Fresh Starts a springtime for Good Shepherd
Epiphany 7B
Isaiah 43_18-21
You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed-- I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?"
This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King."
This is what the LORD says-- he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (NIV)
Are WE Stuck in the Past?
The faith and hope of God’s people in the time that Isaiah 43 was written was at such a low point during their Babylonian captivity that they constantly needed assurance that things would eventually turn around for them. In today’s section of scripture he uses word pictures to reassure them that changes are about to take place.
. Looking to the Past: Isaiah reminds the people of the great things God did for their forefathers when He brought them out of Egypt. He is saying, “He will make it His business to do it again for you.” He is the Holy One of Israel and He is able to do it. Although this generation was in a different situation, the Lord could make a way in the wildernesses well as a way through the Red Sea. The same power of God that can make a way through the sea can make a way in our wilderness as well. Sometimes we are able to believe that God can do SOME things but that He CAN’T or WON’T do other things in our lives. We think, “I don’t see how he can possibly do this because it is a problem of long standing. I can’t SEE HOW it can work out. It is important for us to look to the past to see that God was able in similar circumstances to handle the big problems as well as the small ones. To realize that He can handle the impossible situations as well as the easy ones.
For many of us who have been rowing against the tide for 0ver 30 years, it is easy to become numbed to the opposition, the names we are called, the way we are ignored or patronized as being out of touch. We lose hope. We don’t expect tomorrow to be any better or worse, any different than today. We expect that God will help us through today’s disappointments, but do we still believe that tomorrow will be better?
The movie Ground Hog day is a perfect picture of what hell must be like: a boring place where nothing ever changes.
In the old movie, City Slickers, there is a scene in which three friends are together, and one of them is telling the others about how he has ruined his life. He’s lost his wife. He’s lost his child. He’s lost his job. He’s lost his self respect. He’s lost everything. He is basically telling his friends, “It’s all over. I’ve lost everything.”
To this the character played by Billy Crystal says, “No, that’s not true. You have everything to live for. It’s a fresh start. It’s a ‘do-over’.” Then Crystal reminds his friend that when they were children, playing baseball in the old neighborhood, occasionally one of them would hit the ball toward an old tree and it would get caught up in the tree and interfere with the play. All the kids would yell ‘Do over’ and they would do the play all over again.
In this year, 2006, Good Shepherd is being given a “do over.” It happened to our communion, the Anglican Province during the last two years. With the coming together of the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Rite Synod, the Church of Nigeria and others our communion is experiencing a revival; finding what God had intended we be 4 decades past. As a communion, I can say that we were certainly slow learners.
This is the year, if we will have it, when God is giving Good Shepherd a ”do over.” Certain ones have lamented to me that the congregation missed opportunities in the past, failed to make certain moves.
30 YEARS AGO I HAD SERIOUS DISCUSSIONS WITH THE THEN PRESIDING BISHOP AND SOME OF OUR CLERGY ABOUT HOW TO ADAPT THE FAITH AND TRADITIONS OF HISTORIC ANGLICANISM TO OUR SPECIFIC TIME AND PLACE IN HISTORY. A CONCERN WAS THAT WE NOT BECOME AN ANTIQUE SHOP, A MUSEUM OF ODD PRACTICES AND ARCANE BOOKS.
God speaks to us of these things in chapter Isaiah 43. The first seven verses tell of God’s faithfulness to his people; the people of Israel. But in reality, this speaks of God’s character, which is true throughout all of time. We see that God will be with us and remain faithful to us that is who God is. In the Book of Revelation, one of the visions describes Jesus as FAITHFUL AND TRUE. Verses 8-13 speak of God telling his people that they are his witnesses. The rest of the chapter speaks of what God is going to be doing for his people. And here, let’s focus on verses 18-19.
18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
Now, who’s speaking here? God!
What is he telling us to do? Two things—forget the past, look and see what I’m doing now.
For the Israelites, he was telling them how he was going to deliver them. In fact, he says it just a few verses earlier. Remember how I saved you through the parting of the seas in leaving Egypt? Forget that. I’m going to do something completely different. Something that will amaze all who see it, but that which will ultimately redeem you. And the same God who said to his people over 2500 years ago—forget the past, look and see what I’m doing now, says the same thing to us.
