Sermon-God's New Times

"God’s New Times, Old Places, and New Things"

Rev. Steven Sweet
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

January 2, 2000

Text: Isaiah 43:18–21

Well here we are. We have arrived at our long awaited destination, the year 2000. It seems like we have been on a long trip to get here, riding on a highway called time headed to some distant and future destination called 2000. Along the way it has been as cluttered and confusing as a drive on Mopac at 5:03 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. On the way to 2000 we have encountered the hysterical, the nay sayer, the doom and gloom crowd, a few hopefuls and expectant ones, and many simply bewildered. On the way to 2000 the overarching questions and concerns seem to have been spiritual or even cosmic ones. Will something of cosmic or cataclysmic proportions happen when we arrive? And what is God going to do when we get there? One interesting part of the journey into the future headed toward 2000 was what happened as the destination came closer. All the lanes of traffic seemed to narrow into three lanes labeled fear, hope, and wonder. It is as if the expectation was that in a new place, at a new era of time, a new something, God would be at work in new ways. Yet, instead of looking forward to see what this new thing would be, as the destination came closer it seemed that everyone was staring into the rear view mirrors. Checking out that which had been before. Approaching the year 2000 seemed to compel us to project our attention and energy into the future looking for some new God created something. Yet, as 2000 came ever closer it seemed impossible to avoid thinking about and reviewing our past in preparation for what might greet us at the entry into 2000. The year 2000 seems to have given all of us a little future-past whiplash with the throwing of ourselves forward into the future and then suddenly being thrust backward into the past. Future and then past. Whew! What a ride. But with all that said and done, we are here. We are in the now of 2000. All in our same places with so many familiar and shining faces. After the harrowing ride to reach 2000 we have come home. We are here, at home, surrounded by the familiar.

And this is what the text read today is about: God doing a new thing, and going home.

Have you ever had the going home experience? Oh, there are different kinds of going home experiences, of course. There is the returning home from a long vacation. That kind of going home seems to provide a deep sense of comfort and security only found in the familiar. There is the relief found in returning home from a long car ride with small children, where experimenting with sibling rivalry and asking the universal question, "Are we there yet?" drives the car ever forward. There is the return home from college with all the feelings of conflict about home’s boundaries standing face-to-face with a newly found independence. There is the return home from military service where possible battlefield memories create an encounter with the familiar that cannot fully be expressed in mere words. Going home.

The people spoken of in this text had been away from their homes and homeland for over two generations. The ancient and powerful Babylonian Empire destroyed the nation of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, the temple, and many of the Jewish inhabitants. The historic and horrific events of the destruction of Jerusalem would provide a challenge for even the most violence saturated minds of the most modern. The city and temple of Jerusalem were decimated. Most of the surviving Jewish population were taken into slavery and transported to a country far away. For over two generations the dislocated Jews dreamed of going home. Returning home. Returning to the familiar. Returning to their roots of faith, family, and the familiar.

While far from their place of worship, apart from the land of promise and apart from their homes, they had time to wonder about their future and obsess about the past. The exiled Jews took time to consider their failures of the past. Remembering the times they disobeyed God, God’s law and God’s will for their lives. The times they sought fortune in the place of faith and self in the place of service. They had time to reflect and repent. They had time to reflect on the many times in which their successes and accomplishments lured them into a life of prideful posturing. They remembered when back home talk of bootstraps and beating a chest full of pride became substitutes for bent knees and broken spirits before God. This dislocation may seem a good thing. It might even be fair to say, "They got what they deserved." After all, consequences will follow sinful conduct, turning away from God’s way and God’s will.

But, the text read today declares "Do NOT remember the former things, or consider the things of old." The word remember suggests more than mere recall. This remember is to mark so as to be identified. To remember is to say that one is marked by and identified with the former faults and failures. Today’s text says do NOT remember. Do NOT be marked by or identified with the past. It also says do NOT consider the things of old. To consider is more than to give thought to something. In this text to consider implies to separate mentally or to distinguish. To consider is to make distinctions among and between the past faults and failures. To rate, rank, and remember. It also says do NOT consider or make any distinctions. Lump all those past things together. Then give them no thought for the morrow. You’re going home. The past? Forget about it. The past is the past. You are going home and God is about to do a new thing.

In preparation for the beginning of a new era, the two triple ought era, no doubt we have had sufficient time ourselves to reflect on our own past failures of conscience and conduct. Time to take stock of our past wandering away from God and God’s way for our lives. Like Hansel and Gretel, we could retrace the residue of sin stained pathways to the very moments of our short sighted and self-serving choices. Today’s text from Isaiah declares, "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old." Forget about it. God is about to do a new thing.

In many ways, the meal in which we share today is our going home, our returning home, it’s a meal of celebration. At this table, you and I are returning home. Returning home to the roots of our faith, our family, right in the middle of the familiar. The past? The past is the past. Forget about it. You and I are going home. And God is about to do a new thing.

