Whatever the preaching texts in the days ahead, pulpit and pew will be thinking about newness at the hinge of the calendar. But how to preach it as gospel news?
New Year’s resolutions are high on intent but tend to depend entirely on human willpower to achieve. The lower the aim the higher chances of success. Christian discipleship aims high, but it is no self-help program. If our spiritual goal is to become more the selves we were meant to be by reflecting each in our own unique way the character of Christ (and this is as it should be), then we need his help.
The gospel is the good news that we can change—not just by changing but by being changed. We are not self-made. We have a power within to empower us, the Spirit working with our spirit. We also have a community of faith to remind us of who we are and to keep alive our imagination of what is possible.
God is forever creating possible futures and inviting us to enter into them. The past is settled, however settled or unsettled we are about it. But the future is open. God even “makes a way out of no way,” as the Black church says again and again. God’s is present as future.
So, we can reject greed and open our hand to our neighbor in need. That would be new. We can outlaw hate in our heart and learn to love even our enemies. That would be new. We can quit our complicity with injustice and stand up and speak up for what is right. That would be new.
We are able to be made new because we are enabled to be made new. As we practice these things, we become these kinds of people. This conspiracy of grace makes us more graceful people.
~ George A. Mason
27 December 2023
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