Starting Over - Starting New, Starting Again
As we turn the corner into September, it’s as though we are starting over – starting new, starting again. Below are 4 of 5 verses from Brian Wren’s hymn This is the Day of New Beginnings. They feel so poignant and moving after these many months of struggle. I’m imagining us reading them in unison:
This is a day of new beginnings,
Time to remember and move on,
Time to believe what love is bringing,
Laying to rest the pain that’s gone.
For by the life and death of Jesus,
God’s mighty Spirit, now as then,
Can make for us a world of difference,
As faith and hope are born again.
Then let us, with the Spirit’s daring,
Step from the past and leave behind
Our disappointment, guilt and grieving,
Seeking new paths, and sure to find.
In faith we’ll gather round the table,
To taste and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings;
Our God is making all things new.
We don’t know what the coming months will bring – we never do. Time after time throughout our stories, we look into the future and even sometimes think we can be certain, plan to be certain, and have things turn out differently. Some of what comes that we couldn’t imagine is wonderful and life-giving.
I want to pull some of the lines from the hymn that describe my hopes for us this fall:
Time to believe what love is bringing
God’s mighty Spirit, now as then can make for us a world of difference
as faith and hope are born again.
With the Spirit’s daring seeking new paths and sure to find.
We’ll gather round the table to taste and share what love can do
I’ve always experienced the fall season in church as a homecoming and then full steam ahead, racing towards Advent and Christmas. This fall will look different and feel different in many ways. Whether at home or in-person worship, whether meeting virtually or in a safe place – we will be connected in ways we never imagined. In our pastor meet and greets, one thing has been consistent when we’ve asked, “What do you hope we’ll do?” Keep online worship. “What do you hope we won’t do?” Stop online worship. Friends, virtual connections are here to stay as we move into what the schools are calling a hybrid model of church.
In our Christian faith, every day is a day of new beginnings – and now I pray that we are entering a season of new beginnings – the next chapter. I hope that we will believe what love, what God is bringing. I know that God is doing new things, I know it. So let’s gather around the real and virtual table and see what new paths we are sure to find and see what love can do.
I am grateful and honored to share this road with you,
Cathy