'Renewing Your Vows to the King'

A young woman at our church grew up in the pews — baptized as an infant, confirmed as a teenager, present most Sundays without much drama attached to any of it. Then something happened in her that had nothing to do with rules or routine, and about two months ago she stood in front of the congregation to tell us about it. She didn't come forward to be baptized for the first time. She came forward to renew the vows she had once made and she asked for water — real water, poured generously over her head — so she could feel, physically, what had already happened invisibly: she'd been washed clean and filled with the Spirit all over again.

Psalm 98 doesn't ask for a polite response to that kind of moment. "Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth... shout for joy before the LORD, the King" (Psalm 98:4, 6) uses the same word the ancient world used for a coronation crowd — the sound Israel made the day they crowned their first king. Centuries later, when a crowd shouted that exact kind of praise over Jesus riding into Jerusalem, religious leaders in the crowd asked him to quiet them down. He refused (Luke 19:37-40). A king arriving deserves noise, whether it's the first time you've welcomed him or the fiftieth.

You don't have to have wandered far, or fallen hard, to need a moment like hers. Plenty of the most faithful-looking people are quietly running on the fumes of vows made long ago. Renewing them isn't admitting failure. It's coming into the presence of The King who has been patiently waiting for you to notice he's still on the throne.

Renewing our relationship with the King is a celebration. Is there a vow you made to Jesus a long time ago that's ready to be said again, out loud, today?

 Blessings,

Jonathan