I heard a new, made-up word the other day and I kind of liked it. For all those making New Year’s resolutions, they were called “resolutionaries.” It is 11 days into January. How are those New Year’s resolutions going? Are you starting to create a new habit yet? I have heard it said that it takes 30 days to make a habit stick. If you are on track, congratulations! Keep it up!
Now for the rest of us. I am talking to everyone who made a resolution, and it has been hit or miss. I am talking to those who had one and have not started yet. I am talking to the ones who meant to make a new year’s resolution, but never got around to it and now you feel like the moment has passed. And I am also talking to the people who have decided new year’s resolutions do not really work and are just living day to day, doing the best they can. Basically, I am talking to nearly everyone.
It is a very good thing to take stock of one’s life from time to time and to choose a better road when you can see it. Sometimes a small adjustment needs to be made. Sometimes, like in the case of a health crisis or a money crisis, BIG changes need to be made. In the policy-making world, they call this reform. I can’t wait to see what reform bill hits Congress next, and if it really, truly reforms anything for the better.
Reform is also a word in the Christian vocabulary. As Presbyterians, we are part of the Reformed Tradition. The motto of the Reformed movement is ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbi dei. That translates as “The church is reformed and always being reformed by the Word of God.”
I think this phrase holds true for the people of God as individuals, too. January 1st is not the only date in which we can enact change, and in no way do we ever become fully changed. We are always becoming changed, at least on this side of the grave. Each day is a new day in which we choose our convictions, whether they are new ones or very, very old ones.
But what is the change? What are we allowing to be our change agent? Is it what is popular? Is it what the pundits on our preferred news station tell us? Is it driven by fear or greed or selfish ambition? Do we think we can be the author of or own change, without anyone, even God? The list of possible motivations is long. But what if we want to take the motto of the Reformation as a clue to how we should become reformed? In that case we must remember the entire phrase. We are reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God.
In the Reformed tradition we have the Word in three forms: 1) The scriptures as inspired by the Holy Spirit, 2) The Incarnate Word of God, which is Jesus Christ, and 3) The Word rightly proclaimed (whether it is preaching, music, or dance, etc).
Learning from the Reformation and applying it to our own lives means that we must choose repeatedly that it is God’s Word which shapes our days, our goals, our relationships, and the path of our lives. It is accepting that the change is not us, but the Spirit that lives in us and works through us if we are brave enough to let it in and do its work. So let’s be Resolutionaries together. Let us make the daily habit of choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to be at work in us, studying scriptures, living as Christ taught us. Amen?
Grace and Peace,
Rob
For more information on the motto ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbi dei, please visit https://www.presbyterianmission.org/what-we-believe/ecclesia-reformata/
