January 2025

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”  (Proverbs 3:5-6).

“Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31).

It is a new year, a time to reflect on all that happened in 2024 and to anticipate and look forward to all that 2025 holds.  It is a time that many folks around the world are making resolutions in an effort to make 2025 better than 2024 or 2023; people are making resolutions to make themselves healthier, or to be happier, or feel more fulfilled, or many other things.  Hope springs eternal on January 1st and the possibilities for the new year seem almost limitless.  For many, it almost feels as though the slate is wiped clean and we get a fresh start.

And I think this idea of a fresh start is a very good thing for the church in the 21st century; we really could use a fresh start.  We have seen time and time again that, in many ways, Christians have lost sight of what it truly means to be the Church of Jesus Christ.  In many churches, Christians have expended too much energy and effort in being culturally relevant, in fitting in with the ideals of mainstream society; they focus on social justice issues, critical race theory, LGBTQ ideology or they teach that the Bible isn’t the inerrant Word of God or that Jesus isn’t the only way to eternal life.  In other churches, Christians have expended too much energy and effort in maintaining the status quo, in holding onto the past and what makes us happy; they are unwavering in their devotion to, and demand for, “the way things have always been done:”  traditional hymns, traditional liturgy, and/or following the liturgical calendar exactly.  

And I’m here to tell you that both of these approaches to church are problematic.  If we focus too much on being culturally relevant and fitting in, we run the risk of watering down God’s Word and condoning sinful lifestyles and behaviors; if we focus too much on maintaining the status quo and sticking to tradition unwaveringly, we run the risk of becoming unwilling to follow where the Holy Spirit is leading us.  As the Church of Jesus Christ, it is our responsibility to boldly step out in faith and follow wherever the Spirit leads while also being unwilling to sacrifice or suppress the truth and commands of God’s Word.  The job of the Church is to go and make disciples, to be witnesses to the world of the love, grace, and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, and we cannot effectively accomplish this task unless we are willing to be both bold in following the Spirit and faithful to the Word of God.

That’s what the passage from Proverbs above is getting at; it’s telling us that, no matter where we go, no matter what we do, individually or corporately, we need to submit to God and follow His Will for our lives.  If we sacrifice fidelity to Scripture in order to be culturally relevant and appealing, we are not submitting to God, we are leaning on our own understanding of what we think church should be.  If we rigidly and unwaveringly strive to maintain tradition and the status quo rather than being open to where the Spirit is leading us, we are also not submitting to God but leaning on our own understanding of what we think church should be.  Instead, we need to be trusting in the Lord to lead us and lead our church where He would have us go and to what He would have us do, submitting the direction of the church to His Will and relying on the Spirit to lead us down the right path.

And, it is so important that we do this, that we trust in the Lord and His plan for our church rather than our own plans because, as the passage from Isaiah says above, we can’t fathom His understanding.  He has a plan for Franklin Presbyterian, and for all churches, in 2025; and though we may not be able to see it right now, even though we might not be able to fully understand it, we can trust that, if we submit to it, He will make our path straight and will give us renewed strength to walk that path.  I know that we have many folks in our church who are tired and weary; who have spent so many years raising families, working careers, and volunteering at church, and are just ready for some rest and some relief.  But, even though our families grow up, even though we retire from our careers, we never retire from working for God’s Kingdom until He calls us home to be with Him; as long as He keeps us here on this earth, there is more work for us to do.

So, my hope for our church, my resolution for our church, is that we will always remember to put our hope in the Lord.  That we will continue to run the race that He has laid out for us in 2025, continue to work hard for the Lord and for the advancement of His Kingdom, trusting that we will not grow weary or faint because the Lord will continually renew our strength.  My resolution is that we will boldly step out in faith and trust that the Lord will lead us to where He wants us to be; that we will submit to Him and to His plan and put in the work required of us to get there.  Our church is not without its challenges: we are a small church on the outskirts of town that is struggling to figure out how to reach the unchurched, that is struggling to figure out how to reach the younger generation; challenges which we share with many churches in our country, challenges to which we are constantly searching for new and innovative solutions.

However, I fully believe that if we put our trust and hope in the Lord, if we boldly follow His plans for our church, He will strengthen us and 2025 can and will be a year that we will soar on wings like eagles, a year where God will use us in amazing ways that we could never have imagined.  So my hope is that each one of us, as we make our resolutions to exercise more, eat better, drink less coffee, spend more time with friends, or whatever else, we will also make a resolution to recommit ourselves to the truth of Scripture, commit ourselves to being bold in following the Holy Spirit wherever He might lead, and commit ourselves to continue working for the Kingdom.  If each of us does that, there's no telling how high the church can soar and the impact we can make for God’s Kingdom.  I can think of no better resolution, no better goal, for this new year.

May the blessings of the Father and the peace of the Son be with you,

Pastor Keith