Ordinary Time 
Pause
Repent. It’s a word that can challenge us, but simply put, it means to turn.
Sometimes we turn toward things and other times we turn away.
In the next few minutes, settle your heart, mind, and soul and turn toward God.
Listen
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”
Mark 1:14-15
Think
New year. New you. It is a bit comical to believe that something magically changes from 11:59pm on December 31st to 12:01 am on January 1st to make any new year’s resolution take hold.
It’s the third week of 2018. How are you doing so far? For better or worse, lifestyles and habits do not have an on/off switch. You only have one heart and one life, but change is not always easy to introduce to ourselves, let alone to others. We are often entrenched in our traditions.
Yet here in Mark’s gospel we get an invitation not to the annual party, or a get-in-shape gym membership, but to transformation. Now is the time, not because the calendar flipped to a new year, but because Christ has come and calls us to follow the new trails he blazes. Our challenge is to not simply wait for the ball to drop so we can sing the same old song, but to write original lyrics, in grateful response to the good news of Jesus Christ!
Neil Myer
Pray
God of new beginnings, stir in me a new song to sing so that I may be changed by the news that your kingdom is coming, now and forever. Amen.
Go
Christ is calling you today. Time to trust and follow the example of love.
