The View from the Pulpit:
Dear Fellow Saints of God in the Risen Christ,
In lieu of an article written by me, I would like to share with you a New Year’s letter, written in 2000, from our former Southeastern District President, Dr. Art Scherer, entitled:
“Behold All Things Are New”
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come.” [2 Corinthians 5:17]
The older I get, the harder it is to become “new.” I don’t want to learn the Macarena (don’t even care if I spell it right!). I turn down invitations to go white-water rafting or skydiving or snow surfing or any of the other “in” things. Becoming a “new me” sounds like it would hurt too much to be fun! In fact, when I envision a new me, I seldom think new at all. I think about going back to the old. I think about returning to what I used to be: tall, thin, young, bopping around in pegged pants and listening to the “Peppermint Twist.” The problem is that pegged pants are old. The “Peppermint Twist” is old. And I’m old.
But God doesn’t ask me to be young. He doesn’t ask me to go back to what I used to be. He invites me to become new!
He invites congregations to do the same. I find that as I talk about “energizing congregations with a vision of hope,” the vision of hope that is stirred in many congregations is that of a return to the way we were in 1963 or 1972 or whenever we recall the “Golden Days” of our congregation. The problem is, God doesn’t ask us to go back to 1963. He invites us to become new!
The vision I lift up for myself and for our District is that in Christ Jesus it is possible to become new. The message of a new year is that of beginnings. The celebration of the beginning of the Gospel age when “God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake unto our Fathers by the prophets” now speaks to us through His Son. The promise of one who comes again as the bridegroom to claim the church, His bride, and to usher in a new heaven and a new earth. It is a vision of hope that makes all things new!!
P.S.: As we celebrate Easter, 2017, may we rejoice in the fact that God, through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, makes us new in Him, and offers us the opportunity to share that “newness” with the world!!
PSS: SOME IMPORTANT REMINDERS
1) Please continue to record your worship and communion attendance on the Friendship Pads every Sunday. This sets a good example for our Church Guests, and will encourage them to sign, also!
2) Please have any GOOD NEWS BLAST announcements to Ann Wahlstrom no later than Tuesday, 12 Noon. And please have any BULLETIN announcements to Ann no later than Wednesday, 12 Noon. Please write out your announcement, and add your name and phone number to the announcement in case Ann has a question before preparing the Blast or the Bulletin. THANK YOU!
