What New Thing Is God Doing Now?
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Some folks are excited and energized by learning something new or witnessing a creative development in the sciences or the arts. Others seem to fear what is new and, when it involves societal and cultural values, find it difficult to adapt to change. It is healthful for us to have routines and to feel comfortable in familiar surroundings, but whole persons also are adaptable. Even the Bible seems to reflect contrasting sentiments on the old and the new. Compare Jeremiah 6:16, "Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it," with the First Reading for today, Isaiah 43:19, "I am about to do a new thing."
In this week's issue of The Immediate Word, Carter Shelley focuses on the three major appointed lections, raising a difficult but pressing question: How we can know that a new thing is of God? Although the question may be unanswerable (at least before the eschaton), we truly need to encourage one another to reflect on change and newness with as open a mind as we can muster.
Team members add their reflections on the issue, providing also illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon.
What New Thing Is God Doing Now?
by Carter Shelley
Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
In Isaiah 43:16-21 the prophet reminds the people of God's power, then instructs them to look forward, not backward in order to see and recognize the "new thing" God will do. In John 12:1-8 Jesus scolds Judas Iscariot for sanctimoniously suggesting that the oil Mary uses to anoint Jesus' feet should have been sold to help the poor rather than wasted in such an extravagant manner. Judas sees the cash, while Mary sees and recognizes God's extravagant mercy in the Messiah seated before her. "She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial." Finally, as one made new in Christ, Paul the epistolary apostle urges the Philippians to see beyond their own laws, traditions, piety, and accomplishments to the new life and new goal of God's call in Jesus Christ. This call overturns all that has gone before, and once again God's children are called upon to look beyond what they already know to something new, something astonishing, and something wonderful that God is accomplishing in their midst.
The biblical people and situations these lectionary texts address speak to us also of a need to be open to the unexpected, the unpredictable, and the new work God in Christ performs in our midst. In our seemingly larger and more complicated twenty-first-century world, the question often arises, "How will I know if I am fighting against God's will, as Saul did in persecuting Christians, or championing God's call as Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul each did?" The question posed gets even harder when we are faced with situations and possibilities our biblical forefathers and mothers could not have imagined: gay marriages, stem cell research, smart bombs, AIDS, and international terrorism.
How do we, as Christians, keep ourselves open and responsive to the will of God and the ways of God in an ever-more complicated and expanding world?
In Deutero-Isaiah, the Gospel of John, and Paul's letter to the Philippians, God is doing a new thing. Four insights can apply to each text in turn:
1. Only a few of the faithful are able to let go of what they (and we) know from religion, tradition, creeds, and laws in order to recognize the new thing God is doing.
2. It takes incredible focusing of the self upon God by the individual and the faith community to be able to see the divine at work in our midst. The prophet Isaiah can see it and proclaim it. Mary, Jesus' friend and follower, sees it and worships at his feet. Paul sees it and witnesses to it with every fiber of his being and tireless missionary effort.
3. God doesn't necessarily speak to us where we are; God may speak to us from where God would like us to be.
4. When God is at work creativity, newness, and change happen. Thus, graciousness trumps anger and hostility; forgiveness trumps punishment and exclusion; love trumps hate and fear; and hope trumps sadness and despair.
In Isaiah's emphasis upon the new thing God is accomplishing for Israel's future, Isaiah recalls God's greatness as liberator in the past while urging the people to live in the present and anticipate a fresh future. Isaiah doesn't cling to the past nor expect his audience to do so. Thus, a new thing doesn't mean the "same old thing" again: laws, disobedience, judgment proclaimed, continued disobedience, and retribution. In Deutero-Isaiah's words, divine graciousness trumps anger and hostility. The Jews are returning from exile in Babylon/Persia to their homeland. Their past sins are forgiven and forgotten. Punishment and exclusion are over. Thus, hope trumps sadness and despair. God remains their God in their current historical context in the present and in the future, which promises to be better than their past.
In John 12:1-8 Jesus could have criticized Mary's extravagance. Instead, he recognizes her gift for its uniqueness. Her graciousness trumps anger and hostility that seemingly is felt by Judas Iscariot whom John presents as a pretty shady character with a mind more on his own wallet than a heart focused upon his Lord and Savior. In Luke's version of the incident, forgiveness trumps punishment and exclusion when Jesus allows the unnamed woman, whose sins are many, to anoint him. Love also trumps hate and fear when Jesus tells the same woman that her sins are forgiven. Such love also causes Jesus to shed tears at the death of his friend Lazarus and then to call him forth from the tomb and back to life. In so doing, Mary, Lazarus' sister, discovers a new thing about grace and recognizes in Jesus a source of hope and joy not only due to her witnessing of her brother's resurrection but also in her seemingly intuitive grasp of Jesus' impending death. Mary may not understand what lies ahead, but she recognizes Jesus uniqueness and holiness and treats him with both love and awe.
The Gentile Philippian Christians appear to have been subjected to anger and hostility from Jewish Christians due to the former's failure to be circumcised and to conform to traditional Judaic practices. In recalling his own stellar life as a devout Jew, Paul demonstrates that God's graciousness in Christ trumps all human rituals and acts of piety. God's forgiveness makes all Christians one in spirit and one community. There is no room for exclusion or punishment. Love helps Gentile and Jewish Christians to overcome differences of culture, race, and creed. Where different peoples may have hated one another before, love can overcome hate and fear that keep people apart. Hope for all Christians becomes not only possible but an impetus for helping make the future better for all people. Those who imitate Christ will become more Christlike in this life and may find joy with Christ at the end of this life. Thus, hope trumps sadness and despair.
One of the challenges of preaching comes from the call to proclaim the Word of God and not our own words. Few of us knowingly go into the pulpit week after week confident that our views and illustrations of current events always reflect those of our Triune God, but we do try.
To keep my own views from getting in the way of the text's meaning and intention, I sometimes write fictional scenarios that present the dilemma's we Christians face in trying to discern the new thing God is doing in our own world. The following examples are meant to correspond loosely to each text in turn -- Harriet with Isaiah, Barbara with John, and Howard with Philippians. In this way, I hope to open the door for divine revelation when my human interpretations feel inadequate to declare a stance with unequivocal certainty.
Harriet longed for the days of old when the church had been full of young couples and children. The big, beautiful sanctuary. It wasn't exactly empty, but most of the congregation was pretty old. She herself was close to seventy and couldn't understand why younger folks didn't attend church like they used to in the 1950s and 1960s. Church meant more then. People had more time to volunteer. Fewer women worked outside the home, so there were daytime circles and service groups, always plenty of people to teach Sunday school or help with Vacation Bible School and sing in the choir. Last year they'd had to go to the unicameral system of government because there weren't enough people willing to serve to fill both the Session and the Diaconate.
Their minister of five years had left two months previously, and the congregation had been polled by the new Pastor Nominating Committee as to what kind of person they'd like to call next. Harriet had marked that it didn't matter to her if it the minister was a man or a woman, just so long as it was someone young, who could attract some younger families and make church life what it had once been. A man from the presbytery office had worked with the congregation on its mission statement. He'd actually suggested they might look into ways to reach out to older folks who were retiring in the area, and to older folks who needed more support services than the county could provide. Hunh! He had said a church didn't have to be full of young people to be full of God's people. But Harriet didn't agree. Harriet missed the old days when church had played a much larger part in people's lives. She didn't want to adjust her idea of church. If they could just get a young minister, married with some young children of his own, then they'd be able to get some younger folks to join.
What new thing is God doing now? What part in it might Harriet play?
The fastest growing churches in the United States today are not cookie-cutter replicas of post-World War II America. The churches whose memberships are increasing tend to be nondenominational, offer informal, contemporary worship experiences, and ambiguity-free rules and guidelines for living the Christian life. Is the new thing God is doing offering people religious certainty and services instead of the other way around? Are the churches steeped in centuries of theological doctrine and old-fashioned models of Christian faith and practice missing the point while more consumer-oriented churches effectively meet the personal and spiritual needs of contemporary Americans? What new thing is God doing today and what sort of church does God require now?
