C.H.A.N.G.E.S.

My father long ago introduced our family to the wisdom of Heraclitus.  Heraclitus was a Greek philosopher who lived in Ephesus around 500 years before Christ.  His adage: “The only thing constant is change.”  Dad reminded us that the one thing you can count on not to change – is that everything changes.

This Sunday morning we will confirm almost 20 eighth-graders who leave behind the spiritual complacency of childhood. They will confirm their faith in Jesus Christ so that they may live as followers of Jesus “on purpose.” Change.

There’s less than a month of high school left for our seniors. Soon the reality they’ve known all their lives will change.  Out of public school. Usually out of the house. Away from Burke.  Change.

College seniors will soon bid campus life goodbye. Financial challenges loom. Friends disperse. Change.

We have about a half-dozen families who’ve welcomed newborns into their lives in recent months. Several more young families will grow by one this summer. Our church community is seeing retirements and deployments, reassignments and departures, arrivals and readjustments. Old Heraclitus was right.

Yet by my desk is posted the word CHANGES as an acronym.  Each letter stands for a word, so that the deeper meaning of “changes” is revealed. That meaning is --   

Christ Has A New Gift Each Second.

All of our times are in God’s hands, and God’s will is always – always – to bless us. So times of change are also gifts from God.  Certainly new opportunities and exciting possibilities are gifts; certainly milestones passed and achievements reached are too. 

But sadness is also a gift from God; grief and regret are also. They invite us to savor each second that has passed. They invite us to remember the securities of home or friends that we counted on so long. We give thanks for the blessings of stability and the precious gifts we enjoyed effortlessly. No we realize we can no longer count on those things. The past is over. These harder gifts of sadness and grief and regret can awaken us to live in new ways in our new life chapter. What can we continue – and what do we want to change – in the seconds, days, years that are about to begin?  Often we’re not motivated to ask these questions without Christ’s harder gifts of sadness and regret.

So maybe change isn’t the only thing that’s constant. Constant also is the grace of Jesus Christ. Constant is His desire to bless you. Constant is His determination to help you grow in wisdom. Never-changing is His commitment to your growing in faith and hope and love.

Christ has a new gift each second. I hope you will welcome the days ahead – joy and sadness alike – as gifts from the hand of a loving Lord.  

Pastor Larry