September 2026: Changes
A blessed September to you all!
With September we are joined by cooler weather, the beginning of school, and the many joys of the harvest season! I think Fall is my favorite season of the year for these reasons. It’s a time with which comes a change of routines and a change of expectations.
In what may be a bit of a contradiction, though, had I created my own rendition of “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music, Fall would feature but “change” would certainly not. Change is a concept with which I’ve always approached with a begrudging stance. I know I’m not the only person that feels this way.
That doesn’t mean that we don’t like to break routines, but simply that we like to break routines in the same way. We like to go on vacations to the same places – or the same types of places. We like spending our free time doing roughly the same group of tasks. Change is something that breaks up the monotony of life, surely, but it also is a strong destabilizing force in our lives. And chaos is not something that we are well adapted to.
In our spiritual lives, this same concept holds true. We get into and out of patterns for spiritual practices. Worship is a prime example. When we miss worship frequently, it becomes difficult to get back into the pattern of weekly attendance. When we are in that pattern, it’s much easier to simply keep the momentum up.
Bible reading is another. When you are used to opening the Scriptures to read God’s Word, doing so from day-to-day becomes all the easier. Breaking patterns – or rather starting different patterns – make the changes back more difficult. As we begin this time of changes, consider adding a new change into your lives.
If you haven’t attended Bible Study before, this coming series is a great one to start. We will be looking at the canticles (songs) of our services in the hymnal – the “Gloria,” “This is the Feast,” “Create in Me,” the “Sanctus,” and many more will be the focus of our studies after church. We will look each week at the text of the canticle, the Biblical sources of each canticle, their place in the service, and their application for our lives outside of service.
If you haven’t done a devotional daily, or a habit of Bible reading, consider going through the New Testament each day. If you ask me for a plan, I can help you find one to follow. Another idea is to find others in the church to do a devotional book or series with. Meeting weekly or bi-weekly with others is a helpful way to keep up with a new change and pattern and has the benefit of a time of fellowship and discussion about what you’re reading.
Regardless of what changes are coming in your life this Fall, remember that our Lord never changes, and his love and forgiveness for us is one thing that will never change. Blessings!