Barbara had been serving as a Washington lobbyist on behalf of the Catholic Church for two years. She'd been an active anti-abortion worker for more years than she could remember. She'd been shocked but pleased when the bishop had asked her to take on the lobbyist position. The pay was good, the responsibility enormous and, after putting all four children through college on her teacher's salary after Sid had died at 42, Barbara had known she was up to the challenge. The work was hard and often frustrating, but mostly it was exciting to be able to speak regularly with congressmen and senators, and to feel like she was really making a contribution to her church's efforts to save unborn babies.
Recently, Father Gregory had asked Barbara to add stem cell research to her agenda. He wanted her to give a talk about it at the Women's Annual Conference in the summer. Father Gregory seemed very sure that stem cell research fit into the same category of apostasy and sin that abortion occupied, but Barbara wasn't sure they were exactly the same. How could she explain to her fellow Catholics the ethical and moral implications of stem cell research when she wasn't sure she understood them all herself? It wasn't cloning. And, it wasn't the same thing as abortion.
While stem cells could be derived from aborted fetuses and even adults, she'd learned that the best source for stem cells was the small clump of cells that compose the early zygote only a few days following conception. Therefore, to best investigate the latent possibilities inherent in stem cells, scientists wanted to use the approximately 100,000 "excess" frozen pre-embryos that are "left over" from earlier IVF attempts. Was it ethical to allow the destruction of pre-embryos to obtain stem cells for research that may some day save thousands of lives? Barbara had learned that early stem cells have the ability to differentiate into every cell of the human body, potentially forming an entire fetus. If it became possible to manipulate the conditions controlling cellular differentiation, it might be possible to create replacement cells and organs, potentially curing illnesses such as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.*
Was such research against the laws of nature? Was dabbling in the realm of God to preserve cells in order to prevent future deaths and diseases? Barbara knew she was expected to be pro-life in every way, and she was. But how could it and should it be preserved? Jesus and Paul never had to deal with these puzzles of modern science. Why did she? It seemed so clear with abortion, but was stem cell research human manipulation and intervention into the divine realm or was it more like God guiding doctors and scientists steps towards glorious life-saving possibilities the same way God had done with polio in the twentieth century? The answer was not so easy for Barbara to provide.
What new thing is God doing now? What part in it might Barbara play?
How are we to know when our moral and ethical stance expresses the will of God instead of opposing it? In almost every instance Judas' concern for the poor merits priority over all other earthly priorities. The Old Testament prophets railed against Israel's exploitation and neglect of the poor. Jesus himself puts them at the forefront of the Beatitudes. How are we to know when our Christian priorities are so out of whack that we miss a God-given opportunity to serve our Savior as faithfully and well as Mary did? If John the Gospel writer hadn't tipped his hand by revealing Judas' self-serving motives, how would we know who's acting recklessly and who's acting on God's behalf?
Howard turned off his cell phone and dropped it into his pocket. He'd known the day would come when his good friend Janet would call upon him to preside over a blessing service for her and her partner, Anna. Howard had known Janet since they'd been in seminary together fifteen years earlier. He'd been one of the first people she'd come out to and had stood by her when she made the painful decision not to seek ordination because their denomination wasn't ready to approve gay ministers. Instead, Janet had become a psychologist who specialized in work with adult survivors of incest. He'd even helped her design a house blessing service that Janet had used with a client who was buying her first home and wanted it to feel like a safe place, a place with a deadbolt lock no stepfather or stepbrother could ever break into.
Howard had been really happy for Janet three years ago when she'd fallen in love with Anna, who was a social worker. Howard had been pleased when the women had wanted to join his church, and even more pleased when the majority of his officers had accepted them into membership without too much awkwardness or unease. But now Janet and Anna wanted their union blessed. They couldn't have a legal marriage in this state, but they could have a celebration service, a blessing service. In his heart Howard wanted to do it, and felt honored to be asked. But he also knew that he'd be getting into hot water with his bishop and some of his congregation if he did preside.
So many Christians were so certain that homosexuality and lesbianism were against the laws of nature and the laws of God. Howard knew the texts in Leviticus and Romans as well as the next guy, but why were those prohibitions so vociferously supported when many other biblical texts were no longer endorsed as suitable or applicable to the twenty-first century? If gays were an abomination to God, why did some people seem born with that orientation already part of their makeup. Janet said she'd known she was gay since she was twelve. Was that possible? Could God really be judging and damning of gay people like Janet and Anna who loved each other exclusively and had created a life together? The Pauline text for Sunday's sermon called upon Christians to imitate Christ in all things. How would Jesus have dealt with such a request as Janet's? Would Jesus have refused to bless her love?
What new thing is God doing now? What part in it should Howard play?
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul recommends that they "imitate Christ." But even this direction is not always crystal clear. Imitate Christ -- which Christ? The one Paul represents in the book of Romans or the one Paul presents in the letter to the Galatians? Abomination or liberation? In order to live in accordance with our call as Christians to love and our call as Christians to live a holy and righteous life, how do we know which Christ to imitate?
The many challenges and changes we face in our twenty-first-century world require God's presence and guidance more than ever before. It is a new world, a now world. What new thing is God doing today? What part in it are you and I called to play?
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*Society Today online article by Daniel Eisenberg, M.D.
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/sciencenature/Is_Stem_Cell_Research_Ethical$.asp/3/22/2004
* * * * *
Team Comments
George Murphy responds: A good (though maybe a bit long) title for a sermon on the First Lesson for this week, Isaiah 43:16-21, might be:
"Give Me that Old-Time Religion? Give Me a Break!"
Because God, speaking through the prophet says, "Do not remember the former things ... I am about to do a new thing." The return from Babylonian exile is going to be a newer and greater act of deliverance than the long ago exodus from Egypt.
But don't be too quick to dismiss the old. The one who speaks is identified as the one "who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters" and who had just promised that "when you pass through the waters, I will be with you" (43:2). The imagery used to describe the return from exile is that of the Exodus, and the one who will save is the one who created Israel in that event (43:1, 15). For all the newness, there is continuity with the old.
The same thing happens in the New Testament. Toward the end of the book of Revelation (21:5), the one seated on the throne says, "See, I am making all things new." In the film The Passion of the Christ these words are spoken by Jesus to his mother on the way to Calvary. That is not an accurate citation from the biblical passion narratives, but it is right in spirit, for the New Testament writers see the death and resurrection of Christ as leading the new Exodus of the people of God. (See my comments for The Immediate Word on the Lukan Transfiguration text, and especially Luke 9:31, for 22 February of this year.) Christians have seen the work of Christ as something supremely new, yet a fulfillment of the old, and have often used Passover and Exodus imagery to describe it. (Think, e.g., of the Easter hymn of John of Damascus, "Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain," hymn 132 in Lutheran Book of Worship.)
"If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17), and the promise of new heavens and a new earth is repeated several times in scripture. But when someone comes to faith in Christ, the old person is not simply annihilated and replaced by a new, and the whole creation is to be transformed, not destroyed. What God promises, as John Polkinghorne puts it, is not just a new creatio ex nihilo but creatio ex vetere, creation from the old (The Faith of a Physicist [Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1994], p. 167). There is both discontinuity and continuity.
Old customs, traditions, and ways of looking at the world can't always be maintained. You can't, as Jesus said, insist on putting new wine into old wineskins. But even as we are continually called to see the new things that God may be doing, it is the same God who does them. The fundamental character of God, the character revealed in Christ, does not change, so we should expect there to be some discernible continuity in what God does in the world.
But a lot of novel phenomena emerge in the world, and not all of them can be identified as a "new thing" that God desires for creation. The abolition of slavery, and especially of enslavement based on race, is pretty unambiguous: The great majority of Christians today -- and all of them whose theological views are worth listening to on the matter -- see this as an unqualified good, in spite of the fact that their ancestors may have been defending slavery on supposedly biblical grounds 150 years ago. Other new things are not quite so obvious: The development of modern capitalism has created wealth and done a lot of good, but it has hardly been an unmitigated blessing. And at the other end of the spectrum, the whole Nazi phenomenon was clearly bad, and contrary to God's will for creation.
Or so we can see now. But the evil of National Socialism was far from obvious to everybody in the 1930s. It's difficult for people to remember today that fascist movements were considered to be progressive by many people in Europe and America at the time. A lot of Germans saw it as liberation from the injustices that the victors of World War I imposed on them. The "German Christians" thought that Nazism was something new that God was doing for their people. They believed that their experience, rooted in German blood and soil, gave them a distinctive insight into God's purposes. It was against this appeal to experience as an indicator of what God was doing that the Barmen Declaration of 1934 spoke.
Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation.
-- Arthur Cochrane, The Reformed Confessions of the Sixteenth Century, [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966], p. 334
Even ideas that appear to be progressive and enlightened by contemporary standards may not be the "new thing" that God has in mind. The argument of Judas in this week's Gospel makes a great deal of sense in the light of calls for social justice and belief in God's preferential option for the poor. Of course money should be used to alleviate poverty and change social conditions instead of being used to buy some expensive ointment for a symbolic act of anointing a religious leader. If we didn't have Jesus' words rejecting this argument, what enlightened person would disagree? But we do have Jesus' words.
I hope it's obvious that I am neither trying to put in a good word for Nazism nor claiming that the poor are not to be helped! My point is rather that we need to be careful about claiming that anything new that happens to come along is God's will. "Try the spirits whether they are of God!" the confessors at Barmen said, quoting from 1 John 4:1.
Are the new things we are considering consistent with the one Word to whom we are to be faithful?
One contemporary issue for which these reflections are relevant is that of the church's attitude toward homosexuality, and especially the question of same-sex marriages which is being raised across the country today. Is acceptance of homosexual activity and approval of same-sex marriage a new thing that God is doing? Or is it something that goes against God's intention for creation? Or is it something in between?
I will resist the temptation here to spell out my own answer to the questions in detail. (In part this is because I already dealt with it in a segment of The Immediate Word last summer after the Episcopal Church's approval of Gene Robinson as a bishop.) If we really believe that God does new things then we will not be content to reject the possibility of same-sex unions by saying, "We have never done it that way." (That, or its variant, "We have always done it this way," is sometimes called "the seven last words of the church.") The church has been called to do things it's never done before.
But we cannot simply appeal to analogies with earlier decisions, such as the rejection of slavery and the ordination of women. Nor, as I've argued earlier, can we simply appeal to the experience of homosexual persons in order to show that the meaning of marriage is to be extended to include same-sex couples. What we must do is to try to discern the appropriate continuities with the past, while being open to the work of the one who promises to make all things new in Christ. Can we find in scripture the beginning of a trajectory toward our present situation? Perhaps what we will come to is a decision that is neither "same old, same old" nor a complete break with the past -- something like approval of civil unions, together with the church's blessing of them, while distinguishing such unions from marriage.
Carlos Wilton responds: The story is told of a couple of seminary students who were taking a course on evangelism. Their professor had given the class a very practical assignment: to go out door to door, in groups of two, sharing their faith.
Things weren't going real well for this pair. Few householders in their assigned neighborhood were even home to answer the door. Those who were wanted little to do with these two strangers, no matter how earnest and fresh-faced they seemed.
Finally, they found a house where someone was willing to talk with them. A tired-looking young mother answered the door. To their surprise, she invited them in. As they followed her through to the den, the two seminarians had to wind their way through a gantlet of screaming children and barking dogs. One of them nearly tripped over a pull-toy on the floor.
"We would like to tell you how to obtain eternal life," one of them said.
The young mother thought for a moment, running her fingers through her unwashed hair. "Thank you," she said, "but no thanks. Eternal life? I don't believe I could stand it!"
The people of Israel, languishing in their Babylonian exile, couldn't see that life was offering them very much, either. Who was this Isaiah character -- this so-called prophet -- who spun for them such mad fantasies?
" 'A way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters' ... Maybe back in Moses' time, but not here, not now."
"So God's 'about to do a new thing?' Of course we don't perceive it!"
"A way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ... Wild animals honoring God? Go home, Isaiah -- wherever home is. Hope is too high-priced a drug for us homeboys, here in the ghetto."
Newness. It can be a hard sell sometimes. Yet the message of newness is precisely what we're called to preach.
Related Illustrations
Submitted by Carlos Wilton
In the March 23, 2004 Christian Century, Craig Barnes (pastor of Pittsburgh's Shadyside Presbyterian Church and a professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary), reflects on the frustratingly slow pace of change in the church, among people who just can't seem to catch God's vision of newness:
"Over the past 23 years of pastoral ministry my most common experience is deja vu. I've had the same conversation in three different churches about kids eating pizza in the parlor. I have gone over the same problems in pastoral counseling and wandered through the same routine with budget planning, the same search for Sunday school teachers. I could lament that after all these years we don't seem to be making progress. Or I could help the congregation see the mystery of walking with God through another day in a wilderness where anything can happen.
"The point of walking with God is not to arrive, but to walk with God. As we walk along, we discover that God is making a way by providing water in the desert.
"The Hebrew here is not exactly clear. Some of our translations say 'rivers in the desert.' Some say 'streams.' The word has the connotation of a small thread of water. It's just barely enough water. If the wilderness is an enduring image of the frightening place where we must go to find the future, the stream along the way is the symbol of God's grace that saves our lives on the way. It is a stream that we yearn for just as a deer thirsts for running water. The mission of the pastor is to help the congregation find that stream and thus to be the voice crying out in the wilderness."
***
In The Once and Future Church, Loren Mead tells the story of a bishop of the Church of England who discovered just how difficult it can be to bring change to small churches -- to two small churches, to be precise.
The churches were located in the tiny villages of North Ormsby and South Ormsby, on the North Sea. They've seen a lot of history in that eastern part of England. It's country that was captured and ruled by the Danes, way back in the ninth century. Those two churches had been around at least that long.
Yet despite their antiquity, the bishop could think of no possible way to keep both church buildings open. Financial support had dwindled away to nearly nothing. Both roofs were in dire need of repair. One church had four regular worshipers, the other maybe seven.
Month after month, the bishop negotiated: Would they agree to worship in a new church, located halfway in between? Would they consider closing one church down, and merging into one congregation? Would they be willing to alternate services -- one week in one church, the next week in the other? The answer, in every case was, "No." The people were adamant.
Finally, pushed to the wall, the bishop issued an ultimatum: He was going to close one of the churches, and he'd announce his decision in two months. With that, the people of North Ormsby threw in the towel. They agreed -- reluctantly, to be sure, but they did agree -- to close their church and worship with South Ormsby. But when the bishop got to South Ormsby to tell them the news, he found those people all up in arms. They wanted nothing to do with it.
"We'll not have it," they insisted, defiant to the last. "They can't worship here!"
"For God's sake, please tell me why?" the weary bishop is supposed to have asked.
"Well," growled their leading member, "when the Danes were invading, they never warned us."
***
The following poem was posted on the wall of a monastery in Colorado:
I was regretting the past
and fearing the future.
Suddenly God was speaking:
"MY NAME IS I AM."
I waited, God continued:
"When you live in the past,
with its mistakes and regrets,
it is hard. I am not there.
MY NAME IS NOT I WAS."
"When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
MY NAME IS NOT I WILL BE."
"When you live in this moment,
it is not hard. I am here.
MY NAME IS I AM."
***
The following Sufi fable was told by Idries Shah. It may have some applicability to Isaiah's image of streams in the desert. The fable tells of a stream that ran from its source high up in the mountains to the edge of a dry and dusty desert. Just as it had run laughing over every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one too, but found that, as fast as it tried to run across the sand, its waters disappeared.
The stream was convinced that its destiny was to cross the desert -- and yet there no way to do that. Then a hidden voice, seemingly arising out of the desert itself, whispered these words: "The Wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream."
The stream objected that it was doing its very best: that it had dashed itself against the sand time and again, only to be absorbed. The Wind, on the other hand, was able to fly -- and this was why it could cross the desert.
But the voice of the sand answered back: "By hurtling on in your long-accustomed way you can never get across. You will either disappear or you will become a marsh. You must allow the Wind to carry you over."
"Yet how can this happen?" the stream answered back.
"You must allow yourself to be absorbed by the Wind."
This idea was not acceptable to the stream. It had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. (And anyway, having lost it, how was it to know it could ever be regained?)
"The Wind," answered the sand, "performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, then lets it fall once again. Falling from the sky as rain, the water becomes a river."
"How can I know this is true?" the stream asked.
"It is simply so -- and unless you believe it, you will never become more than a quagmire."
"But can I not remain the same stream I am today?"
