This year, the Sooke Campus has the opportunity to host Transformation Weekend November 1 - 2. Last year Brielle and I had the chance to participate in the Transformation Weekend in Maple Ridge for the first time. From the first session on Friday night till the end, it was an impactful and powerful time of worship, prayer, teaching and fellowship.
Transformation is core to who we are as a church body, it is a part of our DNA. We believe that as followers of Jesus, He has done a work in our lives that has taken us from a place of disconnection from God, where sin was an impenetrable wall of separation, and restored that connection to the Father. This happens instantly in the life of a person as soon as they put their faith in Jesus. But what takes place afterward is also paramount to the life of the believer. The life-long process of being transformed. The Apostle Paul uses this word throughout his letters, but the Greek word is μεταμορφόω ~ met-am-or-fo'-o ~ where we get the word metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is the process of one thing transforming into another thing, a caterpillar into a butterfly for example. Paul uses this word to describe the change that takes place in the life of the believer. In Romans 12.2 Paul encourages the transformation of our minds, in 2 Corinthians 3.18 Paul says that we are being transformed into the image of our Savior.
Transformation is not something that just happens, at least if we are trying to be intentional about what we are being transformed into. Human beings are unique in this, a caterpillar does not have a choice of whether it will become a butterfly, or a bird, it is genetically pre-determined. But you and I do have a choice, of whether we are transformed from a person who was once far from God, bound to sin and enslaved to the passions of the flesh into a person of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. A person who loves God and loves their neighbour. Or if we will allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security, that because we have “fire insurance” on our souls that we will be good, that there is nothing else to be done.
As I said before, Brielle and I had the chance to participate, not to lead, at last year’s Transformation Weekend in Maple Ridge, and I would strongly encourage each and every one of you to do the same.
