We have just completed our celebration of Advent, culminating in the arrival of our savior Jesus, who is the Messiah, the Lord. The waiting during the Advent season reminds me of the first three versus of Psalm 40, “1I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.”Psalm 40 tells us that “he put a new song in my mouth,” but we sometimes find it hard to like and appreciate a new song. We know what we like, we get comfortable with our old songs, so we keep singing them over and over. It may even start to sound like we are playing a broken record, repeating the same thing over and over, and maybe

even annoying everyone around us. Obviously getting comfortable with old songs is a metaphor of how we can get stuck in our lives and our faith. We have our routines that work of us, and that’s the way we like it. We have a song that we sing and we sing it over and over until it is almost dull and lifeless. We may talk about wanting change, wanting to move forward individually as Christians and as a church, wanting to bring more people to the word and expand our impact in the community, but all too often we simply return to our old familiar songs that keep us stuck. The great theologian and civil rights leader, Rev. Howard Thurman in his book, The Moods of Christmas, writes I Will Sing a New Song, “The old song of my spirit has wearied itself out. It has long ago been learned by heart; it repeats itself over and over,

bringing no added joy to my days or lift to my spirit. I will sing a new song. I must learn the new song for the new needs. I must fashion new words born of all the new growth of my life–of my mind–of my spirit. I must prepare for new melodies that have never been mine before, that all that is within me may lift my voice unto God. Therefore, I shall rejoice with each new day, and delight my spirit in each fresh unfolding. I will sing, this day, a new song unto the Lord.” We have entered a new year, and many of us have probably made resolutions to improve our physical bodies, but what about a resolution to improve the Body of Christ here at Park View Christian Church? We should ask ourselves, and be honest in our responses, if we are doing all that we can to be a vibrant witness to our savior Jesus Christ and as he instructed us in Mark 16: 15, “go into all the

world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” Am I singing an old song because I like it, and potentially ignoring a new song that will have our church make a bigger impact in the world. I pray that this coming year that God will give me a new song, a new life, a new vision, and a new joy. Amen.

Jason Chuma, Worship Chair