Re-creation

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
— Psalm 51:10-12 (NRSV)

This plea from the heart of King David reverberates across the ages and sounds as relevant for us today as it did 3,000 years ago. The human condition remains constant. We stand in perpetual need of re-creation.

The Hebrew word translated “create” in Psalm 51:10 shares the same root as the word that opens the Book of Genesis — “in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth” (v. 1). This kind of creation is generative and shows God taking initiative. By using the same Hebrew 
word, the psalmist suggests that in order to truly live as we were created — in harmony with God, self, others, and creation — we must be open to the Divine invitation of ongoing regeneration in the loving hands of God.

In a world that continues to endure battering waves of trauma, it is good to be reminded that God is still in the business of re-creation. In the face of challenge, disappointment, and struggle, may we be empowered by the Holy Spirit to affirm with the apostle Paul, “Do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being [re-created] day by day” (2 Cor 4:16).

I pray that you will find in the pages of this issue life-giving strains of hope that will put a new song in your heart.