Beginning Anew
December 27, 2009
Luke 21: 25-33 and Matthew 24: 3 - 8

Wesleyan Covenant Service

We have passed through much together as a community of friends, and our faith has kept us sure that no matter what we have faced or what may come down the road next, we will never be alone; for we are together in Christ. John Wesley thought that it was a good and righteous thing each year to renew the covenant we share with each other as the United Methodist Church and as witnesses for God and Christ. Over that last several years we have done this on the last Sunday of the old year as we have looked forward to another year together in service to God and our neighbors. This year will be different, as we each look down a different road. You will continue on together in service to God here in this church and in this community which surrounds it. Kitty and I will take another path of service to God, and to a new community of friends; but even as we walk separate paths, we will be still be making the same journey toward God, witnessing to the blessings of the covenant we have shared in Christ, Jesus.

I have thought a lot about the separation of our paths over the last several days as the New Year approaches; and as always I found some inspiration in the words of Fred Rogers. He writes: Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else. I’ve felt that many times. My hope for all of us is that the ‘miles we go before we sleep’ will be filled with all the feelings that come from deep caring: delight, sadness, joy, and wisdom; and that in the endings of our lives, we will be able to see the new beginnings.

With the coming of the New Year, this church will begin to look toward a new beginning, with a new pastor. But even as you begin to walk in a new way, the destination for your journey will remain the same, and there will still be great and good work to do in this place. Mr. Rogers alludes to that in the words I just read with a reference to another of my favorites, Robert Frost, and his poem: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. In it Frost notes: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.

John writes in Revelation of the new creation that will come when Christ returns, but Jesus warns us not to be distracted by the changes and the worldly things around us before that time arrives. There is much to do and we cannot be, we must not be, distracted by the world and the changes that are constantly taking place, for, we all have miles to go before we sleep, and many promises to keep before we return to God.

Our covenant with God is an old one. Jeremiah prophesied it, and Christ teaches us, on that night so long ago when he gathered with his friends to share a last meal, that he had come to fulfill and renew it. Today we renew our vows to that covenant, and as we do so we remind ourselves of the promises we have made.

There will be much to do over the next several months as we continue to walk this path together; and we must not let the ending of our journey together distract us from that work. We must continue to walk in covenant with one another and we must continue to serve God and our neighbor as we boldly proclaim Christ to the world through our understanding of the Gospel message and our acts of loving kindness to those in need around us.