There is so much pressure to do “something new”. The world around us changes at light speed. People seem driven to try new things for the sake of trying something new. Advertisements entice us to be more hip, more with it with a product as mundane as water.

Churches have given in to this worldview, quoting scripture to text proof the need for change. “I am about to do a new thing” is a passage from Isaiah directed to a people in exile. Maybe we are in exile too. Church is marginalized in our culture for sure. Community life around a religious identity, like “Christian” is passé.

God is not passé and God is doing the same old thing: offering grace, compassion, love and life. Maybe we could do the same old thing too: offer hospitality, compassion, love and life in community. Jesus was not doing something new. Jesus was doing the same old thing: loving God and loving his neighbor as himself. The same old thing seems to be the thing to do.