The Scripture Reading this week is: Romans 12:1-2, 13:8-14
The Sermon title is Renewed to Love
Early Thoughts: How do we know if our minds are being renewed and our lives transformed? Are we aware when we are in fact being conformed to the world around us?
There are times I find Paul a challenging writer to read. There are times when I think he (or sometimes the people later writing in his name) is way off base. There are time I wonder if he himself knows what his position is (the passage in 1 Corinthians 8 about eating meat comes to mind). Then there are times when I find he hits the nail squarely and clearly on the head. This week's reading (and indeed the rest of Romans 12 which we are not reading this week) are in this last category.
The letter to the Romans is a little unique among Paul's letters. Most of the letters are Paul writing back to communities where he has been before to encourage them/remind them how to follow Christ/exhort them to do better, but as Paul writes to the Roman Christians he has yet to be in Rome. He plans to get there, or hopes to get there and this letter is his way of introducing himself to the community in preparation for his arrival.
Paul himself (according to his words and the descriptions of Paul's life we find in Acts) has experienced transformation and a renewed mind. He knows full well that to follow The Way of Jesus, the Christ, means allowing God to renew and transform you. We need to be opened to new ways of understanding the world so that we can discern how God is calling us to live. In fact Romans 12:2 is one of my favoured verses in all of Scripture.
To my mind, the biggest sign of renewed minds and transformed lives in Christ is love. After all Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbours and enemies, either as we love ourselves or as God first loved us. The law of life in Christ is the law of love. Everything else flows from that.
We live in a world where the law of love does not always seem to be the primary guiding principle. We live in a world where there is strong encouragement to follow the way of the world, to conform to its values and assumptions and ways of living. This is not new, it has always been so. When we choose to follow Jesus we need to open ourselves to a different way of being. Sometimes conforming to the world around us leads us in the wrong direction.
Are we ready to allow our minds to be renewed and our lives transformed? Are we ready to listen, watch , and discern who God would have us be in the world?
--Gord
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