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I’m not so sure I could have imagined eight months ago where I am today. February marked a big move for me and my family as we relocated to Farmville. The last time I lived this close to the Heart of Virginia was when I attended college at H-SC. Southside has been my home for 30 years, but now my roots, my toes, and my future are finding purchase in Farmville. It has been a huge undertaking — how this seems to work for us all, and I am looking forward to a new stage of my life. We are now pretty much settled with the big jobs done to make this new home home.

It is also hard to give up the old. I really miss my garage. The old place was comfy and familiar. We had all of the space worked out and the best way to organize things in the old house. A big, open yard and a still-new zero turn had to go bye-bye. There are always parts of the old that we have to lose to embrace the new. Change is never easy. Change is never painless. It always involves loss which is why no one steps into change unless they are compelled. When I was diagnosed pre-diabetic, it was the perfect time to make changes and try to salvage better health, but it was like trying to walk uphill in a downpour barefoot. 

Some of us earnestly believe that the world can also use a change or two. In fact, this world is a far cry from where it should be to reflect the Kingdom of God on earth as in heaven. This was Jesus’ stated mission from the outset. So much of his teaching and ministry pointed directly at changing the world through changing the people. That word “change,” though, brings all kinds of trouble, and we are left wondering whether we even want something different or whether we have become comfortable or complacent in the ways of the world. That stuckness between old and new makes us do crazy things, and we have even tried to rewrap the ugliness of the old world in holy paper with a Christian bow as an excuse to celebrate past sinfulness. We don’t want to have to face things and change. 

Thankfully, there is another answer, a good, holy, and righteous answer. Revelation picked up on this nearly 2000 years ago when John spoke of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21). This book at its heart is a rebuke of empire, the powers of the old. It overturns the wayward world for a different Kingdom. Even the world itself is renewed. All will be as it was meant to be. God will be in our midst so obviously that we no longer need a sun anymore.

Thinking about walking into change is never easy, but it helps me to remember that we are headed in a good direction. Grace and Peace, my friends.

Rev. Dr. Peter Smith is the pastor for Farmville Presbyterian Church. He can be reached at pastorfpc@centurylink.net.