University Blog

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 -Paul in a letter to the Romans

Friends,

One of my favorite holidays has come and gone. Punxsutawney Phil has emerged and declared that winter will soon end, as this seasonal forecasting groundhog did not see its shadow. Good news if you are into warmer days and believe in the capacity of large rodents to predict the weather. My deep affection for this holiday is largely due to a mild (ok moderate to severe) family obsession with the film Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray. My dad and I have committed to watching Groundhog Day whenever it’s on, and let me assure you, it is on a lot. As you may imagine, other family members have not always celebrated our commitment.

If you have never experienced the sublime brilliance of this film, it is a story of a news reporter who gets stuck repeating the same day over and over again. Every morning he wakes up in the small Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney and it is February 2nd. He retains memories of the previous days experience but no one else does. He can’t change where he is and he can’t change the future because it never comes. He is truly and completely stuck.

You may recognize that our repeating the film over and over again is an act of solidarity with the main character. Or you may join our family members in declaring that we too are trapped by Groundhog Day, our own self–imposed prison. In the film, on the surface some mystical force has trapped him on a particular day, but as the movie unfolds it is clear that the main character’s true limitations are within himself.

Certainly, there are powers and forces that attempt to convince us that we have no options, no agency and no way to change our future. Yet, as Paul points out in the letter to the Romans, it is the very nature of sin to delude us and convince us that we are trapped. Paul further declares that deliverance is at hand in Jesus Christ.

This is good news.

For anyone who feels stuck– there is a way to a different day.

For anyone who feels trapped– there is a way out of toxic behaviors to new life.

For anyone who has felt lies steal life and distort the future– there is the truth that will set them free.

 “I am the way the truth and the life”

                                                      -Jesus

Blessings,

Pastor Ben