“Transformation”

SCRIPTURE

They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. - Isaiah 2:4

REFLECTION

As much as we purge stuff at our house from time-to-time, we also hang onto things. A good many of these things wind up in the garage and go unnoticed for a good long while. Yesterday, Ryan went into the garage in search of an old video game system we’d long since packed away to see if he could set it up and play some of the old games he and Coop used to play back when we still lived in NJ. After realizing that the tech was so old that he couldn’t hook it up to anything he had, we found a way to make it work and he had a blast revisiting days past. It brought him a lot of joy, and it was fun to watch him enjoy himself so much.

Sometimes, repurposing the old is just as worthwhile and joyful as creating the new.

Isaiah shares such a vision with us in his second chapter. We spend a lot of time and energy thinking about and envisioning the new heaven and the new earth that we hear about in the New Testament. Yet back in Isaiah he presents us with a vision where what we already have is repurposed and transformed. It’s the ultimate form of cosmic recycling.

It is a profound message of hope to think that what is already here, as imperfect, violent, painful, and gut wrenching as the world and we can be, can be transformed into something more wonderful and more beautiful. We don’t necessarily have to have it all be swept away and have something completely new and different put in its place. We may be seduced by the latest and greatest thing and think we have to toss out all that came before, yet there are profound moments when what we already have is worth re-examining and seeing if it can’t be re-worked and transformed into something better.

You just might find, as Ryan did, that it’s worth the effort and will bring you a lot of joy.

PRAYER

Creating God, remind us of the power of transformation and that as much as we look forward to the New, we can also use our power of creativity and vision to transform ourselves and the world we already live in to become more of what you intend.

Amen.

Peace,

Shawn