"You cannot remain so," the whisper said. "Your essential nature is carried away, but then it becomes a stream again."
And so the stream raised its vapor into the welcoming arms of the Wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, allowing it to fall softly as soon as they reached a mountaintop many miles away. And because it had had his doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in its mind the details of the experience. The stream was learning.
Worship Resources
OPENING
Music
Hymns
"God of Many Names." Words: Brian Wren, 1985; music: William P. Rowan, 1985. (c) 1986 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 105; CH 13.
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing." Words: Charles Wesley, 1739; music: Carl G. Glaser; arr. Lowell Mason, 1839. Public domain. As found in UMH 57; Hymnal '82 493; LBOW 559; TPH 466; AAHH 184; TNNBH 23; TNCH 42; CH 5.
"Holy God, We Praise Thy Name." Words: Stanzas 1-4, Ignaz Franz, 18th cent; trans. Clarence Walworth, 1853; stanzas 5-7, F. Bland Tucker, 1982; music: Katholisches Gesangbuch, ca. 1774. Stanzas 5-7 (c) 1985 The Church Pension Fund. As found in UMH 79; Hymnal '82 366; LBOW 535; TPH 460; TNNBH 13; TNCH 276.
"To God Be the Glory." Words: Fanny J. Crosby, 1875; music: William H. Doane, 1875. Public domain. As found in UMH 98; TPH 485; AAHH 157; TNNBH 17; CH 72.
"I Sing the Almighty Power of God." Words: Isaac Watts, 1715; music: Trad. English melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Public domain. As found in UMH 152; Hymnal '82 398; TPH 288; TNCH 12.
Songs
"I Worship You, Almighty God." Words and music: Sondra Corbett. (c) 1983 Integrey's Hosanna! Music. As found in MCB II 44.
"Be Exalted, O God." Words and music: Brent Chambers. (c) 1977 Scripture in Song. As found in MCB II 13.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: When God restored the fortunes of Zion,
People: We were like those who dream.
Leader: Then our mouth was filled with laughter
People: and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Leader: Then it was said among the nations,
"God has done great things for them."
People: God has done great things for us, and we rejoice.
Leader: Those who go out weeping, bearing seed for sowing,
People: Shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God, who is ever the same and ever changing: Grant us the faith to trust in the sure foundation of your love as you make it known in ever new way; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
God, you are the one is the same yesterday, today and forever. Your loving kindness and grace are from everlasting to everlasting. Yet you are always finding new ways to make yourself known to your children. Open our eyes to what you are doing for us and through us as you share yourself and your love with all creation. Amen.
RESPONSE MUSIC
Hymns
"This Is a Day of New Beginnings." Words: Brian Wren, 1978; alt. 1987; music: Carlton R. Young, 1984. Words (c) 1983, 1987 Hope Publishing Co.; music (c) 1987 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 383; TNCH 417; CH 518.
"Marching to Zion" or "Come, We That Love the Lord." Words: Isaac Watts, 1707; refrain by Robert Lowery, 1867; music: Robert Lowery, 1867. Public domain. As found in UMH 733; AAHH 590; TNNBH; CH 707.
"God of Grace and God of Glory." Words: Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930; music: John Hughes, 1907. (c) By permission of Elinor Fosdick Downs. As found in UMH 577; Hymnal '82 594, 595; LBOW 415; TPH 420; TNCH 436; CH 464.
"Lord of the Dance." Words: Sydney Carter, 1963; music: 19th cent. Shaker tune; adapt by Sydney Carter, 1963; harm. Gary Alan Smith, 1988. (c) 1963, 1989 Gallard, Ltd. As found in UMH 261.
"We Meet You, O Christ." Words: Fred Kaan, 1966; music: Carl F. Schalk, 1987. Words (c) 1968 Hope Publishing Co.; music (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing Co. As found in UMH 257; TPH 311; CH 183.
Songs
"Sing unto the Lord a New Song." Words and music: Jewish folk song. Arr. (c) 1996 Abingdon Press. As found in CCB 16.
"Change My Heart, O God." Words and music: Eddie Espinosa. (c) 1982 Mercy Publishing. As found in CCB 56.
"May Your Kingdom Come." Words and music: Kirk Dearman. (c) 1988 and this arr. (c) 1991 Maranatha! Music. As found in PMMCH3 34.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: God has created all things in love and harmony yet we live in a world of hate and brokenness. We are called as God's people to carry God's Spirit into this world and yet we have participated too much in the spirit that works against God. Let us confess our sinfulness to God and before one another.
(time for silent confession and reflection)
People: We, your people and your image, O God, have failed to be faithful to your creative intent. We have failed to be your presence; we have failed to work for peace and justice; we have failed to love others as you have loved us. We have been afraid of the new even when it has been your doing. Forgive us and surprise us with your presence as you walk and work among us. Amen.
Leader: Know that God is always working in new and exciting ways and comes to you now to make you new and to refresh you with the creative Spirit. You are the new thing God is doing today!
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
O God of creation and re-creation, we worship and adore you. Your Spirit hovered over chaos and brought forth order; your Spirit entered the earthen form and brought forth humanity; your Spirit entered Mary and brought forth Jesus. You are the God who brings newness and creativity to all.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We confess that we are people who are more comfortable with the old forms. We love that which does not change and we are suspicious of those things that do not fit into our old patterns of thought. We are more like the religious leaders of Jesus' day who found it hard to listen to his words than like those who gave up everything and followed him. Forgive us for failing to see you as you manifest yourself in new and exciting ways. By the power of your creating Spirit, awake us to what you are trying to do for and through us.
All things good and beautiful we have received from your bounty. You have shared the joy of your creativity with all creation. You have given us abundant resources and beauty beyond comprehension. We thank you for your generosity in creation and in your love that abounds throughout the human family.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We know that your loving care for this creation has not been carried out in its fullness. There is poverty, sickness, and division that you are working to overcome. We hold those in need up to your loving care and ask that we may always be part of your gracious presence to seeking to find your loving kindness and grace.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray, saying, "Our Father ...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition
MCB II: Master Chorus Book II
Children's Sermon
by Wesley T. Runk
Vs. 7 -- Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought if so that she might keep it for the day of my burial." John 12:1-8
Object -- A jar of cream perfume (sachet) (a new jar if possible)
Good morning, boys and girls. We are moving very close to Easter and we are following Jesus as he walks toward Jerusalem. How many of you remember the name Lazarus? (let them answer) That's right, he is the one that Jesus raised from the dead. Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus. Do you also remember the names of Lazarus' sisters? (let them answer) Very good! Their names were Mary and Martha. Whenever Jesus was in the area he would stop at their home in a place called Bethany and visit with his friends. It was not too far from Jerusalem and a short walk would allow you to see the great wall surrounding the city and some of the buildings inside of it.
It wasn't only Jesus that came to the house of Lazarus but all of the disciples as well. It was a good place to relax and enjoy a good meal. There were beautiful gardens around the house and places where you could sit and have quiet conversations. On this particular day they were invited for dinner. Martha was serving dinner when Mary did something very special. She kneeled down at the feet of Jesus and took a jar of cream that smelled heavenly and put it on his feet. Then she wiped his feet with her long hair. It was a beautiful scene where Mary worshiped Jesus. (open the jar and let the children smell the scent of the perfume) Doesn't that smell heavenly?
But it wasn't pleasant in the house of Lazarus. How many of you remember a man named Judas? (let them answer) Right, he betrayed Jesus. But before he did that terrible thing he was also very critical of Mary and the spending of money on this expensive perfume. He thought Jesus would approve. He said, "Why didn't you sell this perfume and give the money to the poor?" Jesus was always concerned about the poor and Judas thought he would say the right thing because he wanted to get in good with Jesus. Judas was a thief. He stole money from the treasury of the disciples. They suspected him and were suspicious. He could not see what was really happening in the lives of people who believed in Jesus. He couldn't see the new way of life that Jesus brought to people.
Jesus understood what was happening. He noticed that Mary was changing from just being a friend to a believer in God and his new ways. Jesus was seeing her share her new love for God with the use of the perfume. Believers were sharing their gifts, forgiving others for the sins committed against them, caring for the sick, and being with the lonely. All things seemed to be new and Judas could not see it. But the others did see it and they praised God for what they saw.