We have made mistakes in the past, as individuals, as a mission and as a communion. Yet we have hope because God allows us do overs. To the one who wishes for the good old days—forget them. Forget them, because God has moved on and has different things for us.
We feel weak and lonely.
Christ has promised to be where there are only 2 or 3. Promised to be in the midst. He will make a way for us.
We may be revert to living in the past, looking toward to recreating it, reliving it, longing for it.
God says, says, “I’m doing a new thing. “
Here’s the reassurance, found in Isaiah 43. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
God is promising a spring time for Good Shepherd and all the other little Anglican Missions caught in nostalgia for the last over a quarter century.
We get a ‘do over’.
We may be overwhelmed because of what has happened and unsure of what the future holds because of what has happened in the past. God says, forget it. Don’t dwell on it. Don’t let it consume you. Don’t let it run and ruin your life. Because I’m doing something great in your life. I’m going to do something great, something new, something you’ve never expected.
What is it, this new thing?
Philippians 1:6. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” The new thing is that God through the resurrected Christ, living in each of us is completing us until He comes to us or we go to Him.
He is also creating a new culture of which we will be a part.
Now this is a gift from God that we will find when we do the one thing he asked of Israel in Isaiah 43 and that Jesus asked of us in His will and testament before he ascended to the Father. “Be my witnesses.”
No matter what, God is working in your life. He may work through the tragedies that occur. He may work through the good times, and through the bad. The certain thing is, he is working. He is doing something new.
And for the coming Year, I can’t think of a better message for the church.
During the past 30 years, Many of us have grown accustomed to accepting bad news. We hide out with our tradition and turn our eyes from where the battle is being fought.
The world has not stopped while we have been marking time. Here and there have been victories, achievements, progress made by people of large heart, strong determination, high intelligence and good will. The progress in science and medicine has made it possible for people to live longer and enjoy better health than in the past, if we will accept it.
On the other hand, life and many products have become cheaper, workmanship is poor in many products; it is more difficult for a family to educate the children, provide a good home, have time to properly raise children and provide good health care.
In our hurry up competitive world, it is more difficult to do a good job.
I spent most of my adult life in Ohio. I can remember the pride we had in good government at state and local level. I can well remember the decline that set in and has gone unabated. Recently bribery scandals have reached to the governor’s office. A lobbyist, who did favors for many an incumbent, ran a small investment company. State officials entrusted him with $50,000,000 dollars of pension money that he was to invest for the benefit of state workers. That money has, as the newmen say, “gone missing.” Well, it didn’t go missing. It was spread around among officials elected to offices that were once regarded as “sacred trusts” but that sort of talk hasn’t been heard since the days of Grover Cleveland who put in place the civil service system and coined the phrase, “a public office is a sacred trust.”
I saw the demise of decency in a variety of offices in Ohio, because of the type work I do. I called on people in business and in government and heard many things that do not always appear in the newspapers.
I saw first hand contracts awarded to people who were not the best equipped to do a job and who were not the lowest bidders. In business as well as in politics, I have seen leaders make unethical decisions that did not serve the public. I have seen waste not only of public money, but also the demise of corporations in which men who were trusted with leadership siphoned off funds and bankrupted companies, defrauding stockholders and employees.
The current scandals that have reached the highest level of our government are not the first. We have come to expect
Are we to be content to sit on the sidelines of our times, reading our lessons, our liturgies to one another and virtually hiding the word of God from those around us?
For a long time, one of my activities has been assisting the reading of men who are new in ministry or preparing for ministry. It has pleasantly surprised me to see young men all over this country showing an interest in The Kingdom of Christ, in righteousness in the land, a return of morality and family life. Whether we do our part or not, Our Lord will not leave himself without witnesses. A few days ago another leader and I were planning how to deploy 7 trained men in an evangelistic effort. We were discussing in which counties and towns these men would work to build a nucleus for not one but perhaps a half-dozen congregations.
The rise of the mega churches, the Churches like Vineyard and the Bible Churches are a sign of the hunger in this land. But they did not rise without dedicated souls inviting people In their neighborhood to come meet Jesus Christ at church.
