Nothing is Eternal?

The Premier League season ended in May, giving football fans a month’s rest before the late-night viewing of the World Cup in North America.

As the season drew to a close, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola announced his resignation after ten years at the club - a decade in which he reshaped English football. In several interviews reflecting on his time there, one comment particularly caught my attention:

"Nothing is eternal."

As a Christian, that is not a statement I can fully subscribe to. Yet it has prompted me to reflect on what I sometimes treat as eternal in my own life when it should not be.

There is nothing wrong with hope and looking forward to the future. The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that God “has set eternity in the human heart” (3:11). There is something God-given within us that longs for the eternal. Yet I have often found myself attaching that longing to relationships, ministries, and circumstances that were never intended to last forever.

Many of the gifts God gives us are seasonal. The mistake comes when we expect temporary gifts to provide the permanence that only God can give.

Guardiola’s comment captures a reality we all experience: life is marked by change and change inevitably brings endings. Some endings are welcome and bring relief. Others are painful, marking the close of a wonderful season or cherished blessing. Most are a mixture of both, carrying elements of loss and anticipation.

Our understanding of grief has broadened in recent years. We now recognise that grief is not limited to bereavement. We can grieve the end of relationships, jobs, homes, communities, ministries, and activities - the list goes on.

With these endings comes the pain of loss and the disappointment of hopes that will never be realised. Often, an ending affects far more than one aspect of life; it can alter an entire network of relationships and routines.

This has certainly been true in my own journey. Moving between places and ministry roles has meant bringing some wonderful seasons and close relationships to an end to step into something new and unknown. At times, those transitions have been exciting. At other times, they have been difficult.

One of the greatest challenges came through pioneering a new church and then later closing it. Looking back, I realise that somewhere deep inside I may have believed that the local expression of church I was leading was somehow permanent rather than seasonal. The Church itself is eternal, but local expressions of it are not. In fact, as far as I am aware, none of the churches specifically named in the New Testament still exist in their original form today.

As a result, I am learning to ask a difficult but important question:

"Is it time for this season to end?"

Sometimes this is a question that churches, ministries, or groups must discern together as they seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance. At other times it is a personal question, considered prayerfully and with the wisdom of trusted friends.

This is not a uniquely Christian challenge. I have seen many people struggle painfully with endings, regardless of faith. It makes me wonder how Christians might model a different way.

Are we brave enough to ask difficult questions and have honest conversations with grace and love? Are we willing to release something that has been good, trusting God to lead us into something new?

Our faith invites us to approach endings differently because our story is centred on Jesus' death and resurrection. We follow the Eternal One, who continually brings new life from what has ended.

Through the faithful presence of the Holy Spirit, we can navigate endings with hope, trusting that God is at work even in loss. And as we do, we may discover that endings can lead to the beginning of something new we could never have envisaged.

Sam Abramian

Director, East of England, Rural Ministries