Our Scripture reading today from Isaiah 43:16-21 declares God is doing a new thing, and calls us to trust that as God has been faithful in the past, God will continue to be faithful and present with us in the future. The other Scripture readings for this sermon are Psalm 136 and Philippians 3:4b-14.
I found helpful J. Clinton McCann, Jr.’s commentary on Psalm 126 and Amanda Benckhuysen’s on Isaiah 43, both at Working Preacher.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Sometimes when pastors preach a sermon, they’re mostly preaching to themselves, and I think that might be true today. When I saw this first reading from Isaiah, I thought, this is a message I need to hear for myself right now probably as much as you need to hear it.
I imagine most of you have heard my news by now, but in case you haven’t, I need to tell you that my time as your pastor here at St. Peter is drawing to a close. Christin, Micah, and I will be moving to Wisconsin in the next six weeks, in the middle of May. If that’s a surprise to you, well, you just gave away that you don’t open your mail from the church.
I promise that I’m not going to talk about moving and transition in every sermon for the next month and a half, but obviously, that’s what’s been on my mind this week as we’ve been letting people know we’re moving and also looking for a house, and by the way, have you heard that this is a terrible time to buy a house?
Anyway, I’ve been stuck on verses 18 and 19 from the Isaiah reading, where God says: “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
This is an odd verse to reflect on for me thinking about leaving and going somewhere new, but it’s also a fascinating verse for us as a congregation in the midst of celebrating our 150th anniversary. As we celebrate this year, we’re trying to balance the past and the future. The goal is to celebrate what God’s done here over the last 150 years, but not to get stuck in nostalgia.
This anniversary needs to be a jumping-off point for the next 150 years of ministry, not looking back thinking, “Gee, it sure was nice back 40 or 50 years ago when all the pews were filled every week.”
We’re trying to celebrate all the good that has been done here in the past, while at the same time move forward. “Gratitude for our past, joy in our present, faith for our future.” It’s a fine balance!
I think the key to that balance might be to remember previous times when God has done something new. I’ve only done this once or twice, but I want you to turn to someone near you and share a time when you’ve done something new, a time when you’ve gone through a change in your life, maybe something you decided or maybe something that wasn’t your choice. What did you change, and how did it go?
[sharing]
Thanks for sharing—I know some people hate “turn to your neighbor time” but hey, you only have a few more weeks to put up with me! What’d you come up with? When was a time you tried something new?
[responses]
The original context of these Isaiah verses is that God is bringing hope to the Jewish people in exile. This is in the middle of a really long passage where God’s offering them hope, telling them that even though they’ve been captured and taken away, even though their cities and their homes have been destroyed, even though the situation has seemed hopeless, there is good news.
They’re not alone; God is coming to rescue them. God is getting involved, doing a new thing. God’s going to make a way through the wilderness to bring them back home.
Our Psalm is talking about the same events, by the way. It’s set just a little bit later in the story, looking back on how God has brought the people back from exile.
It’s a song saying, “Remember when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion? It was like a dream; it was almost too good to be true…God has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.” It’s a reminder for the next time they go through a time of trouble.
So here, the new thing God is doing is rescuing the exiles. But the Bible’s full of examples of God doing new things, especially when the situation is bad. The Biblical story starts in a garden, but when the people sin and have to leave paradise, God goes along with them out of the garden—that’s new.
When the world gets in really bad shape, God sends a flood and starts over. When the people forget about God, God calls Abraham to get up and take a journey of faith, to follow to somewhere new—we talked about that a few weeks ago.
When the situation in Egypt gets bad and God’s people are oppressed, God sends Moses to lead them out of slavery into the freedom of the promised land and protects them from the Egyptian army, which is what the first two verses of the Isaiah reading are referring to.
When the people get tired of being ruled by judges and want a king, God warns them first, but then anoints kings for them. When kings lead the people astray, God sends prophets as messengers.
When the people are in exile, God works through geo-politics to bring them back home. And when the kings and the temple system fail, God does something dramatically new and comes into the world in person, in the person of Jesus Christ.
Even after Jesus’ ascension, when the disciples aren’t sure what to do next, God sends the Holy Spirit to them at Pentecost. When the church starting to grow, suddenly the Spirit is nudging the apostles to include the Gentiles, expanding who’s included in salvation.
Even looking at our own Lutheran history, when the institutional church became corrupted, selling indulgences, God acted to reformed it.
Right here at St. Peter, when worshiping only in German became restrictive, God nudged our ancestors into worshiping in English, in ways our neighbors could understand. If you read the history books, that was a rough transition into a new thing!
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the moment, I think it’s often difficult to see, to perceive what God is doing. What exactly God is doing right now here among us, I’m not sure. The culture is changing around us; we’re coming out of a pandemic. The world feels like it’s constantly shifting right now (and probably all the time). Church in the future is not going to be the same as it was in the past.
But when we look back, God is always at work for good. When the rules don’t work, when situations seem hopeless, when God’s love is misunderstood and people are excluded, God is still working.
In every situation of change you shared, God is still faithful. God has brought us to this point, and God’s not done yet. “I am about to do a new thing,” promises God. “Do you not perceive it?”
I’ll end for now with the words Paul wrote in our second lesson:
“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Please pray with me.
God, help us to trust that you are at work in the midst of this chaotic world. Help us to perceive the new things you are doing, and to listen to the nudges of your Holy Spirit, to get involved in doing your work. Help us to trust that you are faithful.
Guide us to wait patiently, to reflect on the former things when necessary, and to step out in faith when you are calling—and give us the wisdom to know the difference. Thank you for the new things you have done that have brought us to this place, that we may do your will and be a blessing to this world you love.
Amen