Practicing Renewal

Rev. Rebecca Bosarge

Are you, like me, longing for renewal? For the earth? For the world? For someone you know and love? For yourself?

In this Easter season and with the coming of spring, I find myself thinking a lot about renewal. Specifically, I wonder about God’s presence as a Renewing Presence, especially in situations in my life and in the world that seem especially hopeless or lifeless. I wonder if I might be underestimating God’s renewing power and I want to be more open to it. Here are a few practices I am trying with the hope that I will be renewed in ways I can’t imagine.

Possibilities for Practice:

Thomas Merton wrote that we all have “an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power.” He also says that this instinct for renewal often helps us recover “that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves.”

Use your instinct for newness this week and try something new. Doing the same old things in the same old way can dull our sense of God as a Renewer and our own instinct for newness. Try new food, visit a new part of town, explore a new topic, try a new form of prayer. Then, wonder – do you sense God’s power for renewal? Do you feel as if you are in some way coming back to yourself?  

Author and Professor Robert Wicks emphasizes the need for “renewal zones” to help us detoxify our spirits and stay “vital, compassionate, and grateful.”

Name your “Renewal Zone” and be intentional about it. A renewal zone might be a piece of music, a walk. in nature, sitting in a coffee shop watching the world go by; being intentional about whatever activity refreshes your spirit and helps you come back to yourself.

Try a new name for God in your prayers: Renewing Presence or Renewing Power. Notice how this name for the Divine informs and shapes your prayer.