Jesus brings new things to your life also. He creates a new spirit where you can see how good life can really be when you believe in the power of God. God brings joy and peace and a lot of hope. He shares his life with us and makes our friendships wonderful and filled a new spirit. Jesus brings to us newness of life.
The next time you smell something so good that it makes you take a deep breath I want you to remember Mary and how she shared her most expensive perfume in the worship of Jesus. When you remember this story you will also remember how Jesus brings you a new life to be shared with many. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, March 28, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503
In this week's issue of The Immediate Word, Carter Shelley focuses on the three major appointed lections, raising a difficult but pressing question: How we can know that a new thing is of God? Although the question may be unanswerable (at least before the eschaton), we truly need to encourage one another to reflect on change and newness with as open a mind as we can muster.
Team members add their reflections on the issue, providing also illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon.
What New Thing Is God Doing Now?
by Carter Shelley
Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
In Isaiah 43:16-21 the prophet reminds the people of God's power, then instructs them to look forward, not backward in order to see and recognize the "new thing" God will do. In John 12:1-8 Jesus scolds Judas Iscariot for sanctimoniously suggesting that the oil Mary uses to anoint Jesus' feet should have been sold to help the poor rather than wasted in such an extravagant manner. Judas sees the cash, while Mary sees and recognizes God's extravagant mercy in the Messiah seated before her. "She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial." Finally, as one made new in Christ, Paul the epistolary apostle urges the Philippians to see beyond their own laws, traditions, piety, and accomplishments to the new life and new goal of God's call in Jesus Christ. This call overturns all that has gone before, and once again God's children are called upon to look beyond what they already know to something new, something astonishing, and something wonderful that God is accomplishing in their midst.
The biblical people and situations these lectionary texts address speak to us also of a need to be open to the unexpected, the unpredictable, and the new work God in Christ performs in our midst. In our seemingly larger and more complicated twenty-first-century world, the question often arises, "How will I know if I am fighting against God's will, as Saul did in persecuting Christians, or championing God's call as Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul each did?" The question posed gets even harder when we are faced with situations and possibilities our biblical forefathers and mothers could not have imagined: gay marriages, stem cell research, smart bombs, AIDS, and international terrorism.
How do we, as Christians, keep ourselves open and responsive to the will of God and the ways of God in an ever-more complicated and expanding world?
In Deutero-Isaiah, the Gospel of John, and Paul's letter to the Philippians, God is doing a new thing. Four insights can apply to each text in turn:
1. Only a few of the faithful are able to let go of what they (and we) know from religion, tradition, creeds, and laws in order to recognize the new thing God is doing.
2. It takes incredible focusing of the self upon God by the individual and the faith community to be able to see the divine at work in our midst. The prophet Isaiah can see it and proclaim it. Mary, Jesus' friend and follower, sees it and worships at his feet. Paul sees it and witnesses to it with every fiber of his being and tireless missionary effort.
3. God doesn't necessarily speak to us where we are; God may speak to us from where God would like us to be.
4. When God is at work creativity, newness, and change happen. Thus, graciousness trumps anger and hostility; forgiveness trumps punishment and exclusion; love trumps hate and fear; and hope trumps sadness and despair.
In Isaiah's emphasis upon the new thing God is accomplishing for Israel's future, Isaiah recalls God's greatness as liberator in the past while urging the people to live in the present and anticipate a fresh future. Isaiah doesn't cling to the past nor expect his audience to do so. Thus, a new thing doesn't mean the "same old thing" again: laws, disobedience, judgment proclaimed, continued disobedience, and retribution. In Deutero-Isaiah's words, divine graciousness trumps anger and hostility. The Jews are returning from exile in Babylon/Persia to their homeland. Their past sins are forgiven and forgotten. Punishment and exclusion are over. Thus, hope trumps sadness and despair. God remains their God in their current historical context in the present and in the future, which promises to be better than their past.
In John 12:1-8 Jesus could have criticized Mary's extravagance. Instead, he recognizes her gift for its uniqueness. Her graciousness trumps anger and hostility that seemingly is felt by Judas Iscariot whom John presents as a pretty shady character with a mind more on his own wallet than a heart focused upon his Lord and Savior. In Luke's version of the incident, forgiveness trumps punishment and exclusion when Jesus allows the unnamed woman, whose sins are many, to anoint him. Love also trumps hate and fear when Jesus tells the same woman that her sins are forgiven. Such love also causes Jesus to shed tears at the death of his friend Lazarus and then to call him forth from the tomb and back to life. In so doing, Mary, Lazarus' sister, discovers a new thing about grace and recognizes in Jesus a source of hope and joy not only due to her witnessing of her brother's resurrection but also in her seemingly intuitive grasp of Jesus' impending death. Mary may not understand what lies ahead, but she recognizes Jesus uniqueness and holiness and treats him with both love and awe.
The Gentile Philippian Christians appear to have been subjected to anger and hostility from Jewish Christians due to the former's failure to be circumcised and to conform to traditional Judaic practices. In recalling his own stellar life as a devout Jew, Paul demonstrates that God's graciousness in Christ trumps all human rituals and acts of piety. God's forgiveness makes all Christians one in spirit and one community. There is no room for exclusion or punishment. Love helps Gentile and Jewish Christians to overcome differences of culture, race, and creed. Where different peoples may have hated one another before, love can overcome hate and fear that keep people apart. Hope for all Christians becomes not only possible but an impetus for helping make the future better for all people. Those who imitate Christ will become more Christlike in this life and may find joy with Christ at the end of this life. Thus, hope trumps sadness and despair.
One of the challenges of preaching comes from the call to proclaim the Word of God and not our own words. Few of us knowingly go into the pulpit week after week confident that our views and illustrations of current events always reflect those of our Triune God, but we do try.
To keep my own views from getting in the way of the text's meaning and intention, I sometimes write fictional scenarios that present the dilemma's we Christians face in trying to discern the new thing God is doing in our own world. The following examples are meant to correspond loosely to each text in turn -- Harriet with Isaiah, Barbara with John, and Howard with Philippians. In this way, I hope to open the door for divine revelation when my human interpretations feel inadequate to declare a stance with unequivocal certainty.
Harriet longed for the days of old when the church had been full of young couples and children. The big, beautiful sanctuary. It wasn't exactly empty, but most of the congregation was pretty old. She herself was close to seventy and couldn't understand why younger folks didn't attend church like they used to in the 1950s and 1960s. Church meant more then. People had more time to volunteer. Fewer women worked outside the home, so there were daytime circles and service groups, always plenty of people to teach Sunday school or help with Vacation Bible School and sing in the choir. Last year they'd had to go to the unicameral system of government because there weren't enough people willing to serve to fill both the Session and the Diaconate.
Their minister of five years had left two months previously, and the congregation had been polled by the new Pastor Nominating Committee as to what kind of person they'd like to call next. Harriet had marked that it didn't matter to her if it the minister was a man or a woman, just so long as it was someone young, who could attract some younger families and make church life what it had once been. A man from the presbytery office had worked with the congregation on its mission statement. He'd actually suggested they might look into ways to reach out to older folks who were retiring in the area, and to older folks who needed more support services than the county could provide. Hunh! He had said a church didn't have to be full of young people to be full of God's people. But Harriet didn't agree. Harriet missed the old days when church had played a much larger part in people's lives. She didn't want to adjust her idea of church. If they could just get a young minister, married with some young children of his own, then they'd be able to get some younger folks to join.
What new thing is God doing now? What part in it might Harriet play?
The fastest growing churches in the United States today are not cookie-cutter replicas of post-World War II America. The churches whose memberships are increasing tend to be nondenominational, offer informal, contemporary worship experiences, and ambiguity-free rules and guidelines for living the Christian life. Is the new thing God is doing offering people religious certainty and services instead of the other way around? Are the churches steeped in centuries of theological doctrine and old-fashioned models of Christian faith and practice missing the point while more consumer-oriented churches effectively meet the personal and spiritual needs of contemporary Americans? What new thing is God doing today and what sort of church does God require now?
