Change...Unchanging

The 2017-2018 school year is set to begin. Here at St. Paul's, Troy we begin school today, Monday, August 14. Some schools like Metro East Lutheran High School began last Thursday. Others, like Triad, will begin on Wednesday. Those who are in college will find that they begin next week, many of which begin on the day of the Great American Eclipse, August 21. Still in other areas, school began earlier in August while other areas will begin after Labor Day. While there is no uniform date of beginning classes, the reality is that school begins.

Here at St. Paul's, and I would imagine many schools throughout the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, there is a theme based on Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow." (ESV) This corresponds with the theme for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation which takes place this year on October 31, 2017. That theme is: "It is still all about Jesus."

Jesus Christ is the same. He doesn't change. Things in this world change. At St. Paul's, the teaching staff has changed. We have only 2 teachers returning that were with us in the 2016-2017 school year. Change. The students have changed in the sense that they are a year older. They have changed, grown and matured. They look a year older. For those that were not seen over the summer, they look different from when school ended back in May.

Change. It happens. We sing in a popular hymn: "Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see..." (Lutheran Service Book, #878 vs. 4) Change. It is inevitable. It happens whether we like it or not. We change. We never remain the same. The things of our lives, our situation, changes us. Nothing remains the same. Nothing. Except...

...Christ Jesus. He is changeless. As the writer to the Hebrews says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow." He alone is changeless. This is such a wonderful, powerful and uplifting word of promise. Why? No matter how much you change, no matter how the situation of your life changes, no matter the ups or downs of your life, Jesus is the same Jesus that claimed you in the waters of your Baptism, who was with you as a little infant, as a child, as a teen, as a twenty-something, as a young adult, as a middle age parent, as a person in your 50s or 60s, as you grow older in to the 70s and 80s, and then into the final years of your life. He is the same.

His love for you never changes. It doesn't rise or fall with the situation of your life. The promise of life, of forgiveness and of salvation is the same today as it was yesterday and will be the same as that of all your tomorrows. He is unchanging. The hymn verse ends with "...Thou who changest not, abide with me." (LSB #878 vs. 4)

Never changing. He loved you yesterday. He loves you today. He will love you tomorrow. All with the same, passionate love that doesn't wane with time. Unchanging. That is the message of the Gospel, unchanging. Salvation still comes through the grace of God, shown in His Son Jesus Christ, bestowed by the working of the Holy Spirit. It remains the same. He doesn't change the way we are saved. He doesn't say one thing today and then another thing tomorrow. He says the same thing day after day: "You are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ." Always the same.

As we begin this school year, we do so with the very same confidence with which we begin each day. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. It is the same confidence that I had yesterday. It is the confidence I have today. This is the confidence I shall have tomorrow. And if my confidence wavers, if the situation of my life shakes me to the core, causing me to struggle, wonder or doubt, I know this: He has not changed. His love is the same. He still loves me. In sickness and in health, He loves me. In strength and in weakness, He loves me. In perfection and in sinfulness, He still loves me. He is unchanging.

I give thanks to Him for this assurance. I rejoice that Jesus Christ is the same today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow. Thank You Lord. Thank You.