Renewal
Over the past few years, I’ve discovered a joy in cooking. It started with the simple pleasure of grilling chicken in the backyard. The satisfaction increased exponentially when I was exposed to the world of smoking meat. The process of staying put, tending to a fire, and experimenting with the various flavors that could be drawn out of a brisket after 15 hours near the heat became a heartfelt fascination. There is an artistic beauty in the way a pit boss can utilize various types of hardwood in a controlled burn that allows the fat to render into the fibers of beef, chicken, and pork that causes me to stand up and say, “Hallelujah.”
What I’ve learned in my grilling and smoking endeavors is that prep work is just as important as the final product. There are times when something might be missing from my food that can make it not quite what I am trying to produce. It might be an overpowering of garlic or insufficient salt or spice. This past weekend’s sermon left me feeling similarly to cooking with something missing. I sensed the lack of a key ingredient during the months and weeks leading up to delivering the sermon, but wasn’t able to discern what was missing until I was reflectively praying after preaching it. I had a phrase to explain what I believed the text was saying, but it felt like something was missing. It wasn’t quite what I was trying to deliver.
Our series is focused on values that we aspire to embrace as a congregation. These aspirational values are those that demonstrate our desire to follow the way of Jesus. Our text was Gal. 5:16-18 and 24-25 and the value that was presented was “becoming whole people.” I stand behind the sentiment of what was proclaimed, but I think the verbiage felt overly complicated and unmemorable. I believe there is a better way to describe the value and it is with the word, “renewal.” We aspire to value renewal as a congregation. The word, “renewal” was that missing ingredient that gives the flavor to the sermon.
Renewal is the process of becoming a whole person. It is what happens in our hearts and lives as we are led by and walk by the Spirit. When we behold Christ crucified as a substitute for sinners and resurrected to impart life, we are renewed and led by the Spirit into a lifestyle that is progressing toward godliness. Renewal is what our hearts long for, what our neighbors need, and what creation groans for.
The application points from the sermon stand. We must be led by the Spirit to become whole people and experience renewal. Committing to silence, solitude, Scripture reading, and Sabbath keeping foster an environment for renewal. Committing to a lifestyle marked by growth and grace are the processes of renewal and guide our steps as we walk by the Spirit.
We desire to be a congregation that values renewal. It is both something we long for people to experience and to foster in their lives. As we continue in our series, we’ll explain more aspirational values that capture the direction we believe God is leading our church to embrace. My hope as we move forward is that we would become a congregation that values renewal in our lives personally, in the lives of those around us, and renewal in creation for our joy and for God’s glory.
Submitted by: Kurt Hannah