I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies
of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,
wo that you may discern the will of God—
what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12: 1-2
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Dear Friends,
I’m thinking, this week, about the word, “transformation.” It is a word that, I believe, is to be found at the heart of the gospel message. Jesus continually invited the people he encountered to experience the power of God’s transforming love in their lives. The gospels, of course, tell this story oftransformation in different ways. They tell stories of the blind receiving their sight, stories of the lame being ableto walk, and stories about the sick and tormented being made well.
In many ways, the Gospel story can be understood as a story about the ways in which Jesus initiated a fundamental change or transformation in the lives of the people that he encountered. Simply put, they were never again the same after their encounter with Jesus. They looked at themselves differently and, as a result, they chose to live their lives differently from the way they hadbefore. They were changed. Transformation, you see, is a part of the central equation of faith as described in much of the New Testament.
I sometimes find myself wondering just where this word, “transformation” fits in our own vocabulary of faith today. It is a word that doesn’t seem to be used as often as it once was. Perhaps we aren’t as inclined to think about the ways in which our faith evokes a change in us. Perhaps it seems too old fashioned to do so. And yet, I can’t help butthink that it would be wise for us to reclaim our understanding of its central importance in our own equation of faith.
After all, the Spirit of God still moves in ways that invite us to change our point of view and our orientation in living. In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul invites his readers, including you and me, to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we might discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
That is, I believe, good advice. This week in worship, I will be “thinking out loud” about the importance of the experience of transformation in our own walk of faith. In preparation for Sunday’s worship, you might want to reflect upon your own experience of transformation and the ways that you have experienced a change in your way of understanding yourself, God and the world around you.
Transformation may be a word that, some would suggest, is a bit old-fashioned, but, from my point of view, it could not be more contemporary. I look forward to Sunday and the opportunity to explore this idea with you a bit further. In the meantime, have a good “rest of the week.”
Grace & Peace,
Ron
Rev. Ron Dunn