When renewal begins

After Romans 12:2 and Luke 6:43-45 

When renewal begins,

the old is gutted or

torn down, replaced 

by the new and lasting.

Renewal can be painful,

a tearing out, not unlike

removing a hurting,

diseased, rotting tooth,

extracted for our good,

replaced for our renewal. 

Renewal is a process,

not a transformation

overnight. Renewal is

lifelong, dismantling

the old to establish

the new. And sometimes

progress can only be

seen and understood

at the end. In the meantime,

all creation groans.

 

Photograph by Marek Studzinski via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Resurrection – poem by R.S. Thomas at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Why Does John Mention That He Outran Peter to Jesus’ Tomb? – A.W. Workman at Entrusted to the Dirt.

 

Jesus Lives! – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Easter Isn’t Over – Seth Lewis.

 

“A Cowboy’s Prayer,” poem by Badger Clark – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

What we bear

After Romans 12:2 and Luke 6:43-45 

We are known

by the fruit we bear,

and we all bear

fruit. A good, healthy

trees bears good, healthy

fruit; a bad tree, and 

an evil tree, do not.

Good comes from good,

evil comes from evil.

Our hearts are storehouses

of treasure, an abundance

of treasure. Good treasure

produces good; bad treasure

produces bad. Good treasure

comes from renewal, 

renewal of your heart,

renewal of your mind,

renewal of your soul,

not from the word but

from the Spirit. Renewal

becomes transformation

becomes production

of good.

 

Photograph by Mary Jane Duford via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

On Netflix and Narnia: Three Questions and a Convicting Scene – Ryanne Molinari.

 

Hymn for Advent: Or Christ’s Coming to Jerusalem in Triumph – poem by Jeremy Taylor at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin). 

 

Five Years After Gentle and Lowly, Evangelicals Still Need to Remember the Love of Jesus – Samuel D. James at Digital Liturgies.

 

“Children of the Heavenly King,” hymn by John Cennick – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Learning to Listen: Engaging with Longer Prayers in Worship – Erik Raymond at The Gospel Coalition.