from 2 Kings 23:1-3, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Matthew 22:34-40
As much as we want to see things change AROUND us, and as much as we might like to see some things change ABOUT us in this New Year…the reality is that we will never truly find fulfillment unless we are willing to see things first change WITHIN us.
As we begin this new year, let us consider what it might mean to renew our commitment to relationship with God…or let us consider what it might mean to be open to a relationship with God for the fist time.
Wesley Covenant Prayer:
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 2:22-40
As much as we look ahead at the coming year and want so much to be different..and rightly so…what if instead of wanting to change everything about the life we are living…we considered practicing some things that are so familiar that they have been a part of the lives of the faithful for generations…for millennia?
Perhaps the thing that needs to change for you in the coming year is to pick up some familiar practice and pattern, and see where God might meet you in that!
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 1:5-10 and John 4:1-18
Many of us see the turn of the calendar year as an opportunity for a fresh start, a chance to make some changes, to improve some things about who we are. We enter a new year with a sense of hope and possibility.
What happens when we fall short of those things we want to see change?
What happens when this seems to be the pattern not only in our resolutions and goals, but more importantly in our walk with Jesus? How do you navigate the feeling of falling short once again? Is there guilt? Shame? Weariness? How does it affect your relationship with God? With others?
How might things begin to look different if you approached those disappointments with the understanding that…Jesus knows…and loves you anyway?
w/ Vern Collins
