The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...
The Lord does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities...
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does the Lord remove our transgressions from us.
-Psalm 103:8, 10, 12.

I cannot say that I have traveled widely; many of you students that I see on a regular basis have me beat in number of continents, or months abroad, or whatever. But I have traveled a little bit, and I have moved from city to city a number of times, and I know what it's like to try and create a new life in a new place. While reflecting on his own experiences of traveling and living in different countries, my husband once said to me, "wherever you go, there you are."

Wherever you go, there you are. It's one of those obvious truths that we so easily forget. It's one of those truths that I find myself thinking about in these days just before a new semester begins. I think about so many of you getting ready to move back to campus, ready to begin the new school year. I remember myself doing the same thing, not so many years ago, and I remember thinking to myself: "this year, things will be different."

And, happily, some things were. But most weren't. Some of my bad habits (namely, procrastination) got a little better every year. But no matter where I'd moved, or what new job or academic program I'd started, I was still me. I still had the same strengths, the same weaknesses, the same idiosyncrasies. Of course I learned and changed and grew, usually for the better. But wherever I went, I still had those same annoying flaws. Funny how I had to relearn that every time I moved.

As I continued to move, there was something else that I realized that made it a little easier. Wherever I went, there God was. Again - it sounds like an obvious enough thing, not something I should have to relearn over and over, and certainly not something that I should still be trying to learn. But there it is, as new a revelation as ever.

The words from the Psalm that I quoted above were read in worship at Tempe First UMC this past weekend, and so they were on my mind. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. They're old words, words that I can remember learning as a young child. And in times of new beginnings - like right now - I learn them again.

I know that as we begin this new school year together, we'll each have the chance to begin again, the chance to learn and grow and do things better than we did last year. I also know that we'll each have moments of realizing that a new year doesn't automatically make us new people; we'll still struggle with the same weaknesses we've struggled with all along.

But as your pastor, I have the privilege of reminding you that God is with you in this new place. God knows your shortcomings and your strengths better than you do. God is ready, at each moment, to put your mistakes behind you, and to call you ahead to a life full of goodness, full of mercy, full of hope.

Wherever you go, there you are. When you know that God is at work within you, that's good news.