Renewal Theme Article

(This is my April newsletter theme article.)

I looked up the word “renewal” in an online dictionary.  I like to be sure I know what a word means so I turn to the experts.  The dictionary said renewal was:   The act of renewing or the state of having been renewed.   Something renewed.  That was a little less than helpful, maybe even decidedly less than helpful.  My faith in the internet was momentarily damaged.

 

However, taking new hope, I tried again with “to renew” and, unsurprisingly given I used “to”, I got it is as a verb:  both transitive, the verb can take an object and intransitive, no object.  For transitive the verb might mean to make like new: restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection, to make new spiritually (offering that wonderfully theological word:  regenerate), to restore to existence, revive, to make extensive changes in, rebuild.

But the intransitive possibilities were also rich:  to become new or as new, to begin again, to resume.
 

Isaiah says on behalf of the living God:  “Behold, I am making all things new.”  Now that is decidedly helpful.  My faith in the living God was never at risk.

 

Easter is celebrated in Spring, a time when the world is renewed and we are invited after our spiritual Lenten Journey to see ourselves as regenerated, i.e., to be renewed spiritually.  I think I lost the object there somewhere, but never mind, I am sure your faith in me doesn’t hinge on my understanding of transitive and intransitive, but rather on how we understand what it is to be renewed.  The world is being renewed in a physical sense, but God is constantly in action making “ALL things new” over and over.  I know some of us love the idea of a static, unchanging world, but to paraphrase Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a changin’” and in reality, they have always been ‘a changin’.  If there is one thing that is a constant, it is that change is part of what surrounds us, a part of life.

We worship a God invested in renewal, a God constantly working to refresh the creation.

We worship a God interested in us being regularly renewed spiritually. We are renewed by our annual deep and intense reflection in the joy found in the ideas associated with the empty tomb and recognition that Jesus is calling us by name.

 

I invite all who call Hilltop their spiritual home to begin again their journey, or possibly to resume that journey,  with Jesus in the getting to Jerusalem.  We are now there:  the tomb is empty.  Jesus is calling you by name.  He is Risen, He is Risen indeed, Hallelujah!

 

Selah

Pastor Dennis