January 2010 - Rethink New Year's
Rethink New Year’s
New Year's resolutions - the concept suggests that we can change by resolve, by sheer human power. Statistics on how many of us break these pledges and how quickly we do so are discouraging. Maybe our failure has to do with a flaw at the foundation of resolution-making: Not many of us can change all on our own.
Consider the wisdom from those who have gone before us in faith.
In Romans 7:14-25, we see that broken resolutions are nothing new. Paul struggled. It was Christ who set him free. True improvement is not self-improvement. The best changes come from opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit, which desires to call out the best in us.
What if our resolutions were more about opening ourselves to the beautiful, shaping activity of the One who wants to melt and mold, fill and use us? For instance, I may not be able to make myself more loving, but I can intentionally align myself with God by:
- Walking more closely to Christ in prayer
- Making devotional time a priority with resources from the Upper Room
- Taking in God’s Word with tools like the daily reading guide available from the United Methodist Conference Center
- Praising and growing through weekly worship
- Serving in little ways with those in my life
- Giving more generously to the work of the church
- Seeking new ways to be Christ to others.
These practices are similar to those suggested centuries ago by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. More than resolutions, he encouraged covenants. Wesley’s covenant prayer is about opening ourselves so that God can do God’s work in and through us. Today Covenant Discipleship invites us to find others who will encourage us in practicing the personal disciplines that open us to grace.
What will you do in 2010 to be more faithful? How will you be more receptive to the gifts of growth? With whom will you share the joy of the journey? When you stumble, how will you claim the grace of Jesus Christ to begin again?
I pray our congregations move toward the kind of communities that Jesus intended us to be, for each other and for those not yet included -- places where relationships are rich and we learn together to encourage one other to live like Jesus.
For resources for congregations on covenant discipleship and spiritual formation, contact me at DCM@wpaumc.org or 800-536-9242.
-- by the Rev. Lisa Grant, WPAUMC Director of Connectional Ministries