| We are used to thinking of change in January. New Year’s resolutions urge us to improve ourselves through effort and determination. Yet the Christian story places renewal somewhere very different.
The rhythm of the Church does not begin with action, but with waiting — faithfully trusting that God is at work even when nothing seems to be happening. From that waiting, we move through Lent — a season of repentance and honesty, of laying things down rather than taking things up.
Then comes Easter. Not the turning of a calendar page, but the turning of the grave. Resurrection does not arrive in mid-Winter, but in Spring, when the earth itself proclaims new life. Seeds buried in darkness break open. What seemed finished begins again.
Perhaps this is why Easter is a better moment for resolutions than New Year. Christian transformation is not about self-improvement through willpower, but about responding to grace. As Paul writes, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As we pray through the entries in April’s Prayer Diary, may we look for signs of resurrection in Prison Fellowship’s work — lives being restored, hope taking root and God bringing new beginnings where they once seemed impossible. |
Andy Prescott is PF’s Head of Fundraising and Communications. 
