A New Chapter

This mortal adventure we’re having is a journey, and is in many ways a “book” of our life with a variety of interesting and sometimes challenging chapters. Looking back I can clearly see “chapters” in my life. Some of them occupied a fairly long time (15-20 years) while others were shorter length (a “short story”). While each chapter builds on previous stories, coming to a new chapter requires the present one to come to a satisfactory conclusion. Individuals have life chapters; families have life chapters; local churches have life chapters. Some chapters are introductory with a focus on training and preparation. Some chapters are interludes, serving as stepping stones and bridges. Other chapters contain major assignments designed to make major contributions. While we’re still in the middle of a chapter, we just want to enjoy it and get the most benefit we can out of it. But there are times when we sense we are coming to the end of a chapter, and that means finding a way to conclude the chapter while anticipating and preparing for what is to come.

The most important “new chapter” anyone could ever experience is the journey out of death into life. One day when Jesus was teaching the crowd he made this profound statement: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). Since we live in the “Bible Belt,” almost everyone has heard the Gospel and claims to be a “Christian” (at least culturally). Yet rarely do we consider the implications of the Gospel for our lives. In this passage Jesus is literally claiming that before we “believed him,” before we turned to God with a heart of repentance and faith, we only experienced death. In fact, we are born dead. Before you get too excited let me remind you that the biblical definition of death is “separation from God.” Because the essence of sin is any and every attempt to live independently from God, by definition sin separates us from God. The only possible outcome of sin is death. However, when we respond to the Good News of God’s provision of restoration/reconciliation/salvation through Jesus, we “cross over” from death to life. Those who believe are literally removed from one place and transferred to another; they depart one place in order to journey into an entirely different place. This is not only a new chapter, it is a whole new life, a new existence, with a new destiny and a new purpose. How is this possible? “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). True life is found only in God, the Father and the Son. There is no other source of life. To the extent that we live our lives independently from God, doing our own thing, finding our own way, we are dead. To the extent we are united with God through Jesus, we are alive – with an abundant, overflowing, divine-quality of life.

We then understand that we experience the life of God in community. The local church is a family of families, journeying together, sharing together in the life and mission of Christ. The central celebration of that life and journey is the “Lord’s Supper” (also called “Communion” or the “Eucharist”). In the Bible, every covenant was celebrated with a covenant meal as an expression of the all-important “table fellowship.” It was a reminder of the grace, goodness and faithfulness of God that had rescued us from death and brought us into God’s own kingdom community. In fact, the first church in Jerusalem was devoted to “the breaking of bread” as a part of their weekly lifestyle (Acts 2:42). The apostle Paul loved to reflect on the new covenant meal. He described it this way: “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). When we worship around the table of the Lord we are joining in the fellowship made possible by the blood of Christ. Our celebration is a very significant sign of our fellowship in the body of Christ. When we worship together we are declaring that because Jesus allowed his body to be broken, we can now be “one loaf,” united together by our common faith and dedication to Christ. We worship as “one body,” a new community made up of all those who are sharing in the life of Christ – young and old, rich and poor, black and white, men and women, from every culture, nation and situation in the world. While our society is divided and sick, filled with hostility and injustice, the body of Christ is one, celebrating the body and blood of our Lord as one.

As we come to the end of this year we are coming to the end of a chapter, indeed the end of a season. We’re trusting God to give us the grace and wisdom to close one chapter and move with strength and freedom into the next chapter God has written for us. It has been a grand journey filled with exciting challenges and lessons learned. Because we are still human, there have been misunderstandings and disappointments. Yet we come as one body to worship our Lord in a spirit of unity and renewed commitment to the rule of Christ in our lives and in our world. May our hearts be knit together, excluding no one from the life of Christ and the life of the community. We can say with confidence, the best is yet to come!