As we embrace the new life given to us in Jesus, we are called to expand our vision to realize that this new life is not only spiritual and not only human, but a new life for all of creation. Too often we look at Creation as separate from us when in reality, we are intimately connected to the world around us. In this season of new life and possibilities, we are called to celebrate our place in God’s wide creation and our special responsibility to care for the earth.
April 12, 2026
A New Creation
Part 1: “A New Creation”
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
A New Creation 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
We are entering into the season of Easter, the fifty-day period between Easter Sunday and Pentecost. For Midway Christian Church, the new season brings a new worship series. Through Lent, we embraced the call to tend to our roots, the roots of faith which call us to love our neighbor, to care for the vulnerable, to pursue justice and mercy, and to rest in God’s unending grace. We invited these roots to become a part of who we are as people of faith, knowing that these roots were the Gospel Message. Each week, during Lent, we strengthened these roots which connected us to God, to each other and now, in this new season, it is time to grow and flourish as a new creation.
As Easter people, we know that the empty tomb was not a moment limited to an early morning two thousand years ago. The empty tomb is a mindset. It is a way of life. It is what defines us as followers of Jesus Christ. Or as one my colleagues shared this week…the resurrection is the starting line rather than the finish line. As Easter people, we know the “resurrection was never meant to be confined to a holiday. Rather it was meant to sustain resistance. Meaning… As Easter people, we move into a season where we are invited to live into the knowledge that death and destruction will not have the last word. We are invited to practice what it means to know in all things, through all things, God is with us . As Easter people, we are invited to know and live out the understanding that love and light will always overcome in all we do and say.
Because as Easter people, we know that Risen Christ has changed us. We have been transformed and we cannot go back to the way things were before we encountered the Risen Christ. Easter showed us possibilities when the world told us it was impossible. Easter showed us new life when the world proclaimed death. Easter showed us a new way of being, a new understanding. Easter calls us to become a new creation in Christ, to let the old ways pass away and open ourselves to the Beloved Community of God in our midst.
Which brings us back to our passage this morning. Hear again these words:
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation
In this passage, Paul is reminding the community of faith at Corinth that the resurrection of Jesus changed everything for us as people of faith, that we have a new understanding of how the world works, we have a new understanding of what it means to be in community with one another. We have a new understanding of what it means to know that God is at work in this world, bringing healing and wholeness to all of God’s people. Paul tells this community of faith and reminds us again today, that because of the empty tomb, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because we know that this world will not have the last word, we have this is a newness of life. It is not a naive newness that ignores what is happening in the world. Rather it is a newness which invites us to see the larger picture, a newness that let us know that God is here, transforming, redeeming, and calling us to share this Good News! Paul is telling this community of faith that “through Christ, all are able to be restored, radically changed, and reconciled to God and one another.
And then Paul takes it one step farther. He tells the people that as Easter people, we are invited into the work of the empty tomb. We are invited to share the Good News that the empty tomb is in bloom. “Paul writes that “we” are to become ambassadors of this reconciliation, to encourage people to be right with God and live in alignment with God’s justice. Paul tells this community of faith that the work of a Christian is in the life-giving hope of radical transformation toward justice.”
Or let me say it this way… “As followers of Christ, we are at the heart of a broken world that yearns for healing and wholeness. The Resurrection released the power of transformation in this world. It is a continuous and ongoing process that yes, is uncomfortable, that is challenging, that will stretch our understanding of what is possible. But here’s the good news…we are not doing this all on our own. Through Christ, anything and everything is possible. Through Christ, we have been entrusted with the task of being agents of love, hope, peace and healing in this broken world and in doing so, we help bring about God’s Beloved community for all of God’s people.
As we embrace the new life given to us in Jesus, our vision is expanded and we begin to realize that this new life is not only spiritual and not limited to just humans. It is a new life for all of creation. “This world which includes humanity, animals, birds, fish, habitats, which includes all of creation needs God. And as ones who have embraced the call to be ambassadors of reconciliation, as ones who have embraced the call to bring healing and wholeness, we know the impossible is made possible through the love and grace of God.
So in this season of new life and possibilities, I invite us as Midway Christian Church, as people of faith, as ambassadors of God’s healing love and grace to join us over the next weeks as we celebrate our place in God’s wide creation and our special responsibility to care for the earth. After all, God has made everything new and has entrusted us to take actions so it might be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, April 12, 2026 – A New Creation 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
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*(from sanctifiedart.org)
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