Made New: Life in the Spirit

May always feels like a turning point.

School years come to a close. Graduates step into the next step, whether it's moving on to a new school, starting their first real adult job, or moving into the unknown murkiness of adulthood. Families prepare for moves, new jobs, and summer vacations. There’s a sense that one chapter is ending and another is beginning, whether we feel ready or not.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot this year. It’s been four years since I finished my undergraduate degree, nine years since I graduated high school (!), and one year since I committed to starting my PhD. In some ways, my life has been shaped by these kinds of big life milestones for a long time. Even now, as I live in a city built around a large university, the rhythms of life seem to follow the academic calendar. You can feel it in the energy of May. Everyone's out taking photos in their caps and gowns. Things wrap up, people move on, and something new begins.

These transitions are so visible in my midwestern North American culture that they almost define the season. Caps and gowns, farewell parties, new leases, new plans. We mark these moments clearly. We celebrate them. We name them. But our faith life doesn’t always follow those same patterns. There’s no clear “graduation” from one stage of faith to another; no ceremony that marks when we’ve finally “arrived.” Instead, much of the Christian life is unassuming. Growth happens over time, often in ways we don’t immediately notice.While the world organizes itself around academic years and career milestones, the church invites us into a different kind of time. A time shaped not by achievement or completion, but by the story of God’s work among us.

As we move through May, we are also moving toward Pentecost. And Pentecost is, at its core, a story about waiting, uncertainty, and unexpected renewal.

After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the disciples were left in an in-between space. They had been given a promise that the Holy Spirit would come, but they didn't know when or how. And, remember, these guys had just seen Jesus crucified and come back to life! So as they waited, they must have been open to the miraculous.

Then, in a moment that was impossible to miss, everything changed.

A sound like a rushing wind filled the house. Tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, so that people from many nations could hear and understand.

What began as confusion quickly became something else entirely. A crowd gathered. Peter stood up - and this is same Peter who had been unsure and afraid to be associated with Jesus on Good Friday - and spoke with clarity and boldness. And that day, the church began to take shape in a new way.

Pentecost reminds us that being “made new” is not something we accomplish on our own timeline. The disciples didn’t graduate into boldness or clarity through effort or planning. They waited, and the Spirit met them there.

That same Spirit is still at work.

In a season where so many people around us are asking, “What’s next?” Pentecost gently shifts the question. Instead of asking only where we are going, it invites us to ask how God is forming us: Even in the waiting, even in the uncertainty, even before the next step becomes clear.

This month, as we lean into starting anew, I am also excited to introduce our new Network cohort writers. Together, they’ll be reflecting on the theme Made New: Life in the Spirit, bringing their own voices, experiences, and insights into the conversation. As they share their first posts, I invite you to join in! Please read, respond, and help create a space of encouragement and thoughtful discussion. It’s a gift to learn from one another, and I’m looking forward to the ways this community will grow.