Grace and peace to you my friends.
As you read this, either February 2 is very near or it has come and gone. February 2 is, of course, Groundhog Day. The day not only gives us hope for an early spring or the dread of more winter based on if a special groundhog named Phil sees his shadow, and it not only has made the town that is about 90 miles to our west — Punxsutawney — famous, but the day also helped give us one of the great comedic films of our time, Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray.
If you haven’t seen the movie, I have to say What!? But then also recommend seeing it. In short, Murray plays a cynical and egotistical weatherman from Pittsburgh who travels with his crew to Punxsutawney for Groundhog Day. Murray’s character ends up reliving the same day — Groundhog Day — every day. He can’t break the cycle of waking up on February 2 every morning, and while everyone else thinks it is a new day and they do the same things they did that day, Murray’s character has to experience the sameness again and again and again.
I wonder if our lives, specifically our lives of faith, sometimes feel the same each day. We feel as if nothing is changing. Does that cause us to go through the motions or even lose faith at times?
If you have ever felt like that, I can assure you that that isn’t the case when it concerns our lives of faith in Jesus. While God remains the same — merciful, gracious, abounding in steadfast love — God’s work in our lives and in the world continues, and it brings about change that may seem slow, even not happening, but it is there.
Similar to the Bill Murray character, we can reach a point of becoming angry. His character, however, also comes to a point where he sees that while each day is the same to him, it still presents an opportunity for him to make change — change to better himself and to help others.
I won’t give away the ending for those who haven’t seen the movie yet, but that is something we can learn about in our lives of following Jesus. When we feel in a rut or days feel mundane, we can go to God and know that God’s arms of mercy and love are always open to us — that God changes us from sinner to one God claims as a beloved child of God. That change in us helps point us to how we can help others. We can read words of scripture one morning, and then read those exact same words the next day and come away with something different in our hearts and minds.
If you ever do feel in a rut or things are the same, there is nothing wrong with shaking things up a bit! With doing something different, even if it’s just for a little. If you want to challenge yourself by volunteering for something at church that you’ve never done, let me or someone on one of our committees know. You are always welcome!
Go in peace. Live in hope, and live in the faith of the one who doesn’t change but changes us and the world — Jesus Christ.
Pastor David