Barbara had been serving as a Washington lobbyist on behalf of the Catholic Church for two years. She'd been an active anti-abortion worker for more years than she could remember. She'd been shocked but pleased when the bishop had asked her to take on the lobbyist position. The pay was good, the responsibility enormous and, after putting all four children through college on her teacher's salary after Sid had died at 42, Barbara had known she was up to the challenge. The work was hard and often frustrating, but mostly it was exciting to be able to speak regularly with congressmen and senators, and to feel like she was really making a contribution to her church's efforts to save unborn babies.
Recently, Father Gregory had asked Barbara to add stem cell research to her agenda. He wanted her to give a talk about it at the Women's Annual Conference in the summer. Father Gregory seemed very sure that stem cell research fit into the same category of apostasy and sin that abortion occupied, but Barbara wasn't sure they were exactly the same. How could she explain to her fellow Catholics the ethical and moral implications of stem cell research when she wasn't sure she understood them all herself? It wasn't cloning. And, it wasn't the same thing as abortion.
While stem cells could be derived from aborted fetuses and even adults, she'd learned that the best source for stem cells was the small clump of cells that compose the early zygote only a few days following conception. Therefore, to best investigate the latent possibilities inherent in stem cells, scientists wanted to use the approximately 100,000 "excess" frozen pre-embryos that are "left over" from earlier IVF attempts. Was it ethical to allow the destruction of pre-embryos to obtain stem cells for research that may some day save thousands of lives? Barbara had learned that early stem cells have the ability to differentiate into every cell of the human body, potentially forming an entire fetus. If it became possible to manipulate the conditions controlling cellular differentiation, it might be possible to create replacement cells and organs, potentially curing illnesses such as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.*
Was such research against the laws of nature? Was dabbling in the realm of God to preserve cells in order to prevent future deaths and diseases? Barbara knew she was expected to be pro-life in every way, and she was. But how could it and should it be preserved? Jesus and Paul never had to deal with these puzzles of modern science. Why did she? It seemed so clear with abortion, but was stem cell research human manipulation and intervention into the divine realm or was it more like God guiding doctors and scientists steps towards glorious life-saving possibilities the same way God had done with polio in the twentieth century? The answer was not so easy for Barbara to provide.
What new thing is God doing now? What part in it might Barbara play?
How are we to know when our moral and ethical stance expresses the will of God instead of opposing it? In almost every instance Judas' concern for the poor merits priority over all other earthly priorities. The Old Testament prophets railed against Israel's exploitation and neglect of the poor. Jesus himself puts them at the forefront of the Beatitudes. How are we to know when our Christian priorities are so out of whack that we miss a God-given opportunity to serve our Savior as faithfully and well as Mary did? If John the Gospel writer hadn't tipped his hand by revealing Judas' self-serving motives, how would we know who's acting recklessly and who's acting on God's behalf?
Howard turned off his cell phone and dropped it into his pocket. He'd known the day would come when his good friend Janet would call upon him to preside over a blessing service for her and her partner, Anna. Howard had known Janet since they'd been in seminary together fifteen years earlier. He'd been one of the first people she'd come out to and had stood by her when she made the painful decision not to seek ordination because their denomination wasn't ready to approve gay ministers. Instead, Janet had become a psychologist who specialized in work with adult survivors of incest. He'd even helped her design a house blessing service that Janet had used with a client who was buying her first home and wanted it to feel like a safe place, a place with a deadbolt lock no stepfather or stepbrother could ever break into.
Howard had been really happy for Janet three years ago when she'd fallen in love with Anna, who was a social worker. Howard had been pleased when the women had wanted to join his church, and even more pleased when the majority of his officers had accepted them into membership without too much awkwardness or unease. But now Janet and Anna wanted their union blessed. They couldn't have a legal marriage in this state, but they could have a celebration service, a blessing service. In his heart Howard wanted to do it, and felt honored to be asked. But he also knew that he'd be getting into hot water with his bishop and some of his congregation if he did preside.
So many Christians were so certain that homosexuality and lesbianism were against the laws of nature and the laws of God. Howard knew the texts in Leviticus and Romans as well as the next guy, but why were those prohibitions so vociferously supported when many other biblical texts were no longer endorsed as suitable or applicable to the twenty-first century? If gays were an abomination to God, why did some people seem born with that orientation already part of their makeup. Janet said she'd known she was gay since she was twelve. Was that possible? Could God really be judging and damning of gay people like Janet and Anna who loved each other exclusively and had created a life together? The Pauline text for Sunday's sermon called upon Christians to imitate Christ in all things. How would Jesus have dealt with such a request as Janet's? Would Jesus have refused to bless her love?
What new thing is God doing now? What part in it should Howard play?
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul recommends that they "imitate Christ." But even this direction is not always crystal clear. Imitate Christ -- which Christ? The one Paul represents in the book of Romans or the one Paul presents in the letter to the Galatians? Abomination or liberation? In order to live in accordance with our call as Christians to love and our call as Christians to live a holy and righteous life, how do we know which Christ to imitate?
The many challenges and changes we face in our twenty-first-century world require God's presence and guidance more than ever before. It is a new world, a now world. What new thing is God doing today? What part in it are you and I called to play?
____________
*Society Today online article by Daniel Eisenberg, M.D.
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/sciencenature/Is_Stem_Cell_Research_Ethical$.asp/3/22/2004
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Team Comments
George Murphy responds: A good (though maybe a bit long) title for a sermon on the First Lesson for this week, Isaiah 43:16-21, might be:
"Give Me that Old-Time Religion? Give Me a Break!"
Because God, speaking through the prophet says, "Do not remember the former things ... I am about to do a new thing." The return from Babylonian exile is going to be a newer and greater act of deliverance than the long ago exodus from Egypt.
But don't be too quick to dismiss the old. The one who speaks is identified as the one "who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters" and who had just promised that "when you pass through the waters, I will be with you" (43:2). The imagery used to describe the return from exile is that of the Exodus, and the one who will save is the one who created Israel in that event (43:1, 15). For all the newness, there is continuity with the old.
The same thing happens in the New Testament. Toward the end of the book of Revelation (21:5), the one seated on the throne says, "See, I am making all things new." In the film The Passion of the Christ these words are spoken by Jesus to his mother on the way to Calvary. That is not an accurate citation from the biblical passion narratives, but it is right in spirit, for the New Testament writers see the death and resurrection of Christ as leading the new Exodus of the people of God. (See my comments for The Immediate Word on the Lukan Transfiguration text, and especially Luke 9:31, for 22 February of this year.) Christians have seen the work of Christ as something supremely new, yet a fulfillment of the old, and have often used Passover and Exodus imagery to describe it. (Think, e.g., of the Easter hymn of John of Damascus, "Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain," hymn 132 in Lutheran Book of Worship.)
"If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17), and the promise of new heavens and a new earth is repeated several times in scripture. But when someone comes to faith in Christ, the old person is not simply annihilated and replaced by a new, and the whole creation is to be transformed, not destroyed. What God promises, as John Polkinghorne puts it, is not just a new creatio ex nihilo but creatio ex vetere, creation from the old (The Faith of a Physicist [Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1994], p. 167). There is both discontinuity and continuity.
Old customs, traditions, and ways of looking at the world can't always be maintained. You can't, as Jesus said, insist on putting new wine into old wineskins. But even as we are continually called to see the new things that God may be doing, it is the same God who does them. The fundamental character of God, the character revealed in Christ, does not change, so we should expect there to be some discernible continuity in what God does in the world.
But a lot of novel phenomena emerge in the world, and not all of them can be identified as a "new thing" that God desires for creation. The abolition of slavery, and especially of enslavement based on race, is pretty unambiguous: The great majority of Christians today -- and all of them whose theological views are worth listening to on the matter -- see this as an unqualified good, in spite of the fact that their ancestors may have been defending slavery on supposedly biblical grounds 150 years ago. Other new things are not quite so obvious: The development of modern capitalism has created wealth and done a lot of good, but it has hardly been an unmitigated blessing. And at the other end of the spectrum, the whole Nazi phenomenon was clearly bad, and contrary to God's will for creation.
Or so we can see now. But the evil of National Socialism was far from obvious to everybody in the 1930s. It's difficult for people to remember today that fascist movements were considered to be progressive by many people in Europe and America at the time. A lot of Germans saw it as liberation from the injustices that the victors of World War I imposed on them. The "German Christians" thought that Nazism was something new that God was doing for their people. They believed that their experience, rooted in German blood and soil, gave them a distinctive insight into God's purposes. It was against this appeal to experience as an indicator of what God was doing that the Barmen Declaration of 1934 spoke.
Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.
We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation.
-- Arthur Cochrane, The Reformed Confessions of the Sixteenth Century, [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966], p. 334
Even ideas that appear to be progressive and enlightened by contemporary standards may not be the "new thing" that God has in mind. The argument of Judas in this week's Gospel makes a great deal of sense in the light of calls for social justice and belief in God's preferential option for the poor. Of course money should be used to alleviate poverty and change social conditions instead of being used to buy some expensive ointment for a symbolic act of anointing a religious leader. If we didn't have Jesus' words rejecting this argument, what enlightened person would disagree? But we do have Jesus' words.
I hope it's obvious that I am neither trying to put in a good word for Nazism nor claiming that the poor are not to be helped! My point is rather that we need to be careful about claiming that anything new that happens to come along is God's will. "Try the spirits whether they are of God!" the confessors at Barmen said, quoting from 1 John 4:1.
Are the new things we are considering consistent with the one Word to whom we are to be faithful?
One contemporary issue for which these reflections are relevant is that of the church's attitude toward homosexuality, and especially the question of same-sex marriages which is being raised across the country today. Is acceptance of homosexual activity and approval of same-sex marriage a new thing that God is doing? Or is it something that goes against God's intention for creation? Or is it something in between?
I will resist the temptation here to spell out my own answer to the questions in detail. (In part this is because I already dealt with it in a segment of The Immediate Word last summer after the Episcopal Church's approval of Gene Robinson as a bishop.) If we really believe that God does new things then we will not be content to reject the possibility of same-sex unions by saying, "We have never done it that way." (That, or its variant, "We have always done it this way," is sometimes called "the seven last words of the church.") The church has been called to do things it's never done before.
But we cannot simply appeal to analogies with earlier decisions, such as the rejection of slavery and the ordination of women. Nor, as I've argued earlier, can we simply appeal to the experience of homosexual persons in order to show that the meaning of marriage is to be extended to include same-sex couples. What we must do is to try to discern the appropriate continuities with the past, while being open to the work of the one who promises to make all things new in Christ. Can we find in scripture the beginning of a trajectory toward our present situation? Perhaps what we will come to is a decision that is neither "same old, same old" nor a complete break with the past -- something like approval of civil unions, together with the church's blessing of them, while distinguishing such unions from marriage.
Carlos Wilton responds: The story is told of a couple of seminary students who were taking a course on evangelism. Their professor had given the class a very practical assignment: to go out door to door, in groups of two, sharing their faith.
Things weren't going real well for this pair. Few householders in their assigned neighborhood were even home to answer the door. Those who were wanted little to do with these two strangers, no matter how earnest and fresh-faced they seemed.
Finally, they found a house where someone was willing to talk with them. A tired-looking young mother answered the door. To their surprise, she invited them in. As they followed her through to the den, the two seminarians had to wind their way through a gantlet of screaming children and barking dogs. One of them nearly tripped over a pull-toy on the floor.
"We would like to tell you how to obtain eternal life," one of them said.
The young mother thought for a moment, running her fingers through her unwashed hair. "Thank you," she said, "but no thanks. Eternal life? I don't believe I could stand it!"
The people of Israel, languishing in their Babylonian exile, couldn't see that life was offering them very much, either. Who was this Isaiah character -- this so-called prophet -- who spun for them such mad fantasies?
" 'A way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters' ... Maybe back in Moses' time, but not here, not now."
"So God's 'about to do a new thing?' Of course we don't perceive it!"
"A way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ... Wild animals honoring God? Go home, Isaiah -- wherever home is. Hope is too high-priced a drug for us homeboys, here in the ghetto."
Newness. It can be a hard sell sometimes. Yet the message of newness is precisely what we're called to preach.
Related Illustrations
Submitted by Carlos Wilton
In the March 23, 2004 Christian Century, Craig Barnes (pastor of Pittsburgh's Shadyside Presbyterian Church and a professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary), reflects on the frustratingly slow pace of change in the church, among people who just can't seem to catch God's vision of newness:
"Over the past 23 years of pastoral ministry my most common experience is deja vu. I've had the same conversation in three different churches about kids eating pizza in the parlor. I have gone over the same problems in pastoral counseling and wandered through the same routine with budget planning, the same search for Sunday school teachers. I could lament that after all these years we don't seem to be making progress. Or I could help the congregation see the mystery of walking with God through another day in a wilderness where anything can happen.
"The point of walking with God is not to arrive, but to walk with God. As we walk along, we discover that God is making a way by providing water in the desert.
"The Hebrew here is not exactly clear. Some of our translations say 'rivers in the desert.' Some say 'streams.' The word has the connotation of a small thread of water. It's just barely enough water. If the wilderness is an enduring image of the frightening place where we must go to find the future, the stream along the way is the symbol of God's grace that saves our lives on the way. It is a stream that we yearn for just as a deer thirsts for running water. The mission of the pastor is to help the congregation find that stream and thus to be the voice crying out in the wilderness."
***
In The Once and Future Church, Loren Mead tells the story of a bishop of the Church of England who discovered just how difficult it can be to bring change to small churches -- to two small churches, to be precise.
The churches were located in the tiny villages of North Ormsby and South Ormsby, on the North Sea. They've seen a lot of history in that eastern part of England. It's country that was captured and ruled by the Danes, way back in the ninth century. Those two churches had been around at least that long.
Yet despite their antiquity, the bishop could think of no possible way to keep both church buildings open. Financial support had dwindled away to nearly nothing. Both roofs were in dire need of repair. One church had four regular worshipers, the other maybe seven.
Month after month, the bishop negotiated: Would they agree to worship in a new church, located halfway in between? Would they consider closing one church down, and merging into one congregation? Would they be willing to alternate services -- one week in one church, the next week in the other? The answer, in every case was, "No." The people were adamant.
Finally, pushed to the wall, the bishop issued an ultimatum: He was going to close one of the churches, and he'd announce his decision in two months. With that, the people of North Ormsby threw in the towel. They agreed -- reluctantly, to be sure, but they did agree -- to close their church and worship with South Ormsby. But when the bishop got to South Ormsby to tell them the news, he found those people all up in arms. They wanted nothing to do with it.
"We'll not have it," they insisted, defiant to the last. "They can't worship here!"
"For God's sake, please tell me why?" the weary bishop is supposed to have asked.
"Well," growled their leading member, "when the Danes were invading, they never warned us."
***
The following poem was posted on the wall of a monastery in Colorado:
I was regretting the past
and fearing the future.
Suddenly God was speaking:
"MY NAME IS I AM."
I waited, God continued:
"When you live in the past,
with its mistakes and regrets,
it is hard. I am not there.
MY NAME IS NOT I WAS."
"When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
MY NAME IS NOT I WILL BE."
"When you live in this moment,
it is not hard. I am here.
MY NAME IS I AM."
***
The following Sufi fable was told by Idries Shah. It may have some applicability to Isaiah's image of streams in the desert. The fable tells of a stream that ran from its source high up in the mountains to the edge of a dry and dusty desert. Just as it had run laughing over every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one too, but found that, as fast as it tried to run across the sand, its waters disappeared.
The stream was convinced that its destiny was to cross the desert -- and yet there no way to do that. Then a hidden voice, seemingly arising out of the desert itself, whispered these words: "The Wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream."
The stream objected that it was doing its very best: that it had dashed itself against the sand time and again, only to be absorbed. The Wind, on the other hand, was able to fly -- and this was why it could cross the desert.
But the voice of the sand answered back: "By hurtling on in your long-accustomed way you can never get across. You will either disappear or you will become a marsh. You must allow the Wind to carry you over."
"Yet how can this happen?" the stream answered back.
"You must allow yourself to be absorbed by the Wind."
This idea was not acceptable to the stream. It had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. (And anyway, having lost it, how was it to know it could ever be regained?)
"The Wind," answered the sand, "performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, then lets it fall once again. Falling from the sky as rain, the water becomes a river."
"How can I know this is true?" the stream asked.
"It is simply so -- and unless you believe it, you will never become more than a quagmire."
"But can I not remain the same stream I am today?"
"You cannot remain so," the whisper said. "Your essential nature is carried away, but then it becomes a stream again."
