Too often we use so much of our energy trying to maintain the past or present, that we no longer have the strength to embrace the future. It is never about forgetting what was. It is about honoring the path which brought us here and knowing that the path does not, cannot, go in only in one directon. Rather, the path will have twists and turns, unexpected valleys and mountains, all opportunities to teach us about ourselves, about life, about our world, about our relationships, about who we are and whose we are.
April 6, 2025
Again & Again: A Lenten Refrain
“We Are Reformed”
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
John 12: 20-33
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.
John 12: 20-33
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who reject their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
We Are Reformed Jer 31: 31-34; John 12: 20-33
“Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?” This quote is credited to an artist who saw possibilities, who saw new beginnings, an artist who saw beyond what the world deemed as acceptable boundaries, an artist who would not accept that there was only one way to create, to be. This quote is credited to an artist who took an ordinary soup can and created a new art movement, a movement which challenged the status quo, a movement which blurred the lines between mainstream art and fine art, a movement which responded to the question of the impossible with a resounding why not?
For me this recognition of so much changing yet still remaining the same, this idea of responding to the status quo with a why does it have to be this way, this idea of replacing the deadliest phrase in which a community of faith could utter. That phrase being: “Well, we’ve always done it that way”, AND replacing this phrase with an invitation to see, to embrace what God is up to in our midst, for me, this idea of the tension between changing what is yet holding on to what makes us us at our core is a reminder of the both/and of our faith, telling us that two things can be true at the same time. It is a reminder that our faith calls us, invites us to see both the beauty and destruction of our world together. It is a reminder that in all things, there is both sadness and hope. It is a reminder that our Lord and Savior inspired a movement, a movement which challenged the status quo, a movement which blurred the lines between earthly things and Kingdom of God, a movement which responded to the question of the impossible with a resounding why not?
As people of faith, we live out this both/and each and every day. We know that the Beloved Community is here among us AND we know that it is not fully realized here on Earth. We know that there are systems which thrive on separation and oppression AND we know that this world will not have the last world.
It is this same both/and which we find within our two texts this week. In our first text, Jeremiah is writing to a people in exile who are facing a rapidly developing uncertainty about their future. He proclaims in the midst of that uncertainty, God remembers them. He proclaims the “emergence of new possibilities. He proclaims a new covenant with new ways of relating to God.” Jeremiah tells them that this new covenant does not replace the old covenant. Rather it transforms it, it re-forms it to adapt to this new reality. At the core, it is the same covenant…God will be their God and Israel shall be God’s people. Only this time it will not be written on tablets of stone. It will be written on their hearts so that they will KNOW. This re-forming, this adapting to a new reality reflects the ever-present relationship they have with their God. This re-forming reflects a change while staying the same at their core as the people of God.
The author of John picks up on this idea of change or re-forming through this conversation which Jesus has with his disciples. A group of people want to see Jesus, want to KNOW Jesus. Again, Jesus tells them, tells the disciples, that a transformation must take place in order for that to happen. Jesus does this through this image of a grain of wheat falling to the earth and dying. If it does not do that, then it will always only be a single seed. But if it falls and dies, if it is planted and allowed to grow, it will bear much fruit.
What Jesus is telling the disciples, telling us that “change, even if/when it is welcomed means death. It is a dying to what was to be able to embrace what will be. The author of John is reminding the disciples, reminding us that change happens either with us or to us. It is our choice.”
You see, too many times, we use all our energy holding on to what was, trying to maintain the past/present, so much so that we no longer have the strength to embrace the future. For us as people of faith, the process of transformation, the process of re-formation is never about forgetting what was. It is about honoring the path which brought us here, knowing that path does not, CANNOT follow only in one direction or one way. Rather, that path will have many twists and turns, unexpected valleys and tall mountains, all opportunities to teach us about ourselves, about life, about our world, about our relationships, about who we are and whose we are.
Or let me say it this way…I wish that our faith came with short, complete list, meaning that it would be so much easier if when someone decided to take Jesus as their Lord and Savior, as a pastor, I could hand them a list and tell them, just follow these things and you will figure it all out. Rather, what usually happens is as we grow in faith, we realize the more we think we know, the more complex everything is. Where once there were clear cut boundaries and rules to follow, all of sudden there are relationships, and connections, invitations to see people beyond labels to the image of God cradled within. Rather, what usually happens as we grow in faith is that we are called, we are invited to grow beyond the borders, the systems of this world, borders and systems which are used to separate and divide. Rather what usually happens when we grow in faith is that we are called, we are invited to see a bigger picture, to embrace a daring love, to imagine, to dream, to respond to the question of the impossible with a why not? Rather what usually happens when we grow in faith is that we are called, we are invited to let go of what we thought we knew and embrace an understanding which this world calls foolish, an understanding which is grounded in the belief, in the knowledge that death and destruction are not the end of the story. Rather it is simply a point of transformation, of re-formation.
The amazing gift of our sacred story is that it is simply an invitation…an invitation to release that person who we were so that we can become the person God calls us to be. AND as people of faith, the amazing gift of our sacred story is that we have the strength and the courage to do so because we know that God is in the process. We know that God is moving in and among us, bringing healing and wholeness, AND most importantly, we have the strength and the courage to let go of what we thought we knew and embrace an understanding which this world calls foolish because…in the end…we know that no matter what God’s love and God’s light will always have the last word. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, April 6, 2025 – We Are Reformed Jer 31: 31-34; John 12: 20-33.
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