The Oneness of God’s Loving Son

1/4/2026

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come.

A new year is upon us and next week we will do the Letter to God and the Burning Bowl ceremony. This week I want to look at the idea of new beginnings and what it means to us, and the paradox of our spiritual identities.

Each of us lives under a holy tension, between what we have been and what Christ is making us to be. I often use the phrase, “God is not done with us yet.” We are in transition – always growing and changing. The Apostle Paul speaks to this in Ephesians 4:22 –You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

The journey of faith is not destruction of the old self, but revitalization of it. Our past, personality, and wounds are not discarded, but we are healed of our erred ways. Grace does not erase our past; it transfigures it into declaration. Philosopher Ken Wilbur says that our evolution takes the old of who we were, keeps what is useful, and then transcends what we were. That is how God’s Grace works through us.

Our spiritual growth will include some paradoxes that at first may confuse us. For instance, in Psalm 46:10, God invites us to: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Yet Romans 12:2 exhorts us to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Stillness and motion coexist; rest and renewal are one act. American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, and poet, Thomas Merton once said, “Our real journey in life is interior: it is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love and grace in our hearts.”

We are peace and at the same time energy and vitality. Philippians 4:7, tells us “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Yet Acts 1:8 tells us, “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Spirit within us is both dynamic energy and deep peace — the power that moves us and the calm that centers us. As Saint Augustine wrote, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” The Holy Spirit harmonizes our restlessness into divine peace.

The essence of our spiritual growth and journey is that we are changing, growing, and transforming into the oneness of Christ. Through Christ, we are drawn into divine unity. We are told in John 17:23, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” Our connection with Christ bridges the infinite distance between humanity and divinity which, as 2 Peter 1:4 says, enables us “to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”  C.S. Lewis captured this mystery: “The Son of God became man to enable men to become sons of God.” This is our divine trajectory — from individuality to communion, from separation to sacred union.

Some of us become frustrated when our efforts seem thwarted, when we do not do what we think we should be able to do or when we make a pact and fail to keep our part of the bargain with God. What we do not realize is that each unsuccessful attempt is a doorway to a new beginning; they are not stumbling blocks, but steppingstones. Every step becomes fertile ground for God’s Grace. Failure is not final in Christ. Titus 3:5 reminds us, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” It is a mystery, but Spirit takes the fragments of who we were and remakes them into something eternal. This is the love and grace of God.

Psychologists describe something called a “Fresh Start Effect.” This is where certain moments (New Year’s, birthdays, Mondays, moves, life changes) act as “temporal landmarks” that feel like a clean slate. These landmarks help us mentally separate a “past, imperfect self” from a “new, improved self,” which increases motivation to set and pursue goals.

That is the point of next week. Our Letter to God sets down what we want to see appear in our lives, whereas the Burning Bowl portion helps us to release things that are no longer desired. This process helps us reflect on who we are and who we want to become, which boosts optimism and goal-setting energy. Imagining a better future self-activates reward and motivation systems in the brain, which can make change feel exciting rather than only frightening. Some clinicians emphasize that “starting over isn’t failure;” it is often a turning point toward a life more aligned with our true values and our shared visions and needs.

We are on this journey as individuals and as a family. Through our spiritual awakening, individuality blossoms into our oneness. That is the message of 1 Corinthians 12:12–13. “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.”

Despite our diversity, we are all part of the oneness of Christ. The “oneness of God’s loving Son” is not just an individual goal but a shared destiny. Unity in diversity — that is the music yet to be sung. And I swear that when I listen carefully, I can hear the beginnings of a new melody arising from the cacophony the world is broadcasting. It is a melody of oneness and love, barely audible, but it is there. German Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “The Church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ but Christ Himself who has taken form among people.” Christ’s life flows through all of us, animating one holy body.

Individually and collectively, we share a pilgrimage, the paradox of being human and divine in Christ, the dance between stillness and transformation, the movement from ‘I’ to ‘we.’ It is my prayer that we make each new day a fresh start and awaken daily to this truth: In Christ we are old and new, learning and knowing, moving and still, energy and peace, all becoming the oneness of God’s loving Son.