It’s Sunday! Woohoo! Are you making preparations to head to worship? I pray that you are.

I love today’s repeated blog post. There are so many elements from two years ago that fit in to my world today. I pray that you will find time to renew yourself, your quiet time or your relationship with God. He makes all things new.

New

We are in the throes of August. Back-to-school traditions are in full swing and some schools have already started. Fall programming at churches are ready to begin. The thought of cooler weather lingers on everyone’s minds. Life is about to change.

August has always been a special month for me. My oldest child was born on August 21. My second child was born three years later on August 23. As you can imagine, August birthdays and back-to-school shopping were nearly always combined.

August also means that women’s Bible studies all around the world are about ready to begin. Women from all walks of life will spend more time in prayer and study with Bibles in hand starting in just a few weeks. Not that these same women don’t study and pray during the summer, but there’s just something about the fall and the re-gathering of these faithful women that makes me believe the evil one isn’t as excited for August to end as we are.

The church I attend and where I work is gearing up for a final push this fall as well. We have our end of summer bash tomorrow night at a local water park and I know the kids are going to have a blast. The kids and students will be promoted to their new classes this Sunday. New neighborhood groups are being formed. Even our current message series is pushing our folks to something a little bigger, to a relationship with Jesus that’s a little deeper.

We rarely think of it this way, but August is a time of new beginnings. New studies. New grade levels at school. New teachers. New clothes. For some, new life in Christ.

There are plenty of passages that speak to this idea of new. King David spoke of a new song in Psalm 40:3. Solomon said “there is nothing new under the sun” in Ecclesiastes 1:9. Isaiah heard new things from God as stated in Isaiah 48:6. God spoke through Ezekiel 36:26 and said new hearts and new spirits were to come.

There were new names (Daniel 1:7), new days (Zephaniah 3:5), a new teaching (Mark 1:27), a new command (John 13:34), new life (Acts 5:20), a new way of the Spirit (Romans 7:6), a new covenant (1 Corinthians 11:25), new creation (Galatians 6:15), new birth (1 Peter 1:3), a new heaven and earth (2 Peter 3:13), new everything (Revelation 21:5).

Early in Jesus’ ministry He was asked why His disciples didn’t fast and pray as John the Baptizer’s and the Pharisees did (Luke 5:33-35). Jesus replied with encrypted words that we now understand, but for His audience, I’m sure they wondered what bridegroom he was talking about.

Jesus then went on to share a parable with those around Him. “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘This old is better.’” (Luke 5:36-39 – NIV)

Jesus’ audience understood this parable. They used goatskin to hold wine. As fresh wine fermented, the wine would expand. As it expanded, the new goatskin would stretch. If an older skin was used, it would not expand any further than it already had, so it would eventually burst.

We see in this parable that Jesus brought a new way of life that could not fit into or be confined by the old religious ways. Jesus also used this moment to show how some would be reluctant to change from their old traditions and look earnestly at the message Jesus was teaching.

Paul later expanded on this idea of new life, new way and new attitude. In Ephesians 4, Paul said it this way. “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24 – NIV)

Perhaps this is the perfect time of year to think of new beginnings. Maybe it’s the time we should think about resolutions. For me, this is an exciting time. I am rejuvenated by the possibilities of the fall.

I pray that you are able to jump into a small group or Bible study. I pray that if you need an attitude adjustment, need to take off the old you and put on Jesus or are ready to take a step toward Jesus that you will do so this fall. Jesus is waiting to join you on this journey.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna