From Pastor Pat: A New Thing
Make things new with a loving act.
(Posted March 12, 2016)
This Sunday God speaks to all of us directly, saying:
Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth,
do you not perceive it?
A new thing --- isn’t that what all of us could use these days, with all the negative news? A new thing –
that’s what Spring is all about, and why we feel elated at the first warm breezes, and upon hearing the Spring peepers chirping at nightfall? A new thing – it’s what Lent promises us as we roam through these 40 days.
A new thing. Without a doubt, any of us who have known what real love is all about is aware that, if you love someone, when things go wrong or the shadows are gathering, love in all its extravagance can turn the old into the new. Sometimes to outsiders, the extravagance of love can look very strange. This Sunday we watch Mary, whose brother Lazarus was just raised from the dead, behold Jesus while she knows he is heading to Jerusalem and toward the death plot against him. How does her love manifest itself? By taking the most expensive of perfumes, anointing his feet and wiping them with her beautiful hair. Unlike others in the room (like Judas who resents the expenditure from the purse he controls), she understands that Jesus is a precious and fleeting gift. For this one moment, Mary can make things new with her loving act. For this one moment before Golgotha, we too can express our love for God’s ultimate gift. This Sunday we will explore the ways that the extravagance of love that Jesus asks us to exhibit in our own lives surprise us daily. – Pastor Pat Kriss