Dear congregation, dear friends! "Jubilate" is today's third Sunday after Easter. "Rejoice! Praise God, all lands" – says Psalm 66, from which this invitation to rejoice comes. Does that fit? Who is rejoicing today when the whole world has become rather silent and we have been asked for months to stay at home? Perhaps more appropriate is the saying of the week: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has passed away, behold, new things have become" (2 Cor 5:17). Are we not experiencing a massive renewal of our world, our everyday life, our habits and all the things we need to think about in totally new ways? Yes, a lot is new to us. With each passing day, it becomes clearer that the familiar old is in some ways really over, and that an as yet unknown new thing is becoming: the faces of the people who meet us in supermarkets or public institutions, the faces covered with mouth and nose protection, rules of distancing, hygiene measures, avoidance of physical contact, no hugs – interpersonal behavior has taken on many new forms that we do not necessarily like. We cannot yet foresee how the reality of our economy and our society as a whole will "renew", but it will. What renewal is Paul here talking about? What is the old passing away, and what does it mean to be a new creation in Christ? It is certainly not about external change. Faith in Christ does not make a us younger, and the old burdens are not gone at once.
Renewal primarily encompasses the inner human being. And there you have to pay attention to the prefix "Re" with which the word "renewal" begins. "Re" stands for "Again or Return". This prefix means a return to something that had been before. Renewal is also a return to a state that has been there before. I am thinking of examples of re-conciliation: after a long struggle, after a long separation, two people who have reconciled return to a state of their relationship that was at the beginning. They are happy again together. Despite the time that has elapsed, they can look forward confidently again. It's not something completely new that these two are experiencing. But they now feel like they are new, as if equipped with new strength. I think each and every one of us knows how that feels. In this sense, the Apostle Paul also means “renewal”. Only he is talking about the relationship between us humans and God. This relationship had been good as part of God's creation as we heard earlier today. It was part of what the verse of the story of creation means: "And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). But through the disobedience and blindness of us humans, this relationship has been destroyed. We have chosen our own path without God, and this path has since been marked by our separation from God. Through Jesus Christ, God offers people a way to “re”-store, “re”-new this destroyed relationship. God in Jesus offers us reconciliation and takes the first step. That is why the Apostle Paul continues to write: "God was in Christ and
reconciled the world to himself and did not count their sins upon them..." (2 Cor 5, 19). Reconciliation is a wonderful thing. Anyone who has been reconciled with another person knows what I am talking about. Reconciliation with God, however, is more than reconciliation between two people. It is reconciliation with the reason and origin of my life; it is reconciliation with the place and with the time I am in; it is reconciliation with the world in which I was born; it is reconciliation with the world that I am creating around me, it is not the perfect world, but it is unique and worth standing up for; it is also the reconciliation with the future that lies ahead of me and from which I will one day leave this world. Perhaps it is precisely the Corona crisis that challenges us to “re”-discover ourselves as reconciled: that we can strengthen again what unites us and reduce what divides us. Reconciliation also means that we no longer walk on our way of life on your own, but together, by agreement, as a team. Jesus once spoke in his famous Sermon on the Mount with his disciples, his team, about the fact that they were renewed, blessed people when we live with God in the way he was describing. Many times Jesus called us “blessed”, that means to be blessed, "to be happy"... But the best way to translate “being blessed” is with being "renewed" ...
Right after my sermon you will hear a song that sings about the Sermon on the Mount and describes this state of being blessed, these beatitudes as the new creation, as the new reality of being “renewed". I am reading the text of the song: Renewed are you Renewed are you when you are not crushed if the reality of your wishes are not being fulfilled. Renewed are you as a state that describes how your stay in peace with yourself and with God in the spaces where otherwise only the laws of the fittest and strongest reign, in those spaces the renewed ones come with meekness instead of violence they walk the second mile and offer the other cheek and the logic of this world loses its meaning. Whoever is poor in spirit Whoever knows what makes them a beggar before God They will be renewed because all the riches of God are smiling at them, for God satisfies in us this hunger for justice and peace God connects us in the consolation that runs through his words God renews who listens to them and lives after them
People are renewed, they become healed through our faith and trust we are being renewed, Mercy and reconciliation has happened when we strayed and were thrown out of our lane. Purity is no reason for arrogance Whoever is pardoned does not throw the first stone that's why we sow new seeds, we have hope for the world even when grief at times clouds our eyes. Whoever is poor in spirit, Whoever recognizes what makes them a beggar before God These persons will be renewed Because all the riches of God smile at them, for he quiets in us this hunger for justice and peace he binds us with the consolation that runs through your words Renewed are who listen to them and who live after them Renewed! Renewed! Renewed, here we are Renewed, renewed here with you Because you are satisfying in us
this hunger for justice and peace You connect us in the consolation that runs through your words. Renewed is who listens to them and lives after them in the consolation that runs through your words Renewed, blessed is who hears them and lives after them. Amen