But, why have the Jews go home at all? It was there that the Jews had lost their way, turned their lives backwards to God, and embarked on a journey of selfish determination. If God is to do a new thing would God not do it in a new time or a new place? Why return to the place of familiarity to find a right relationship with God and faithful obedience? It didn’t seem to work in the past.

I’m sure the Jews had mixed feelings about going home. There usually is. Returning home seems to capture a natural desire to regain our roots. Going home creates hopeful expectations for the sameness of the past and at the same time a hope for a better tomorrow all at the same time. Many Jews must have felt relief when return and reconciliation were about to become reality. And returning home also produced a genuine fear of being able to maintain an ongoing commitment to God in the places of the past. The return home must have generated great wonder and a host of emotions that could not be put into words. No doubt some saw a necessity in making rock solid promises and new years resolutions. The returnees must have made solid commitments that things will be different and that "I" can make it so with self-determination and proper dedication. Can you relate to these kinds of new year’s resolutions born of faith?

Today we return home to the table of our Lord. As we return home, many have already decided to begin the new year, the two triple ought era, with renewed commitment and dedication to the life of discipleship. Many will discover in this meal, shared by the family of faith, relief found in the familiar and a hope for a better tomorrow. Some will claim and some will reclaim the roots of faith. And some will experience the wonder of life in relationship with God in ways that simply cannot be put into words.

The Jewish returnees were committed to make it better. But, it wasn’t the Jews’ task nor is it our task when we return home to make it better or different. It’s God who is about to do a new thing. Our new life and vitality will come from the work of God in our life and not through self-controlling or self-directing our own destiny. None of us have the ability to capture the past that "should have been". The past is the past. Forget about it. God is doing a new thing. It was the task of the Jerusalem returnees to go right back where it all began for them, to their family homes, their homeland, and to make themselves ready for God’s presence and activity in their life. It was to be in their homes, with their families, in the face of the familiar that God is to do a new thing. They were going to gain a proper relationship with God by facing the familiar not by revisiting the past. The Jews were challenged to open their hearts and eyes and see God’s working in the familiar. Be ready for God’s presence. See things you wouldn’t expect to see in places where you wouldn’t expect to see them. Who knows, you might even see rivers in a familiar desert and water in a familiar wilderness.

And what about our past? Forget about it. God is about to do a new thing. Our future? We do not have control in that realm, as much as we want to or think that we do. We are here. Here in the now, in the present, surrounded by the familiar. And it is here and now that God is about to do a new thing.

One writer put it this way. A woman was living in a beautiful little village at the bottom of a large mountain. She felt empty because she did not sense the presence of God in her life. The woman genuinely wanted to find a life of spiritual significance. She sought the wise counsel of all who she admired in the faith. She read, reflected, searched and sought God. But, to no avail, she could not find God. She was told perhaps if she climbed to the top of the mountain she would be closer to God and find the beauty of a spiritual life. Knowing that she had exhausted her best faith effort to find God in the village she began the climb upward to find God elsewhere. She continued to climb and she reached staggering heights. A storm began to brew and soon pelted her and the side of the mountain. She held on for her very life. The storm prevailed and she was knocked down the side of the mountain. She tumbled head first, then feet first until she reached the valley floor below. As she came to her senses and looked around, right there in her little village she saw a beauty she had never noticed before. Her eyes were opened in a way before unknown, and God and the spiritual beauty of a life of faith unfolded before her. The familiar became a vehicle for the miraculous. God had been there all the time.

Jesus put it this way. A man had two children. The younger of the two asked for his share of the family inheritance be given to him immediately. This child did not want to wait until a rightful, proper, and distant occasion that would warrant the disbursement of inheritance funds. The younger child took the money, fled to a far away country, and wasted his entire holdings. The younger child spent the money foolishly, lived the wild and fast life, and became something like an indentured servant simply to have food to eat. We are told in the story that this younger child came to his senses and decided to return home to make amends. With the certainty of returning home, no doubt, this youngster had fear, hope, wonder, and an array of emotions that words could not possibly capture. On the day he returned home this youngster was startled to find his father run to greet him, embrace him, and welcome him home with a party. Wow! The old familiar haunt did not look quite as dismal as it once had. In fact, this wayward youngster found love, acceptance, support, and tears of joy. The past? Forget about it. The past is past. And in the midst of the familiarity, of family, and of food God did a new thing. Do you think this boy was ever the same after this experience? The younger rebellious child did not have to redo the past or make mountain size promises about the future. This wayward child found God and the spiritual beauty of forgiveness in present moment living right in the face of the familiar.

The two and triple ought era is a significant moment in time. This moment in time can trap us in our past or propel us beyond the present into an uncertain future. But, we are here. We have come home to the familiar surroundings of a simple meal sharing in the presence of Christ in the now. It is in this meal and in this moment that God is still doing a new thing.

Let us pray.

God, help us to not make mountains out of past mole-hills or even past real hills. Keep us from dreaming of greener pastures in some futuristic elsewhere that will only wither and turn brown. Open our eyes to the beauty of your life in our midst, in this place, at this time, and in this familiar meal. Give us eyes to perceive the new things you are doing even in and through us. Amen

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