Sermon: The Same Old New Year Again

There are those people who will determine to lose weight in ’08, become more beautiful, more magnificent, more disciplined . . . and by the end of January they will be lighter, more beautiful, more magnificent, disciplined people. The rest of us, the other 99% of the world, we hate those people. We hate those people because change for us is an outright chore. By January 5th we will realize we have only gained more weight, what beauty we had is quickly fading, our magnificence is missing, and we are too disorganized to become disciplined. Why can’t we change, because deep within us, where it matters most, we don’t want to change. We want to patch the problems, preserve our traditions, and we refuse to forsake our preferences. And so we list our resolutions, but all in all, in a few days we will realize it is the same old New Year again.

Jesus addressed a group of people who practiced forms of faith but were entirely disconnected with God. Why? They were disconnected because they refused to change. You can determine to be a more spiritual person in ’08, read more Bible, pray more, go to church more often. But if we cannot deal with the core of our being that refuses to change even though we are practicing forms of faith, we will remain entirely disconnected with God. How do we experience deep, long lasting change? How can we find life and freshness in the forms of faith? The answer is in this simple parable Jesus told about change.

Listen to audio of the sermon “The Same Old New Year Again.”