07 Jan New Year, New Possibilities

Happy 2022 to you!

One of the consistent themes in the Christian Scriptures is that of “newness”. God’s “mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23); we are to “sing to [God] a new song” (Psalm 33:3); we can look forward to a “new heavens and a new earth”.

So while on one hand, a “new year” may only be another rotation of our planet around the star we orbit, on the other hand, we read how God created a calendar and a month-by-month system of living, complete with its own “New Year’s Day”, scheduled feasts…and of course, fasts.

There is something to be said, spiritually speaking, for a new year with new possibilities before us.

Once upon a time, when God’s people were at a “new place”, with a “new possibility” before them, they were exhorted to “consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3:5).

…which brings me to the point and heart of our upcoming church-wide fast beginning next Monday and continuing through next Friday.

The point, and heart, of all of this is that word: consecration.

While fasting–traditionally the denial of food to the body for spiritual reasons–is a great discipline and brings a number of health benefits, the true heart of it is to set oneself aside for the purposes of God.

The point is consecration, and so where our New Year and a “new fast” meet, my hope for us is a conscious consecration.

Who knows what “wonders” God might do among us as we fast, pray and consecrate ourselves next week together, along with thousands of other Christians around the world in our global Every Nation spiritual family?

We have done our best to make this fast as meaningful as possible for you:

• There is a daily devotional guide, available both online and in our lobby on Sunday.
• There are daily videos to encourage you from global church leaders in Every Nation (I was asked to do one this year; it’s this coming Monday’s), and we will be sending these to you.
• Our message series this month is on what it means to “Abide” in Christ.
• We’ll have daily, in-person prayer meetings from 12 – 1 pm and 6 – 7 pm in the Student Center.
• We want to pray for you individually and personally! Please sign up here to receive a personal prayer call, where one of our prayer leaders would love to pray with you for your own life or someone else’s. We have seen God do many amazing things through these intentional moments.
• There will be a culminating Night of Worship next Friday (January 14) at 6:30 pm.

…the list goes on.

For more information about what it means to fast and to prepare for the fast, download the devotional guide. (There’s a family guide, too!)

I hope you’ll see that we really want this to be a great growth experience for you, as we live out our call to be Christian disciples.

I really am grateful for this upcoming time with all of you and look forward to our conscious consecration together.

With love,
Morgan