The Door to Renewal

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Thank you! Thank you, Launch Team! Thank you all who are readers of my blog! I am thrilled to announce, The Door to Renewal: Spiritual Growth Through the Mind of St. Paul (by, yours truly) is now out and available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Emerge Publishing. This blog, however, is not a sales job. Seriously. Please keep reading. What I hope the book, as well as this blog, will encourage is a discussion, a reflection, and perhaps an invitation into the life of Christian renewal.

I write “Christian renewal” for several reasons. First, renewal is not what so many people now refer to as “reinventing” yourself. Think that one through. I am sorry to write this, but reinventing your self means nothing more than in the end you still are left with your—self. Maybe, better dressed. Perhaps, more charming and witty. But alas, you still have the self to live with, advise, counsel, and lead. Good luck.

This is where Christian renewal is different. We are given a new self in Christ. Jesus takes over. You want advice, wisdom, an abundant life? More about this life and this new self in the year to come.

May I suggest Christian renewal is also a far cry and different from what pundits are now referring to as the “new normal.” Please. Before talking about a new normal, will someone help me and all the other slugs out there define what “normal” means? In other words, it is hard to get my mind around a new normal when I can’t describe what ever happen to the old normal or what “normal” means in the first place.

Here is my point—obvious, but not always, considered. As Christians, we believe every day, in fact, I will go so far as to say “every breath” we take, is a gift from God. Fair enough. Life, in other words, is a gift.  And if there is a gift, there is a giver. So, my logic and belief understands God as the source of life and every day, much less, every breathe we take is in the hands of God. Instead of thinking about a new normal, how about a new gift, or a new life, or a new surprise. Or, a new gratitude, or blessing. Anything but new normal.

As a Christian you know the rest of the story. Still, I love to tell the story. That is sort of why I became a preacher. Now, I have retired and no longer have a pulpit. But I can write. Hence, the book. So here we go. Again, I write “we go” because I hope you will join me on this journey of renewal and share it with others. For those of you who may recall the Coke commercial, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” my passion is not singing. It really is Jesus. Along with the book, the launch team, those who read my blog, I would like to teach the world how to find renewal.

Advent is upon us. So is renewal. It is that time of the year. We listen again for the knock on the door. And, with Christmas we open the door. Emmanuel. God with us.

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Robin Jennings

Robin T. Jennings is an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, and an accomplished author, speaker and teacher who inspires his audiences with Biblical guidance and spiritual insights into everyday life. Whether he has the opportunity to speak to churches, businesses or organizations, Robin’s lifetime of work in spiritual transformation and renewal connects individuals with timely topics such as the importance of community, hope, identity and the search for meaning which are inevitably woven into his message.

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