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Preparing for Life in the New Creation

Sisters and Brothers,

I write this column wearing a baseball hat and trying to push the idea out of my mind that it is Opening Day and I’m sitting in the library carrel instead of watching a game on TV. Players and fans are all excited for the end of Spring Training and the big event…but Opening Day, as special as it is, also entails a summer full of games. I personally can’t wait to joyfully “waste” a few hours either at Miller Park or in the backyard listening to a game and grilling some hot dogs.

Lent is a time to prepare for an event far more important than Opening Day. Even more than Opening Day, Easter is absolutely a central celebration during the church year and congregational life. We can forget—especially during our Lenten preparation—that Easter is more than the end of a fast, a big celebration, and the day to gather with family for ham. When we celebrate the empty tomb, Jesus’ triumph over the principalities and powers, and our reconciliation to God through Christ we are also celebrating an Opening Day of sorts. We can’t forget that Easter seals the New Creation that was inaugurated in Jesus’ Incarnation. Devotion to a life that seeks Christ’s will and accepts the New Creation life should follow the big event of Easter.

The month of April brings us the final 24 days of Focus 40. So far we’ve taken the opportunity to focus on sharing food, relationships, and vocation. In the upcoming weeks we’ll also focus on other aspects of our lives and be prepared to offer your insights from your Focus 40 experience on Palm Sunday April 17th. Focus 40 is preparation for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, but what we learn about God and ourselves also carries us forward as we seek to live into the New Creation—lives that accept the truth that we have been created and claimed for lives in relationship with God. The dean of my seminary liked to share about a possible translation of 2 Cor 5:17 for which the Greek text is difficult to convey in English: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ; New Creation!” This month, let us finish the preparation, celebrate the event, and continue in lives that interject “New Creation!” into the world.

In Christ’s Peace,

Pastor Nathan

2 Cor 5:17-18

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”