CHANGE?

The “heart” of Venice, they say. The Ponte di Rialto (the Rialto Bridge) built in the late 1500s, and until the 1850s the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot. It was built, appropriately enough, by Antonio da Ponte (Anthony of the Bridge), who beat Michelangelo and Palladio and others to win the contract. On this venerable structure are St. Mark, St. Theodore, the Virgin Mary, the Holy Ghost, a whole lot of shops, and a ton of tourists. One of the quaintest sights in Venice. And to go under it on water is always a thrill.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (ca. 535–475 BCE) is supposed to have said: “You cannot step into the same river twice.” In other words, the river you step into at any instant is not the same river the next instant. Water flows. Rivers change. Time moves on. Our man, Heraclitus, declared that change was central to the universe, for everything changed. Well, almost! He also asserted: “Nothing endures, but change.” Yup, that’s the only unchangeable constant Heraclitus believed in—change!

Even the Grand Canal is no longer the same. Much water has flown beneath the Rialto. Things do change. Everything changes. The year has just changed. A new decade has begun, the second one of this millennium. And we’ve gotten older!

There is only One with whom there is no change. He said so Himself.

“For I, the LORD, do not change.”
Malachi 3:6

What a relief! Through all the vicissitudes and vagaries of life, through all the consuming trials and overwhelming tumults, through the twists and turns of the paths we tread, God remains the same.

Of old You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
Even they will perish, but You endure; …
You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.
Psalm 102:25–27

Whims and fancies and caprices don’t touch Him …

… with whom there is no variation
or shifting shadow.
James 1:17

Our God is always the same. The Father of all grace, the Son of all love, the Holy Spirit of all comfort.

It’s a good thing God remains the same. He is not going to change His mind about my sin. Washed away once for all by the blood of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who died and rose for me.

Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8

And now I’m secure. Secured by his love, from which nothing can separate me.

For I am convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing,
will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38–39

And so all we ask as we set foot into another year, O God, is that you abide with us.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Henry F. Lyte, 1847

Abide with us!