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2007-12-18 issue:

Seeing the new

Leadership column

by James Schrag

Print Article

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”—Revelation 21:5

Newness, freshness and anticipation are all choices of faith. These things are not found except through the eye of the beholder.



Some people have a gift for seeing the new in the old. I sometimes imagine I have this gift, and just when I had assured myself a dozen times I would find a new way to approach a person, circumstance or issue, I revert to old ways.

Where does inspiration come from to be new, to be transformed in how we see things?

Vision, which we speak of reverently as something leaders possess in special measure, is something we all possess. Vision is how we see things. Faith in God, through Jesus, is meant to engender a positive vision of the world around us.

Seeing the new becomes a decision—a conscious preference for seeing something fresh in the old. This fresh view can be experienced by anyone, anywhere, anytime, as long as you choose to see life in this way.

This kind of vision is not a fact of life; it is a choice in life. A problem is not a problem until we decide to name it that. An opportunity is not seen until we decide it is something worth our attention. How do you use your vision? Do you see nothing but problems, or are you surrounded by opportunities?

We miss seeing the new in things because we are focused on what has been instead of nurturing an eye for what might be. We are befuddled with things in our lives that won’t go away because we have made a choice to cling to them, not because we are incapable of letting go.

People who are able to see the new choose to believe that things beyond our control are the smaller part of our existence. They cling to the audacious faith that most circumstances, people and events can be seen in new ways. Such a vision starts a transformation of reality that generates new options. This altered grasp of reality has a power far beyond our own imagining.

The Apostle Paul was a visionary who used imagery of the eternal to describe current possibilities: “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).

This is no Pollyanna, pie-in-the-sky escapism. This view requires a clear sense of good and evil. We are not called to live in an unhealthy suspension between choices, where life is neither good nor bad. If you fail to see both sides of the coin, you will see little at all.

Christians are changed people, motivated to be new in Jesus Christ because death is seen as an old thing, replaced by the resurrection and the life. We speak of much more than a classical conversion when we speak of newness in Christ. We dare to see something new in ourselves every day. Moreover, the work of God’s Spirit in the life and presence of Jesus gives life to us together, who are his body, the church. The church is made fresh, covering over last year’s blemishes, making the body young and winsome in both appearance and outlook. Mennonite Church USA can be this kind of church, if we make fresh choices in our individual lives and in our corporate life together. This makes us trend setters, not just trend followers.

Ours is no bootstraps religion. We are utterly dependent for newness on the work of God’s grace in our lives, which continually opens to us the opportunity to see the old, including us as the body of Christ, with fresh eyes.

I desire for us together in Mennonite Church USA to have a fresh look at who we are and who the Holy Spirit is helping us become as we close one year and embark on another. Will you join me in choosing to see the newness and opportunities we as Mennonite Church USA possess—or will you see nothing but the problems ahead of us? It’s a choice that is yours alone to make.

James Schrag is executive director of Mennonite Church USA.

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