“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2nd Corinthians 5:17-22
2nd Corinthians 5:17-22
The theme for this year’s 25th anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is “Always Being Made Knew” from the passage from 2nd Corinthians cited above. This theme points us to the ongoing nature of Christian renewal while affirming that we are rooted in the same gospel that the Reformers and the first century Christians heard and believed. Day by day and year by year we are being renewed and refreshed by the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ as a church and as unique individual Christian people.
The first of the 95 Theses that Martin Luther posted on the church door in 1517 and which ignited the Reformation says, “When our Lord Jesus Christ said ‘Repent” he meant that the whole life of the believer should be one of repentance.” Twelve years later when he published the Small Catechism he wrote about the meaning of baptism “It means that our sinful self should be drowned through daily repentance and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.” In other words, a Christian is a person who is always being made new.
It says in Lamentations 3:22-23 says “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” And the hymn based on these verses says, “morning by morning new mercies I see.”
During the early years of the Reformation the Reformers were continually charged with “innovation,” that is, starting something new and different from the Bible and the writings of the church fathers. But the Reformers insisted that the church, just like individual Christians, needs to be renewed and reformed through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They were not innovators but renewers who were bringing the church back to the Bible.
I remember back to the early 1980s when the process of merging the ALC, LCA, and AELC into what became the ELCA began under the auspices of the “Commission for a New Lutheran Church.” The name of the commission did not sit well with everyone, especially those worried about too much innovation, but taken in the spirit of 2nd Corinthians 5:17 and Luther’s work in the 16th century, it was an appropriate name. Along with “sola fide,” sola scriptura,” and “sola gratia” the Reformers used the slogan “ecclesia semper reformanda est” which means “the church is always being reformed.” Or, we could say, always being made new.
And so we are “always being made new” in the Spirit of Christ, as a church, as a congregation, and as a person loved, redeemed, and led by Christ as we face new challenges, new life situations, and an ever changing world. We can face these new challenges and situations with confidence because we believe in him who “makes all things new.”
In Matthew 13:52 Jesus said, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is old and what is new.” As a church we hope to be able to put before people “the old, old story of Jesus and his love” as well as the new life that comes through faith in Christ Jesus.
As we enter the season of Lent in the middle of this month may you be renewed and refreshed and, as always, be made new by the grace of God. For more on our anniversary visit www.elca.org/25.
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