what they need to know.
I’ve felt, as have many others, that we’re on the verge of major spiritual breakthrough in this group of island nations. The Gloryfires ministries in Blacon, Chester or the Emerge Wales team in South Wales (and I’m sure many others across the UK) appear to be in the vanguard of this breakthrough. They’re the forerunners, the front-line, the sharp-end, but the D-Day landings wouldn’t have been the historic victory they ultimately were unless those heroes hadn’t been followed up those beaches by everyone else; ready and equipped for what lay ahead.
I feel there’s a call from heaven to ‘make contact’ to tap into the reality of all that Jesus has done for us and made us to be; to spin the propeller and not just taxi around the runway but to actually take off and soar to breath-taking heights! For us to get in daily contact with our Father and get the heavenly downloads he has for us. For us to ‘make contact’ with our unsaved friends and family members, to ‘make contact’ with our communities and colleagues; we can make that contact between heaven and earth. To make a contact that is sound and allows power to flow and to follow the fore-runners up the beach.
A New Year is in some ways just an arbitrary man made marker but we can use these markers to draw a line under what’s gone before and set a new agenda. Would you like to take on the challenge to make 2010 ‘The Year You Make Contact’ as well?
Contact has so many meanings – our computerised lists in our address books are referred to as ‘contacts’, estranged parents seek ‘contact’ with their kids, WW 1 fighter pilots shouted ‘contact’ to the ground-crew to indicate that a spin of the propeller will start the engine, electrical circuits have ‘contacts’ where testing can be done or power drawn off, spies always have mysterious informants referred to as ‘contacts’ who tell them what they need to know.
I’ve felt, as have many others, that we’re on the verge of major spiritual breakthrough in this group of island nations. The Gloryfires ministries in Blacon, Chester or the Emerge Wales team in South Wales (and I’m sure many others across the UK) appear to be in the vanguard of this breakthrough. They’re the forerunners, the front-line, the sharp-end, but the D-Day landings wouldn’t have been the historic victory they ultimately were unless those heroes hadn’t been followed up those beaches by everyone else; ready and equipped for what lay ahead.
I feel there’s a call from heaven to ‘make contact’ to tap into the reality of all that Jesus has done for us and made us to be; to spin the propeller and not just taxi around the runway but to actually take off and soar to breath-taking heights! For us to get in daily contact with our Father and get the heavenly downloads he has for us. For us to ‘make contact’ with our unsaved friends and family members, to ‘make contact’ with our communities and colleagues; we can make that contact between heaven and earth. To make a contact that is sound and allows power to flow and to follow the fore-runners up the beach.
A New Year is in some ways just an arbitrary man made marker but we can use these markers to draw a line under what’s gone before and set a new agenda. Would you like to take on the challenge to make 2010 ‘The Year You Make Contact’ as well?
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