And hello, good people, and welcome to the daily bible

refresh from Voice of God Daily.

I am doctor Brad Miller. Pleased to be with you here as

we continue this journey of exploring the scriptures

on a daily basis in a refreshing manner. We do so

by reading from the revised common lectionary. Right

now, we're in year c and it is New

Year's Day in year c. So we have the

particular reading for New Year's Day. We do that

in an understandable fashion. We read it from the New Testament, from

the message version. We make it relatable by having a couple of points

to ponder to think about and we make it applicable by having

a point of action to apply to your life. Then we have a

prayer together. We do all that in about 10 minutes or so.

So today's reading for New Year's Day is from Revelation

21 verses 1 through 8,

reading from the message. I saw heaven

and earth, new created.

Gone, the first heaven. Gone, the first earth. Gone, the sea. I

saw holy Jerusalem, new created, descending,

resplendent out of heaven, as ready for God as a bride for

her husband. I heard a voice thunder from the

throne, look. Look. God has

moved into the neighborhood, making his home

with men and women. They're his people. He's their

god. He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Death is gone for good. Tears gone. Crying

gone. Pain gone. All the first order of

things gone. The enthroned continued.

Look, I'm making everything new. Write it all down. Each

word dependable and accurate. Then he said, it's

happening. I'm the a to z.

I'm the beginning. I'm the conclusion.

From water of life, well, I give freely to

the thirsty. Conquerors inherit all of this.

I'll be god to them, and they'll be sons and daughters to me. But for

the rest, the feckless and faithless,

degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and

sorcerers, idolaters and liars,

for all the liars. For them, it's lake fire

and brimstone. 2nd death.

Well, as you think about this reflection on the

revelation, a new heaven and new earth, we are

in a this powerful vision that the writer of revelation

have of hope and renewal. And there's

lots of ways to interpret the Revelation that kind of focus on judgment

and fear, but today I really wanna kind of focus in on how

this text speaks to God's dream of restoration

for you in your life that is inclusive.

So a couple of points to think about, a couple of points to ponder. One

of them is God's radical proximity. The the image area of

God moving into your neighborhood. It just, kind of transit

transforms any kind of old hierarchical kind of view above

of 1 above the other and things like this. This isn't about

some distant God kind of ruling over you from above,

but involved integrated into your into your daily

life embedded in your life. And and this is

just a really democratic way of looking at things that

means that everybody has a stake in everything. It

isn't confined to churches or temples or political systems.

It's in our streets, it's in our homes, it's in our daily interactions.

There's also this point here that I loved about about wipe away every tear,

eliminate spain eliminate pain. It speaks to God's

commitment to healing of the body,

healing of the collective of the community. There's a lot of injustice in our

world. You know that. There's health crises. There's

environmental problems. There's hunger.

There's all kinds of problems. And as

we faced a new year, we know we face that as well. But

God's dream isn't just individual salvation, but

it's a healing of all creation. And that includes

concludes all the roots of injustice which are in our

world, and we need to work towards a form of change of

that. One more point. There's this

this point of making all things new.

The New Year is a good time to be thinking about that. God says I'm

declaring all things new. I'm making everything new. It's not about destroying

something to make something new. It's about transforming it.

And this, just challenges any fundamental thoughts we have

that about, you know, the earth's destruction and things like

that or pessimistic view of the the

situation in the world that sees no hope for change. This is all

about a profound hope for change where we were

all integrated into God's work of renewal. It's it starts in

our our communities, our institutions, and on our relationships.

So a few things to think about there. Here's your action step for the

day. I just really want to you to identify an

area in your community that needs renewal. It might be an

environmental thing. It might be cleaning up a lot in your town. It might

be a socials injustice regarding homelessness or hunger.

Or it might be building bridges across divides racially

or socioeconomically. Take one

concrete tangible step towards making something

new in your community. Might mean joining

a group or getting involved in some form or another. Maybe

planting a garden or cleaning up a lot Or maybe you just have

a conversation goes across the lines of,

that bridges a gap of where you may have had a gap before, crossing

the boundaries. Before we have a prayer, I just wanted to say that we

have a resource available for you that you may wanna take advantage of.

It's called the ABC 123 Bible study guide.

And this just makes Bible study as easy as 123 and

ABC. You can find it at our show notes at voice of

God daily. Here's our prayer.

Divine god, you make your home among us, and we confess

that sometimes we struggle to believe in renewal. You know,

the news is all about division, and sometimes

change seems impossible. And there's tears and there's pain that may feel like

it's it's the order of the day, but help us to see with new eyes

to recognize your presence in our homes and our neighborhoods and to

participate in transformation. And the trust in every act of

love and justice is a part of contributing to a new

creation. So give us to be courage. Give us the courage to

be agents of renewal in our homes, our workplaces,

and in our communities. Amen. Well, my name is,

doctor Brad Miller. It's been a pleasure to be with you. I'll be with you

again tomorrow here on the daily bible refresh. Remember, until

then, that God's loyal love doesn't run out, his

merciful love doesn't dry up, is

created new every morning.