Becoming Like Christ: Springing Back to Life
Wednesday, March 24
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Becoming Like Christ:
Springing Back to Life
Genesis 1
Rev. Kristen Koger
“In the beginning…God. In the beginning…God created. And it was good.” Genesis 1 (the Pastor KK summary version)
My brother and sister-in-law recently moved into a new house with a large yard and lots of landscaping opportunities. My brother is the type of person who gets an idea in his head and it’s really hard to convince him to do anything different or to slow down a bit before acting on the vision in his head. Some people would call that stubborn, he calls it decisive.
When they moved into the house about a month ago, one of the first things he wanted to do was to start tearing up the flower beds and other areas where there were bushes or trees. He wanted to get the outside of the house ready for spring and spring planting. My sister-in-law was able to convince him to just wait a little bit before he tackled the outside of the house; there were more important inside jobs…like painting bedrooms and fixing the kitchen.
A few days ago, my brother sent me a video of my nephew. They came outside to go to preschool, and my nephew saw some daffodils that bloomed. He ran over to them, squealing with delight and saying, “Daddy come look! The flowers were born!” Each day before leaving for school, they have to take a tour around the yard to see if there are any more flowers that have been born. These days with the yard springing to life, there is usually something new to discover.
This time of year, it is so fun to be a part of as the world around us is waking up. The world is noisy as birds are building nests and soon eggs will hatch; the days are brighter for longer; plants are blooming, and pollen is increasing.
But this spring feels so much different than springs of years past. In more ways than one, it feels like the world is waking up as we are able to slowly begin coming out of our pandemic-induced fog and cave-like houses. With the time change also comes more light, and with more and more folx getting vaccines, there seems to be light at the end of this long, dark COVID tunnel.
Last year, I wrote a devotion about how one of the unexpected gifts from working from home was to be able to watch the tree next to my apartment balcony go through the different stages of life. When I first started working from home, the branches were still bare; but then leaves began to sprout and grow and the tree provided shade, and then they changed colors and the leaves began to fall until we returned to the same looking tree with bare branches.
Last year, the unexpected gift was to be able to be still long enough to notice the ways the world comes alive in the spring. Normally I wouldn’t give myself permission to sit still for a portion of each day to notice things like budding trees and blooming flowers. But last year, I noticed.
This year, I don’t want to miss that again. So while it does seem like the human-created world around me is waking up this spring, I am reminded that the God-created world is too. Even though things are starting to pick up speed again, I remind myself that it is good to sit and soak in the beauty of God’s creation.
We each have our own favorite characteristics of God: God the protector, God the parent, God of unconditional love, God the grace-giver. But how often do we talk about the creativity of God and then find ways to appreciate that creativity in the world around us.
I consider myself a creative person- I enjoy crafts or coming up with funny songs to sing to the kiddos in my life or fun games to play with my nephew over a video call. I follow so many “creator” accounts on social media because I am so impressed by the creativity of others in whatever form it presents itself.
It should be no wonder that there are so many different types of creativity and so many different ways to express it- all we have to do is look around at the world we live in and see creativity displayed in front of us.
Spring has arrived. Creativity in the world around us is abundant. As we begin this next season, this next chapter, how will you find ways to discover creativity in your own life? How will you make time to be creative in whatever form or manner that brings you joy? How will you give thanks to our Creative God for all the things that have been created? How will you see these creations as very good?
Prayer
Creative and Creating God, we pray that we might not take the incredible imagination, hopes, and dreams you had and have for the world for granted. As we look at the world that surrounds us, may we appreciate the creativity that went into everything you created- from the tiniest, delicate flowers to the strong, tall trees; from the fluttering butterflies to the chirping birds; from those of us who can’t draw a stick figure to those of us who paint masterpieces- God, you created each of us in your image, and that is very good. Thank you for the gift of your creative spirit and the ways that it shows up in so many different forms. Amen.
About “Becoming Like Christ” (Weekly Lenten Reflections)
In 2019, we developed a 7-week long series packed full of devotions called “Exploring Humanity and Divinity.” It was about wrestling with our humanity as we seek to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.
After a tumultuous last year, and with tensions high on political, cultural, and social levels, it seems that “wrestling” is just as relevant today as it was two years ago.
In that spirit, we believed it would be healthy to resurrect a similar theme to this year’s Lenten devotional series: Becoming Like Christ.