“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1 ESV).
Changing seasons are a natural part of life, present from the beginning. God created the very stars in the sky to serve “for signs and for seasons, and for days and years…lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth” (Gen. 1:14-15). By His design, some of those seasons are warm, bright, and fruitful. Others are darker and cooler, with less obvious growth. We welcome the change in seasons that brings crisp autumn air or spring’s sunlight, just as we anticipate an exciting new job opportunity, a blossoming romance, or a growing child. Other changes, though – difficult times at work, the loss of a loved one, or the end of innocence – not so much.
Yet under God’s reign, every season serves a purpose. Israel’s wilderness wandering was a time to be taught by Moses how to be God’s people before Joshua led them into receiving God’s promises in the conquest that followed. Through His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated what an abundant life of loving God and loving each other is really all about. Then led by the Spirit, Jesus’ apostles went out and proclaimed how He makes it possible for our lives to become that way, too. In every instance, there were bright days and dark nights, delightful progress and painful failures. All of it advanced a purpose: God’s. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
The years of 2018 through 2023 have proven to be such a season in the life of the Georgetown Church of Christ. Some changes have been exciting. Others, painful. And God has worked through all of it so that we might be “conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). That’s what happened in each of the 48 times in this season when someone was baptized. Men and women, younger and older, black, white, Hispanic – immersed in baptistries and swimming pools, rivers and oceans – they all began a lifelong journey of becoming like Jesus: “buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). Many of them are growing and bearing fruit right here. Others God has sent elsewhere – in our region; in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Connecticut; and as far away as Montana and even Germany. (A few have also wandered off, needing found by their Good Shepherd and joyfully brought home.)
All of it has been part of this season. Some planted, others watered, but God gave the growth (cf. 1 Cor. 3:6). Even as the current season ends, seed has been sown that will sprout and grow in the future in ways we don’t now know (cf. Mk. 4:26-29). If our aim continues to be to do God’s will and accomplish His work, more harvests will come, and we will rejoice (cf. Jn. 4:31-38).
