“The world was growing old, and not even Caesar could make it new again.” That’s how historian Theodor Mommsen described the world into which the second person of the Trinity came. A world grown old, stale and tired. Where the most powerful, the ostensible ruler of the world, could have no effect. 

Something about that description seems apt for our times. The survey we sent out a few weeks ago, among other things, revealed that for many of us in these weeks and months, the world has grown very old, monotonous and wearying. Beyond our personal situation, our leaders often seem powerless to offer something new in the face of our very real collective challenges and problems. 

It is into the weary and old world that we find ourselves that Jesus comes. It is he who offers, in the forgiveness of sins, a new and creative way forward, in his way of life, a new way of being human. In his announcement of God’s reign, a new, and renewed, world. By his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus is now making all things new. He is able to overcome the most intractable problems of our lives and this world.  This is the hope of the Gospel. 

Be encouraged by the promise of Jesus. Be encouraged by the reality of his presence, working to make a way in your life and in our world. Be encouraged to draw near in faith, to the one who enters into the old, among the stale and tired, and makes all things new again. 

In Christ,

Peter+