Today’s sermon entitled “A Righteous and Holy Image” asks us to wrestle with the significance of being clothed in a new self. The Apostle Paul reminds us to put away our former ways of life, our old self, and to live into the person God is making us in His own image. Choosing to live into this new life has real world impacts on our day-to-day decisions. 

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had a few thoughts on what living into God’s new self for us looks like. Read his sermon titled “The Almost Christian” to learn about the difference between trying to follow God while still clothed in our old selves vs. the new. This sermon can be found here: https://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/Sermon-2-The-Almost-Christian. Wesley preached a sermon on the same topic, titled “The More Excellent Way” over forty-five years later! This sermon can be found here: https://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/Sermon-89-The-More-Excellent-Way. How does Wesley’s understanding of living as God intends for us change over time? Do you identify more with his original understanding of the new self, or the later?

The movie Finding Nemo does an excellent job of showing the transformation from old self to new. This film also depicts a parent doing whatever it takes to reconnect with a separated child, much like God always moving closer to us. Watch this film, looking for moments of characters “putting on” their old selves and new selves. Who do you identify with? How is God’s love shown in this movie about clown fish?