Always Being Re-Formed
-Romans 12:1-2
We are people of habit. Some habits are good. Brushing your teeth twice a day… good habit. Some habits are bad… swearing. We are always creating new habits. In the same way, the cells in our body are constantly being re-created and replaced. We are being re-formed.
Are we being re-formed for good or bad? Are we creating habits that make us better or worse? Paul wrote to the people in Rome that they should be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”. They needed to be re-formed first in their minds and then in their habits, and then their whole bodies would be a living sacrifice, “holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.”
This Sunday we celebrate the Reformation. As a protestant denomination, we were shaped through the admonition of “reformata semper reformanda”, a Latin phrase meaning “the church reformed, always being re-formed”. This principle states that the church is not static but must continually be brought into conformity with God’s Word. This ongoing reformation is not about changing for its own sake but about continually reforming the church according to scripture.
The renewing of our minds is difficult. Changing habits is not easy. The reformation of the church is also difficult. We like things the way they are. We like predictability. We like our preferred style of music and worship participation. And yet, God may be leading us to deeper connection with the Word and with our neighbors. God is calling us to be re-formed as a community in order to make disciples of all nations.
As we continue to practice Telling Your Story of faith, during our chili feed we will have a guided discussion about worship. In order for you to participate, here are the questions our Elders and Deacons will lead the tables through:
- What does “Worship” mean to you?
- Is it more than the style of music in a service?
- Please share a story of a particularly meaningful worship service.
- What stood out to you in that service? Why was it meaningful?
- How does Sunday worship at First Pres connect you with God?
Please join us in worship this fall as we share our own inspiring stories of faith.
O God, you are always true to us in love and we are left wanting to say sorry for our faithlessness to you and to one another, for our forgetting of the poor and the broken, for our failure to cherish creation. Give us life, O God, to change and enable us to be re-formed, that we may live.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ have mercy. Amen.