Equipped for the Present and the Future

Well, The Advocate has arrived in people's mailboxes, and my mother has told me how many copies of the September Bible study she forced the church secretary to make.  You can see more about why I'm sharing these devotions in the start of last week's blog. Guess it's time now to share the devotion I wrote for September 14th based on Jeremiah 31:31-37. 

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette composed the words of a hymn, sung to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me,” where the verses tell the story of God’s covenant with Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, and Jeremiah.  The fourth verse of “Long Ago, God Reached in Love,” reads:

“Jeremiah came to know:

God would help us change and grow;

so God’s law would fill each heart,

giving us a fresh new start.”

The final verse of her hymn shares that Jesus came to fulfill God’s loving plan for us. This new life through Christ is what transforms us and the world.  With all that is wrong with the world, our faith in God guides us toward hope and joy.  As Jeremiah told his people, the present may be filled with despair and weeping, but God promises a different future – a fresh start, a new covenant.

Several years ago I helped with a New Consecration Sunday stewardship program at a church in the Richmond area. As I was preparing to meet with church leaders, there were many things happening in the world which brought devastation to communities and fear to hearts. I researched a little history of 1972, the year I was confirmed into membership in The UMC.  Some of the things I read seemed strangely similar to events around our world then and even today….

• Back in 1972, the world was concerned about an outbreak of smallpox in Yugoslavia.  Now, the death till is rising from the Ebola virus.
• A 7.0 earthquake killed 1/5th of the population of the Iranian province of Fars in 1972. The news stories of the past weeks have focused on recovery in China following an upper magnitude quake, typhoons in The Philippines, and hurricanes headed toward Hawaii. 
• In 1972, the last U.S. ground troops were withdrawn from Vietnam.  Our family now awaits the return of a soldier from Afghanistan.

Today, as my faith journey enters the second half of a century, I realize more and more clearly how each of us has the power to shape and change the lives of others – those in our families, those sitting next to us in the pews on Sunday morning, and people around the world – by the example of our discipleship as followers of Jesus. God’s promises don’t change our circumstances.  The world situation or our personal crisis may not suddenly be transformed. Yet we are called to remember that we’re living under God’s new covenant, one that equips us for the present and the future. So the question for each of us is this: “What is God calling me to do to extend Christ’s transforming, restorative love to others?”