The recent events right here are evidence that God has better things, new things for both the Haverford Moravian Church and Church of the Good Shepherd to do. Like it or not, we are forced to change.
What the exact shape of our future will be a year from now, we don’t know. We know it will be to perform the tasks He asked of Israel in Isaiah, that Jesus asked of his followers in Jerusalem, Judea, and Galilee, and that Jesus asked of us today.
He said, “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
God may has moved on to accomplishing his work outside of the historic churches. He is doing and has been doing something different for nearly a century. Now, I’m not suggesting that we change everything, but here’s what I am saying. We must not remain stuck in the past, while God is obviously telling us we are going to have to do things differently. This is our opportunity to see that to which he is calling us today and where and how to serve Him best.
Obviously, in our outreach, an emphasis must be placed on reaching and teaching the over 50 percent of youth that have not had Christian upbringing.
I tell you the truth this morning. Too many churches are dying today because they are not forgetting the old ways of doing things and aren’t spending time trying to find where God is now.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” In this time in which we are beingup rooted we had best seek God’s will and not be tempted, as the Children of Israel were when they wandered in the Desert, to return to Egypt, to return to some imagined comfortable past.
Are we anxious about what we are to do? I’m not. He who guides the stars will guide our path. And here’s what God is saying to you now. “You’re anxious? Give it to me. Let me worry about it.”
The Bible says to cast all of our anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans (Rom 6:4) that through baptism, our old life is buried, in order that we “we may live a new life.” Baptize that old life, resurrect it
Have you honestly done that? Have you honestly cried out your heart to God? Not just for a minute or two, but an hour or two? Look at the book of Psalms. It is filled with men of God who poured their hearts out to God. They don’t hold anything back. And I would encourage you this morning; if you cannot forget the past, confess it and give it to God. He wants it; give it to Him, and seek Him now.
Isaiah goes on to say the new thing that God is doing shall “Spring forth” giving an indication of its RAPIDITY. Once God begins to answer our prayers, it can happen very quickly. The Lord will do a new thing and it will not be inferior in any way to the things of old.
The spring of the year brings the rebirth of nature--new beginnings. The crocus breaks through the ground with purple blooms, the bright yellow daffodils open up in a blast of color after the drabness of winter. The dogwoods and redbuds bloom and birds begin to sing. Our spiritual life is renewed very much the same way.
“Do you not perceive it,” asks Isaiah? Begin to be more open and perceptive to God’s work in your life. Be on the lookout for indications of spring. Don’t dwell on the past. Begin to thank Him IN ADVANCE for doing a “new thing” in your life. EXPECT new miracles to “spring forth and burst out” at this season.
STORY: You will forget it
An elderly couple was having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to get checked out to make sure nothing was wrong with them. When they arrived at the doctor’s, they explained to the doctor about the problems they were having with their memory.
After checking the couple out, the doctor tells them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down and make notes to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left.
Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asks, "Where are you going?"
He replies, "To the kitchen."
She asks, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?"
He replies, "Sure."
She then asks him, "Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?"
He says, "No, I can remember that."
She then says, "Well, I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you’ll forget that."
He says, "I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."
She replies, "Well, I also would like whip cream on top. I know you will forget that so you better write it down."
With irritation in his voice, he says, "I don’t need to write that down, I can remember that." He then fumes into the kitchen.
After about 20 minutes he returns from the kitchen and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs.
She stares at the plate for a moment and says, "You forgot my toast."
We are rather like that aren’t we? We ask God for ice cream. Yes we’d like to have a nice old English greystone chapel with a proper altar and choir stalls. Yes we’d like a pipe organ. Yes we’d like a procession with taperers, choir deacons and priest. Yes we’d like a larger congregation.
God is doing a new thing. It may not be ice cream. It will be food for this day. Watch for it. Be ready to accept it gladly and gratefully.
Today, as we celebrate the New Year, as well as the Lord’s Table, let’s remember the truth of Isaiah 43. Don’t dwell in the past; look and see where God is. Seek his face. Seek him now, in the present. He rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Charles Scott, Vicar
Church of the Good Shepherd
Indianapolis, Indiana
crscottblu@yahoo.com
http://www.goodshepherdindy.org
