Dear congregation, dear friends! "Jubilate" is today's third Sunday after Easter. "Rejoice! Praise God, all lands" – says Psalm 66, from which this invitation to rejoice comes. Does that fit? Who is rejoicing today when the whole world has become rather silent and we have been asked for months to stay at home? Perhaps more appropriate is the saying of the week: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has passed away, behold, new things have become" (2 Cor 5:17). Are we not experiencing a massive renewal of our world, our everyday life, our habits and all the things we need to think about in totally new ways? Yes, a lot is new to us. With each passing day, it becomes clearer that the familiar old is in some ways really over, and that an as yet unknown new thing is becoming: the faces of the people who meet us in supermarkets or public institutions, the faces covered with mouth and nose protection, rules of distancing, hygiene measures, avoidance of physical contact, no hugs – interpersonal behavior has taken on many new forms that we do not necessarily like. We cannot yet foresee how the reality of our economy and our society as a whole will "renew", but it will. What renewal is Paul here talking about? What is the old passing away, and what does it mean to be a new creation in Christ? It is certainly not about external change. Faith in Christ does not make a us younger, and the old burdens are not gone at once.
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