By the looks of flashy commercials and cool gadgets, “next” is upon us - the next school year, the next holiday season (can you believe Halloween costumes are already out?!), and the next span of church ministry.
All at once, things become new…again.
Yep - you aren’t imagining it…you did detect an eye-roll from me. For many of us seasoned “nexters”…new can be exhausting.
Many of us have grown up hearing weighted wisdom like “you only get one chance to make a first impression.” While true, this statement has been a source of tension as creators of all ages and sizes burden their well-intentioned workloads to craft perfect, flashy and bedazzled new experiences for first-time hopefuls.
We wrestle and lament because we care. We want for experiences to be as memorable for others as it was for us…or wasn’t. And so, we overwork and we overdo. We over function and we overcommit, hoping that energy will surface somewhere along the way.
That’s what we’ve been taught, right? Fake it until we make it.
Indeed, the anticipatory stress of getting it perfect the “next first time” is more hope than many of us can muster, especially in this charged social climate. And yet, we continue to recommit to the annual perfect newness every August, setting us up for perfect failure.
I once heard it said that after a woman delivers a child carried in her womb, she forgets the pain upon seeing the joy. Having given birth to five children myself, I would argue that “remember” is a more aligned term than “forget.” Whether birthing a beloved human, a dream, or an idea, I have never heard anyone cling to the hard labor of it all.
Seeing that smile, that lightbulb, or that joy has changed the perspectives - and the eye rolls - of so many. Even though we may have lived it before, suddenly that moment of new life carries new meaning.
17 So if anyone is in Christ, there[a] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Perhaps you find yourself looking at the calendar like me, bowing at the weight and expectation of crafting artificial excitement - again. There is nothing artificial about God’s love! All we have to do is show up in our weakness with our YES, ready to birth what God, our Strength, has prepared for us.
Let us choose to remember together the countless times God’s word has been made new for our hardened hearts before the scales fell. Let us choose to remember the joy of feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit - guiding over and over and over again - as we step into both new and familiar stages of life. Let us choose to remember the sheer joy of feeling loved - not just once, but consistently.
Remember your delight in newness as a child and meet me on Jesus’ lap. Join me and all of the other children of faith who are sitting with the Divine, renewed in joy over and over and over again! Not perfect, just willing. And so incredibly loved!
Amen indeed.