Pastor's Corner: Transformation in Christ

Change is a word that evokes anxiety and fear in most people; we are creatures of habit and we like to feel that we are in control. However, in a conversation with colleagues the other day, I admitted that I actually like change! I like the unpredictability of each day being different. I like moving and living in different parts of the country. I move my furniture around every few months just for something different! When I get bored, I cut or color my hair just for fun!

At some point, we are all forced to encounter change. We age and mature. We move to a new town. We marry or divorce. New interests and passions arise. Jobs change; eventually we retire. Children are born; then they grow up and move out. Financial resources can grow or diminish. A loved one dies. New friendships are made. Opportunities we never dreamed of come to us. Our physical or mental health changes. We have successes and accomplishments as well as failures and disappointments. We recognize new or changing needs in our communities and the world around us.

But here is the important thing that I think our culture often misses about change - it is an invitation to transformation and new life because our identity is secure; our lives are anchored in the love of God that is not contingent on any accomplishments or circumstances. We do not need to change or improve ourselves in order to be accepted or worthy of love. Our culture is constantly selling us an if-this-than-that prosperity narrative. If we eat healthier and exercise more, if we pray more and sin less, if we work harder and do better, if we can seamlessly balance being a productive employee, a good parent, a great homemaker, and a faithful friend, than we will have a "happy life".

But the promise of the Gospel is that God loves us as his own child right now exactly as we are. The invitation that Jesus gives us is to come to Him, not because we fully understand, but because we need to reach out and receive the life that is offered to us; we come with our doubts, we come with our hopes, we come with our inadequacies and our strengths.

It means that we have not been abandoned. Nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39). Life as God created it is not designed to be a constant self-improvement project and we are not "updateable" like our phones into human 2.0. God in Christ has accomplished for us what we could not do for ourselves. God sees us as more that the sum of our actions, successes and failures. God always sees more in us than what we see in ourselves.

When we believe, the way forward is not necessarily easy but is open, clear and beckoning us into endless possibilities for new life. Through Christ, our humanity has become the way to our divinity. There is no moment or experience in our lives that is wasted by God. When we let go of these impossible expectations for ourselves and our lives, we would be free to become the person we truly want to be and the person God knows us to already be. May it be so!

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Pastor Maggie Lewis

Presbyterian Church of Chinook

First Presbyterian Church, Havre