A New Creation is Everything!

My favorite song from the popular musical “Wicked” (which wasn’t sung in the movie released last fall) is sung almost at the end. It is the final meeting of the two main characters who have been friends and enemies, partners and rivals throughout the show. When they meet, under less-than-ideal circumstances right before the end, they sing this song, knowing that they will probably never see each other again. It is an apology and an affirmation and an acknowledgment of a deep and lasting connection, of the impact that a person can make on another life. It is titled “For Good,” and composer Stephen Schwartz considers it one of the best songs he’s ever written.

“I've heard it said / that people come into our lives for a reason / bringing something we must learn / and we are led / to those who help us most to grow / if we let them / and we help them in return // Well, I don't know if I believe that's true / but I know I'm who I am today / because I knew you...”

Songwriter: Stephen Lawrence Schwartz
For Good lyrics © Universal Music Corp., Greydog Music.

The song recognizes the influence that others bring to our lives and the impact that they make, often in surprising, but permanent ways. The turn of the phrase of the title is that the beneficial (for good) influence from those close to us has a permanent (for good) effect. It stays with us. We are different because of the good that others bring to our lives. “You'll be with me / like a handprint on my heart,” Elphaba sings.

This week, we conclude part one of our series “Dear Children of God” series by asking what it means to be a new creation. I have long maintained that to fully grasp Paul’s writing, you have to think in plurals. We tend to think in singulars: What can I do? How can I grow in discipleship? The new creation Paul describes is a relationship, a community. We are a new creation. My faith is wrapped up in your faith, my growth in your growth. Paul asks us in the sixth chapter of Galatians to measure our faith by our impact on the wider community and the folks around us. In the middle of our text for this week, we read this:

What do you hear in these two verses? I couldn’t help but hear this one, simple phrase: “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right.” Pretty simple, really. “Just hang in there,” says Paul, “Just keep plugging away.” Service in the name of Christ is a marathon and not a sprint, as so many have written or said. So, keep at it.

Yet that hardly seems satisfactory. The idea that there is a reserve in me, that through sheer force of will, I can keep my nose to the grindstone, can keep putting one foot in front of another, driving myself into more and better service to God and my neighbor, is daunting at best, nonsense at worst. It just isn’t within me to keep going when I want to stop. It isn’t within me to keep serving when the energy runs out or the selflessness begins to wane. So, to what could Paul be referring when he says, “Let us not grow weary”?

The problems in the church at Galatia were many and complicated. There was division at the core of the church. There was some serious theological debate, but mostly the division had to do with practice— how they lived out this new faith. It got to the point of name-calling, separation, anger, and frustration. All this grieved Paul, as you might imagine. But he wasn’t ready to give up.

Chapter six begins with a conversation about how to deal with conflict. Using phrases like “spirit of gentleness” and “bear one another’s burdens,” Paul sets out a radically different tone for the church when it comes to division. Instead of using the “whoever shouts the loudest” model of group dynamic, Paul wants the church to understand that there are different priorities and methodologies.

He includes a warning of sorts, implying that there are responsibilities to those “who have been taught the Word.” There are expectations and a calling to live up to. There is a standard to keep.

It is during that conversation that verses 9 and 10 appear. The word “especially” caught me. At first, it was an embarrassment. Surely, Paul, we aren’t to be an inward-looking organization, concerned first with taking care of ourselves. Surely, we aren’t to have a me-first mentality. What else could “especially for those of the family of faith” mean?

It could mean we can sustain working for good only when we do it in partnership with the wider community. It means that since I am incapable of sustaining the desire to do good, build up, work for the kingdom and kin-dom of God all on my own, I need to work in concert with brothers and sisters in the faith. I need reminders that I am not alone. I need the family of faith.

That, I believe, is what “especially” means in verse ten. It is not that Christians are more worthy of good works or acts of kindness than non-Christians. But we are always looking for ways to cultivate the kind of relationships that will keep us connected and build up the body.

We are looking for and creating relationships whereby we are transformed by those who have come into our lives. We are made better; we are encouraged and equipped to be better, to serve with passion, care, and love. We have been remade for good, and we will continue to serve as long as we stay connected. We will not grow weary as long as we are sustained by the body of Christ.

Paul’s argument, then, would be that people do come into our lives for a reason, and we are in other people’s lives for a reason. That reason is to be shaped for service in the name of Christ. And to be so shaped for good.