There are plans for urban regeneration in Ormskirk. Feedback is invited on proposals to transform the area near Moor Street. Perhaps some people might not welcome these proposed changes. Maybe not many will respond. And the plans may or may not go ahead.

A few miles away near Wigan there has been a lot of regeneration. In the 1930s George Orwell described the area as a ’frightful landscape of slagheaps and belching chimneys’. It would have been dirty and smelly. But now with investment and the power of Nature, there are lakes (flashes), woods, and grass-covered slopes. And there is much wildlife, evidenced by fish and a variety of wild birds.

God made everything ‘very good’. But what a mess we have made of this planet: some parts worse than others. Even more seriously, our disobedience to God (sin) has messed up our morals and characters.

Jesus referred to ‘regeneration’, when telling his followers about his return to rule over God’s kingdom on earth:

…in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life .

Matthew 19:28&29

The earth will then be transformed into a lovely place:

The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God .

Isaiah 35:1&2

And true followers of Jesus will have their bodies changed:

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body.

Philippians 3:20&21

This awesome and unprecedented regeneration is certain to happen, because God has said so. We do not need to be consulted. But we have been invited to take part. Surely this is something to welcome and respond to.