I recently officiated a vow renewal ceremony for a couple celebrating 25 years of marriage. As I prepped for the service, I couldn’t help but think the term “vow renewal” wasn’t exactly right. It doesn’t quite capture the intention of the ceremony. There are several definitions for the word renewal. One is the idea of restarting something that has stopped. This definition doesn’t apply to the couple—they never stopped being married. A second definition referred to continuing a subscription or license so there would be no gap in service (i.e. Driver’s license). The third definition was the replacement of repairing of something worn out, rundown, or broken, but this definition didn’t fit either.
I think repetition is word that better fits the circumstance. The couple was coming together to repeat their vows; the same vows they pledged to one another 25 years ago. They were repeating their vows as way to recommit to one another. The heart behind the entire service was to include their family in the celebration of what has happened thus far and to look expectantly to the future for what will happen next.
A meaningful reflection of Jesus happens as we repeat.
Follow Jesus includes repetition. The expression of our lives is repetitious, but the experience is far from the same thing over and over. For example, we need to repeatedly read our Bibles. We can read the same passage over and over again, and God can reveal new insight to us with each reading. We need to repeatedly pray, but the conversation we have with God will be different each time. We need to repeat our testimony. As we share the same stories of what God has done, God uses our story to impact the lives of others.
As we repeat, God works in the midst of our words and actions.
As we repeat, God reminds us of what He has done.
As we repeat, we recommit to following Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
As we repeat, God recalibrates our hearts to be align with His.
May we never grow weary of doing things over and over again. In the repetition of Godly disciplines, we experience new expressions of God.
Keep Reflecting Jesus!