Change Generates Change

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PSALM 13, NIV: How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
   How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.

Change happens, often when least expected. In every life. To every body, literally. Right now your body is changing in microscopic but important ways – for instance, countless numbers of your skin cells are dying off while new ones are being created. 

This is important because what does not change will not grow.

Sometimes life’s changes are not easy, and the changes they generate can be confusing or difficult. For instance, often we have to adjust to other people’s changes; it’s one of the challenges of being in a community or a family – just ask the mom or dad of an adolescent.

Even changes that are planned and desired can be stressful – just ask someone who has had to move for a new job, or someone who is a new parent.

And as we age, our bodies’ capabilities change. Just ask me if I can do all that I did 30 or even 20 years ago.

Take a moment now to think of a recent difficult or unexpected change. Maybe you’ve had some news about a loved one’s illness. 

Or maybe some management person at your job has mandated inefficient, unnecessary changes in your work procedures. 

Or maybe an important relationship has suddenly become rocky. 

Perhaps you’re dealing with bereavement, or recent health challenges. 

Those changes that we don't expect, don't want, and aren't prepared for are scary. Potentially overwhelming.

Rayne is now in the middle of layered changes: Pastor Jay has been moved, Pastor Marissa will start next Sunday, and our building’s massive renovation is ongoing. 

How will those changes affect our congregation? How will they affect you, and what changes will they set in motion?

When sudden changes are hard we often wonder why they’re happening to us. Perhaps we question what we should have done differently, or we focus on “If only…” Perhaps we get so caught up in coping with the change that we cut back on our personal devotional time, slack off on church attendance, and start to drift away from our Lord.

And that is dangerous. Because it’s most important to know that God is with us in all the changes, and that we can work to respond to change in a way that reflects the Divine. I have an example of such a change from a member of our own church family, who gave me permission to share her story.

Earlier this year Andee Reed, who attends the 11:00 service, had to start a medication that leaves her hands deeply bruised. If you know Andee, you know she’s meticulous about her appearance. She enjoys looking good, and she did not like what was happening to her hands. But instead of moping around at home, instead of fretting about the bruising, she found beautiful lace fingerless gloves in colors to complement her outfits. She reacted to change with grace, dignity, and creativity.

When we’re challenged by change, how will we change? Will we become bitter, or better? Weaker, or stronger? More fearful, or more faithful?

Consider the giants of our faith whom we look to for examples of perseverance. They didn’t simply waltz through life without difficulty. What changes did they encounter?

Abraham, who is called the father of faith, was called to move to a new and unfamiliar country—uproot his entire family, all his enterprises—when he was old. 

David, author of today’s psalm, was beset by changes for all of his turbulent life. That’s one reason why the 23rd psalm resonates with us; it reflects the deep and often painful changes that he’d lived through. 

Mary, Jesus’ mother, struggled with unprecedented changes in her life. One moment she was a typical Jewish teenager preparing for marriage; the next, she’d been visited by an angel who gave her stupendous news. And the changes kept coming: the hard ride to Bethlehem, nine months pregnant on a donkey. The flight to Egypt, adjusting as a refugee family in a foreign land. The return to Nazareth, where rumors and whispers probably always followed her.

And Jesus himself—just think about the stages of his life. I really don’t believe that when he was 3 or 4 years old, he knew the details about God’s plan for his ministry, death, and resurrection. I believe the path of his life was revealed to him gradually, as it is for all of us, because he was fully human. So how did he react when he next stage was revealed? When did he find out that he wasn’t going to be a carpenter all his life? When did he realize that he was actually going to die the death of a traitor or a criminal? 

We can’t control all the changes that come our way. But we can manage our responses. 

We can recognize when something changes, then we can recognize how our response changes. If our initial response is not the best we can work to change it. Maybe we need to speak more firmly….or more tenderly. Maybe we need to be stronger….or more flexible. As people of God, our highest goal must be to react to change in a way that maintains and strengthens our relationship with our Lord. 

That way, we can navigate every change with grace and honor and courage. Even when it comes time for the final change, death does not have to hold fear for us, because God is with us.

You see, God does not manifest love by guaranteeing that we will never face difficult, unpleasant changes but by guaranteeing that we will never face them alone and that somehow they will be transformed into blessings.

Faith is not the assurance that hard things will never happen to us and to our loved ones; it is the confidence that God will carry us through the difficult times, and the assurance that we are not alone.

We often fear the unknown. “Will I have enough? Enough help, resources, support, wisdom, even enough integrity?” Let’s do our best to plan wisely, but then we have to work on trusting God. 

That change that you thought about at the beginning: does it help to consider that God is with you? There are some of us here for whom that concept doesn’t really matter. It feels too abstract.

We are so accustomed to pushing through on our own. And we’re accustomed to being deserted by those who should help us, so the concept of someone who cares and who accompanies and who creates goodness for us—well that's just really hard to grasp, for some of us who have lived through trauma.

I get that. I'm working on grasping it too. But I am here to tell every single person here, every created being, every treasure of the Divine, every beloved child of God, that God is truly with you. In all your changes. In every trial. In each storm, each wilderness, each distress.

All of God is with you, all the time. The God who created the universes from nothing is still creating. The God who led the Israelites through the wilderness and guided them through unknown territory is still leading, still guiding.

The God who saved a violent, dogmatic man like Paul and transformed him into a pillar of loving faith is still saving, still transforming.

Changes are coming for all of us. Maybe even some will show up today. They will generate more changes. How will you react? They may make us feel scared, angry, frustrated, confused. What will you do? 

In prayer, don't suppress your feelings. Tell God all about them, and then be sure to finish with something like “But I thank you for being with me. Help me to know how magnificent that truly is.”

Finish with “But I want to believe, Lord; help my unbelief.”

Finish, like Jesus did, with “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.”

Because, my friends—my dearly beloved church family—since we are called by Christ’s name, we are called to be like Christ. More and more each day. And in response to each change that comes our way, we know what to do. We say it every Sunday at the end of each service. 

But do we know that it’s more than a nice benediction? It’s not simply one option of several? It’s a Divine expectation. It’s something that God is asking us to grow into. 

It’s the one change that should be generated by every change we face: Let us stand more firmly in our faith. 

Let us grow to be stronger in the Lord. 

Let us become braver, less controlled by fear. 

And let us strive to let everything we do be done in love. Why? Because God is with us, and that will never change. Never.