Heather Comber
Guest Columnist

Malcolm Muggeridge once said, “New news is old news—to new people.”

To be quite honest, when I first heard this quote, I had to read it a few times before the “old” and “new” became clear. I think, however, King Solomon said it better when he rightly stated, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

We have an uncanny tendency toward repetition. It may not have happened in our lifetime, or even this century, but from the beginning of time news has rarely changed. To be sure, we no longer carve out announcements on cave walls or use a scribes pen and parchment; communicating news is a 24/7 habit for most of us. We share news via cell phone, text, email, Twitter, and face to face with tools like Skype or Google talk.

Yet, the news that spans our airwaves is the very same issues that even the most ancient societies dealt with. Humans not getting along, wars, famines, weather issues, and financial struggles are indeed old news.

None of us has been chased by Pharaoh and his horses, survived on birds and bread falling from the sky, or stared down the nose of a lion that’s ready to devour you (unless perhaps from the safety of a jeep, on a safari). The ancients indeed faced these challenges.

However, I would submit that, though the tactics have changed, the heart of evil has not. We have wept on behalf of countries we may not even be able to locate on a map. We have witnessed the impacts of destructive ideologies and the (ancient) tactics of those who seek power and control by any means. We find ourselves, like the ancients, crying out, “Come Lord Jesus, come!”

Yet, amid cycles of tragedy, we have good news, too. It’s clear as we pack up the Christmas decorations and begin looking forward to the coming of Easter.

We have the news that Jesus came and will come again. More than 2000 years ago, life-changing news shook this planet to its very core.

It came first to the unlikeliest assortment of individuals: A teenaged girl, a bunch of ragged shepherds, and royalty from a faraway culture. Years later it came also to a thief hanging on a cross and the centurion overseeing the day’s executions.

They each followed the whispers from heaven until they found the greatest of news—Emmanuel—God is with us.

The news spread from there until it reached each of us. Old news? Maybe. But it’s still new and fresh and alive, every single day, waiting to explode in you, in your church, and in this city.

So, how do we, the Church, take this incredible news and impact our society in 2016? I believe we take the oldest of news and make it new. We do exactly as Jesus did; exactly as His followers did. We leave the comfort of our Sunday sanctuary and the safety of our walls and we go find the broken, the confused, and the hurting. They are out there. They are waiting. And without this news, they are lost. Perhaps for eternity.

We can change that. Share this, the oldest of news, in fresh, relevant, and compassionate ways. Replace resolutions with determination and an understanding that we, the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ, are the carriers of this news. Don’t be satisfied with anything less than a gospel that, in its timelessness, never grows old.

The prophet Isaiah, spoke a word to his generation. “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” (Isaiah 43:19)

The question remains for us. Do we perceive it? More importantly, are we willing to see beyond our comfort and perceive what God could be saying or requiring of us?

The old news waits to be told to new people; people who will receive it as the greatest of new news!