Complicated, Yet Simple

23 November 2025

By Pastor John-Jo Burns - International Congregation Pastor

Before I was a pastor I worked as an IT business analyst. In my time doing that role I learned that everything is complicated. Do you want to help people buy and sell online? Complicated. Do you want to keep track of shipping containers? Complicated. Do you want to combine data from across an organisation into one report? Complicated. I spent many hours, many days, in meetings trying to work out how we could do something that sounded simple but was actually very complicated.

Sometimes life can feel a bit like that – very complicated. Sometimes we can feel as though there’s just too much going on, or too much weighing us down. And sometimes, even things that seem simple (like trying to get out of the house and go to church on a Sunday morning) can end up being incredibly complicated.

In those times, when things feel very complicated, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and to feel like giving up. Indeed, that’s what happened to many of my IT projects – the company gave up on them because they were too complicated! And so, in those times, we need to remind ourselves of these truths: God loves us, God is with us, and God will never leave us.

The details of life are complicated – they always will be – but the truth and purpose of life is so simple that it can be distilled into a single sentence: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

As we gather together today, may we comfort and encourage one another with this simple but life-changing truth. And may we then step back into our complicated lives with a renewed love for the God who has saved us, and for the others he has placed around us.