Change. Transition.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
“God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”
“It’s all the same, only the names are changed.”
“When you go through the storms I am with you…you are mine.”
“Not everyone likes the new things.”
At this time of year we remember a young, Jewish, peasant girl whose faith enabled her to accept one of the most enormous changes anyone can experience – the announcement she would be mother to God’s Son.
“I am the Lord’s servant; may it be as you have said.”
At this time of year we remember a young, Jewish man whose faith enabled him to accept his betrothed’s changes – which, therefore, also changed his life – and to raise a child that was not his own.
“So Joseph married Mary….”
At this time of year we remember families who have lost loved ones during the past year – families for whom Christmas will be very different. We remember families for whom job losses and economic distress will make this a very different Christmas.
“This Christmas will be so different without them…”
At this time we see an “old year” quickly tumble into a “new year,” as if the new is better, or as if the days are somehow fresher in the new year. We breathe a sigh of relief when a hard year is ended, looking forward to a new year with hope for its future.
“I’ll be so glad when this year is over.”
As our church searches for a new pastor and prepares to make a call we must realize that things around here will change. There will be a new personality in the mix. We will have to release a very well liked interim pastor. God continues to call us to new places, new ministries.
“There is a time for everything, a season for each pastor…”
At the end of C.S. Lewis’s “The Last Battle,” the main characters are passing from the Old Narnia into a New Narnia. This new land is like the old, except the colors are brighter, the scents are sweeter, the air purer — it’s just better by far. In their first moments in the New Narnia, the main characters go “further up and further in,” running with abandon and joy in this new place Aslan (the Christ character) has brought them to.
Not every change or transition we undergo in this life on earth is immediately seen as a “good one.” But, if Christ is calling us to a new place, we can trust that as we go further up and further in, as we follow where we are led, we will be accompanied by our Savior.
“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.” – Jesus (from Matthew 16 MSG)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5,6 NIV)
God IS the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
God IS faithful, especially to his chosen children.
God CAN be trusted to walk us through the changes and transitions we encounter.
So, Lord, help us turn over to you our anxieties and fears, our hopes for the future, our pain from the past, and our sin that hinders us from running with endurance the race set before us. Grant us your peace so that we may run further up and further in to where you call us to go. May we run with joy and abandon because we are confident in who YOU are. Lead us, Lord, in paths of righteousness for the sake of your Name and your Glory.