All Things Shall Be Made New

December 30, 2009 0

Dear friends in Christ,

As we reach the end of another year, look back and forward, and to the manger of our Savior, I want to encourage you to think about how God has been at work in you this year. What are the big things that have happened this year? What are the things that have been most challenging for you this year? How do you think you have changed? How have you been made stronger? In what ways has your trust in God been encouraged in the midst of the events of your life?

I also want to direct your attention to one of our surest sources of encouragement from God: his Holy Word. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul declares that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (15:4) We know that the Holy Scriptures are not mere books or stories, but a living and breathing Word from God, that when we hear it informs and shapes our lives, even transforms us, in accordance with the will of God. Paul gives some character to this living Word when he says the Scriptures give us encouragement and hope as we endure the trials of creaturely life. It is in this spirit that I have presented the challenge this Christmas to memorize Mary’s Magnificat:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed,
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and his offspring forever. (Luke 1:46-55)

In memorizing the words of Holy Scripture we go beyond hearing to receiving the Word of God in a deeper kind of way. I am myself only half way through the task, but already when I recite and meditate upon the first few verses God illuminates things in so many ways, and I hear each time something new about what God has done for us, about the nature of God’s way of revealing himself to us through Christ Jesus, about what it means for this life that God has set us aside from the lostness of the world to serve the purposes of his kingdom. And I am encouraged by the promise that God will continue to work all things to the good for all the members of our congregation. We have been immensely blessed by God to have a place to worship, gifted servants of the Lord to work with, share our faith with, and so build one another up. And the calling to build anew a house set aside for hearing the Word of the Lord, “the latter glory of which house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:9) Moreover, when we receive the Word of God we are as a community of faith built up even more strongly into the spiritual priesthood we are ordained to be. As Paul continues his message to the Romans,

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (15:5)

I pray that we would enter boldly into this new year of the Lord (anno Domini) with the Spirit of God enlivening us, the Word of God shaping and guiding us, and the kind of confidence that befits the children of the Most High God.