NEW AND IMPROVED

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Isaiah 43:15-21

NEW AND IMPROVED!

I'm a bit skeptical when a product is advertised as "new and improved."  Sometimes all that means is that the product is in a new package, it's now more expensive, and it's not all that improved.  I don't know about you, but "New Coke" was a big disappointment for me.

Augustine said that the church should always be reformed -- that is always reforming, becoming renewed and changing to meet the challenges of our current reality.  So, what does it mean whent God is calling the church to do a "new thing?"

Our current reality as Christians and as the church is one of rapid change.  Technology continues to change, almost daily, yet the human condition remains the same.  The cultural differences between one generation to the next are much more different than in the past, yet human needs remain the same. 

Our challenge as the church in a time of great change is to continue to minister to basic human physical, emotional and spiritual needs that remain constants in new and different ways.  So, what does new and different really mean in the context of our faith?

In scripture, new doesn't always mean that something is "brand new".  To be made new, such as becoming a new creation in Christ, refers to being restored like a painting.  The old sins and wounds of the past are cleaned away by God's grace and we are restored and reconciled with God.

Since the time when Eden's gates were closed to humanity, God's mission of love has been the deliverance and salvation of the world and and the restoration of  God's relationship with us.  God never turned away from humans and has continued through the ages to love and watch over us.  The story of Exodus is an expression of God's love for us.  

Through the prophet, Isaiah, God says to God's people, "Hey, pay attention, I'm about to express my love for you and my desire for your salvation in a different and life-bringing way.  If you thought that parting the Red Sea and delivering you from Pharaoh's army was the greatest thing I've ever done for you, you ain't seen nothing yet.  What I'm about to do will knock your socks off.  It's going to transform the world, like bringing water and life to a barren desert."

For a number of years, there's been a peace lily plant at our church, but it wasn't doing well.  After the dead leaves had been trimmed away, I took it home for the summer.  I re-potted it in fresh, pre-fertilized soil and put it out on the back deck to benefit from the sun and rain.  By the end of the summer, there was new growth and the plant was thriving.  When I brought back to church, people thought it was a new and different plant.  It's the same plant, the same root system, but it's been restored to health.  It just needed to go through a few changes to bring new life to it.

As people of faith and the Body of Christ, Jeremiah 29:11-13 reminds us that God always has a plan to bring new life to us -- plans for us to thrive and be fruitful.  Plans that do not bring harm but are plans for hope and a future.

When God calls a church to do a new thing, it's purpose to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world never changes.  It's roots, those values and traditions which enable the church to pass the living faith on to each new generation will always remain the same.  How those are used to bring the gospel to people in our current time and place will look different, new, from what they did in earlier generations.  

"New and improved" may not always be a good thing, but when it is of God and empowers us to fulfill our mission as the Body of Christ, then it's a God-thing, part of the plan to prosper us and give us hope and a future.