Few things demonstrate dramatic change as effectively as before-and-after photos. They are a staple in advertising campaigns for fitness programs, toothpaste, weight loss regimes and cosmetic surgery, showing us everything we could be and have if we would embrace a particular product or service.

Why are before-and-after photos such powerful tools? Marketing companies say it’s because they inspire people to consider what’s possible and motivate them to achieve it.

In recent years, however, a number of advertisers have recognized that before-and-after photos can motivate people in unhealthy ways. They may foster body shaming and obsession with physical beauty and thinness. Some advertisers are abandoning them in favour of approaches that focus on the journey to health rather than the bookends of that journey: the sad “before” photo and the “sensational” after.

The second reading for Sunday focuses on a journey too, a journey of the spirit. Hebrews 12:18-19 says: you are no longer in a place of darkness and harsh judgment. That was before. Now you are in a place of spiritual safety — the assembly of the first-born — under the protection of God, the just judge. You have come to this place through Jesus, who has mediated a new covenant between God and His people. Unlike the blood of Abel, shed for vengeance, the blood of Jesus is shed for love of us and for the forgiveness of our sins. Because of His sacrifice, someday, when our journey with Jesus is complete, we will be like the righteous ones “made perfect.”

Recently, as I sat on the side of a soccer field watching my son’s game, I listened in on the conversation next to me. Another soccer dad was asking my husband about our involvement in church, and about the programming offered to children and youth. He mentioned how one of his boys was now confirmed and finished with “Sunday School”, and how the second one would finish this year. I got the sense that he was talking about confirmation as an end to something rather than a beginning.
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“In your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy”.


Do we realize just how needy we are? With another political election looming, we all long for a leader that will best serve the needs of the country. We hear lots of strong opinions on what people think we need most. The truth is, there is only one person who can meet all of our needs and that person is Jesus Christ. The sad thing is, so many people out there don’t realize they even need Him.


Although I’ve always had my faith in God to rely on, I didn’t always believe I was needy. I was living by the world’s standards, defining myself by my career, and looking for the world’s acceptance through my successes. I was in need of the world’s approval. I knew in my head that I needed Jesus but I didn’t know what it felt like in my heart to truly need Him. After Jesus revealed Himself to me in a personal way, I then knew, deep down inside, that I was loved more deeply than any human being could love me. I then knew how much I needed Him.