Everything New Under The Sun

September 25: Thursday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17; Luke 9:7-9

What is Jesus saying to us as stewards of his kingship? 

(To support Reaching Jesus: 5 Steps to a Fuller Life... Step Five).

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“Fill us at daybreak… that we may shout for joy” (Psalm 90:14).

God inspired Qoheleth to express the hopelessness humans often feel: “What has been, will be... Nothing is new under the sun.” But in the New Testament “new” appears forty-eight times. For example:

This cup is the new covenant in my blood… So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! You have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge … God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus… In accordance with his promise, we wait [and work!] for new heavens and a new earth… for the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband… And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”

Christianity is authentic only as long as it is news to us. And we are authentic Christians only if we are making things new in the world: revealing new insights, embodying new values, introducing new policies and practices where we live and work; in short, creating a new culture in our society. If we have nothing new to offer, we are not offering Christianity—or experiencing it.

PRAY: “Lord, make me new wine here.”

PRACTICE: Shine new light on everything. Get it from reading Scripture.