From Ashes to New Beginnings

So, this was yet another series of jotted ideas in my mini-composition book from way back in the fall. But as I was putting these thoughts into blog entries, I realized how awesome our service at church today tied into this message of renewal.

Today at church we celebrated a service very unique to any worship experience I have ever had. It was a Wesleyan Covenant Service. During the service, there is a litany that addresses all the areas and parts of us and our lives we must relinquish and prepare in order to covenant with our Lord.

The man leading the service prefaced this litany by saying that a covenant is different than a goal. He shared how his family set goals each new year for individuals in the family and for the family as a whole. They come together mid-year for a "status report" (my words). At the end of one year and the beginning of the next, they see what goals were met. Not all goals are met. He said that we all sometimes fall short of our goals. In fact, we could look back on the year and count it a total flop, a total failure. But a covenant with God...it will still be there.

My original thoughts were scribbled notes about second chances and new beginnings and growth through pain, tragedies, and mistakes. By making my own covenant with God, He offers me growth, a new beginning, and a second chance. He will not break the covenant. If I were to have formed the covenant, it would be me to break it.

The song that came to mind during my brainstorming was "Ashes" by Shawn McDonald. But as I write in my journal, I find interest in the verses of Scripture found on the first two pages of this entry.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, and in accordance with the riches of God's grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

I trust in Your unfailing love. I will rejoice because You have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because He has been so good to me. (Psalm 13:5-6)

Both passages have portions that flow with the theme of the song and with my thoughts for this entry.

"Ashes"--Shawn McDonald
Yes I will rise
Out of these ashes rise
From this trouble I have found
And this rubble on the ground
I will rise

Yes I will rise
Out of these ashes rise
From this trouble I have found
And this rubble on the ground
I will rise
'Cause He Who is in me
Is greater than I will ever be
And I will rise

Sometimes my heart is on the ground
And hope is nowhere to be found
Love is a figment I once knew
And yet I hold on to what I know is true

Yes I will rise
Out of these ashes rise
From this trouble I have found
And this rubble on the ground
I will rise
'Cause He Who is in me
Is greater than I will ever be
And I will rise

Well I keep on coming to this place
That I don't know quite how to face
So I lay down my life in hopes to die
That somehow I might rise

Yes I will rise
Out of these ashes rise
From this trouble I have found
And this rubble on the ground
I will rise
'Cause He Who is in me
Is greater than I will ever be
And I will rise

Some of the litany today spoke of (very roughly paraphrased) the Lord giving us everything and giving us nothing and that in spite of the bad and all through the good, I will keep my covenant with Him. It should not matter what the circumstance, I should always praise my Lord.

Shawn McDonald speaks of the new beginning we can find in Christ. It does not matter what we have done or the broken pieces we have become, when we form a covenant with our Lord, He can make us new. But in order to become new, we must first die to the old...the old habits, the old ways of placing idols (money, material things, etc.) in front of the Lord. As he states in the song,"So I lay down my life in hopes to die that somehow I might rise."

In dying to my old way of living, in recognizing the "rubble on the ground" (misplaced priorities), in bringing all of myself to the Lord, I can rise out of the ashes of my old self and into the light of my Lord. There, I can show all of myself, blemishes and all. I can fall at His feet with a truly open heart ready to commit all of me to my God. What an awesome way to start my new year...a new beginning with a new me born out of the ashes and risen to stand in covenant with my Lord!