And so the stream raised its vapor into the welcoming arms of the Wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, allowing it to fall softly as soon as they reached a mountaintop many miles away. And because it had had his doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in its mind the details of the experience. The stream was learning.
Worship Resources
OPENING
Music
Hymns
"God of Many Names." Words: Brian Wren, 1985; music: William P. Rowan, 1985. (c) 1986 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 105; CH 13.
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing." Words: Charles Wesley, 1739; music: Carl G. Glaser; arr. Lowell Mason, 1839. Public domain. As found in UMH 57; Hymnal '82 493; LBOW 559; TPH 466; AAHH 184; TNNBH 23; TNCH 42; CH 5.
"Holy God, We Praise Thy Name." Words: Stanzas 1-4, Ignaz Franz, 18th cent; trans. Clarence Walworth, 1853; stanzas 5-7, F. Bland Tucker, 1982; music: Katholisches Gesangbuch, ca. 1774. Stanzas 5-7 (c) 1985 The Church Pension Fund. As found in UMH 79; Hymnal '82 366; LBOW 535; TPH 460; TNNBH 13; TNCH 276.
"To God Be the Glory." Words: Fanny J. Crosby, 1875; music: William H. Doane, 1875. Public domain. As found in UMH 98; TPH 485; AAHH 157; TNNBH 17; CH 72.
"I Sing the Almighty Power of God." Words: Isaac Watts, 1715; music: Trad. English melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Public domain. As found in UMH 152; Hymnal '82 398; TPH 288; TNCH 12.
Songs
"I Worship You, Almighty God." Words and music: Sondra Corbett. (c) 1983 Integrey's Hosanna! Music. As found in MCB II 44.
"Be Exalted, O God." Words and music: Brent Chambers. (c) 1977 Scripture in Song. As found in MCB II 13.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: When God restored the fortunes of Zion,
People: We were like those who dream.
Leader: Then our mouth was filled with laughter
People: and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Leader: Then it was said among the nations,
"God has done great things for them."
People: God has done great things for us, and we rejoice.
Leader: Those who go out weeping, bearing seed for sowing,
People: Shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God, who is ever the same and ever changing: Grant us the faith to trust in the sure foundation of your love as you make it known in ever new way; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
God, you are the one is the same yesterday, today and forever. Your loving kindness and grace are from everlasting to everlasting. Yet you are always finding new ways to make yourself known to your children. Open our eyes to what you are doing for us and through us as you share yourself and your love with all creation. Amen.
RESPONSE MUSIC
Hymns
"This Is a Day of New Beginnings." Words: Brian Wren, 1978; alt. 1987; music: Carlton R. Young, 1984. Words (c) 1983, 1987 Hope Publishing Co.; music (c) 1987 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 383; TNCH 417; CH 518.
"Marching to Zion" or "Come, We That Love the Lord." Words: Isaac Watts, 1707; refrain by Robert Lowery, 1867; music: Robert Lowery, 1867. Public domain. As found in UMH 733; AAHH 590; TNNBH; CH 707.
"God of Grace and God of Glory." Words: Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930; music: John Hughes, 1907. (c) By permission of Elinor Fosdick Downs. As found in UMH 577; Hymnal '82 594, 595; LBOW 415; TPH 420; TNCH 436; CH 464.
"Lord of the Dance." Words: Sydney Carter, 1963; music: 19th cent. Shaker tune; adapt by Sydney Carter, 1963; harm. Gary Alan Smith, 1988. (c) 1963, 1989 Gallard, Ltd. As found in UMH 261.
"We Meet You, O Christ." Words: Fred Kaan, 1966; music: Carl F. Schalk, 1987. Words (c) 1968 Hope Publishing Co.; music (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing Co. As found in UMH 257; TPH 311; CH 183.
Songs
"Sing unto the Lord a New Song." Words and music: Jewish folk song. Arr. (c) 1996 Abingdon Press. As found in CCB 16.
"Change My Heart, O God." Words and music: Eddie Espinosa. (c) 1982 Mercy Publishing. As found in CCB 56.
"May Your Kingdom Come." Words and music: Kirk Dearman. (c) 1988 and this arr. (c) 1991 Maranatha! Music. As found in PMMCH3 34.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: God has created all things in love and harmony yet we live in a world of hate and brokenness. We are called as God's people to carry God's Spirit into this world and yet we have participated too much in the spirit that works against God. Let us confess our sinfulness to God and before one another.
(time for silent confession and reflection)
People: We, your people and your image, O God, have failed to be faithful to your creative intent. We have failed to be your presence; we have failed to work for peace and justice; we have failed to love others as you have loved us. We have been afraid of the new even when it has been your doing. Forgive us and surprise us with your presence as you walk and work among us. Amen.
Leader: Know that God is always working in new and exciting ways and comes to you now to make you new and to refresh you with the creative Spirit. You are the new thing God is doing today!
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
O God of creation and re-creation, we worship and adore you. Your Spirit hovered over chaos and brought forth order; your Spirit entered the earthen form and brought forth humanity; your Spirit entered Mary and brought forth Jesus. You are the God who brings newness and creativity to all.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We confess that we are people who are more comfortable with the old forms. We love that which does not change and we are suspicious of those things that do not fit into our old patterns of thought. We are more like the religious leaders of Jesus' day who found it hard to listen to his words than like those who gave up everything and followed him. Forgive us for failing to see you as you manifest yourself in new and exciting ways. By the power of your creating Spirit, awake us to what you are trying to do for and through us.
All things good and beautiful we have received from your bounty. You have shared the joy of your creativity with all creation. You have given us abundant resources and beauty beyond comprehension. We thank you for your generosity in creation and in your love that abounds throughout the human family.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We know that your loving care for this creation has not been carried out in its fullness. There is poverty, sickness, and division that you are working to overcome. We hold those in need up to your loving care and ask that we may always be part of your gracious presence to seeking to find your loving kindness and grace.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray, saying, "Our Father ...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition
MCB II: Master Chorus Book II
Children's Sermon
by Wesley T. Runk
Vs. 7 -- Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought if so that she might keep it for the day of my burial." John 12:1-8
Object -- A jar of cream perfume (sachet) (a new jar if possible)
Good morning, boys and girls. We are moving very close to Easter and we are following Jesus as he walks toward Jerusalem. How many of you remember the name Lazarus? (let them answer) That's right, he is the one that Jesus raised from the dead. Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus. Do you also remember the names of Lazarus' sisters? (let them answer) Very good! Their names were Mary and Martha. Whenever Jesus was in the area he would stop at their home in a place called Bethany and visit with his friends. It was not too far from Jerusalem and a short walk would allow you to see the great wall surrounding the city and some of the buildings inside of it.
It wasn't only Jesus that came to the house of Lazarus but all of the disciples as well. It was a good place to relax and enjoy a good meal. There were beautiful gardens around the house and places where you could sit and have quiet conversations. On this particular day they were invited for dinner. Martha was serving dinner when Mary did something very special. She kneeled down at the feet of Jesus and took a jar of cream that smelled heavenly and put it on his feet. Then she wiped his feet with her long hair. It was a beautiful scene where Mary worshiped Jesus. (open the jar and let the children smell the scent of the perfume) Doesn't that smell heavenly?
But it wasn't pleasant in the house of Lazarus. How many of you remember a man named Judas? (let them answer) Right, he betrayed Jesus. But before he did that terrible thing he was also very critical of Mary and the spending of money on this expensive perfume. He thought Jesus would approve. He said, "Why didn't you sell this perfume and give the money to the poor?" Jesus was always concerned about the poor and Judas thought he would say the right thing because he wanted to get in good with Jesus. Judas was a thief. He stole money from the treasury of the disciples. They suspected him and were suspicious. He could not see what was really happening in the lives of people who believed in Jesus. He couldn't see the new way of life that Jesus brought to people.
Jesus understood what was happening. He noticed that Mary was changing from just being a friend to a believer in God and his new ways. Jesus was seeing her share her new love for God with the use of the perfume. Believers were sharing their gifts, forgiving others for the sins committed against them, caring for the sick, and being with the lonely. All things seemed to be new and Judas could not see it. But the others did see it and they praised God for what they saw.
Jesus brings new things to your life also. He creates a new spirit where you can see how good life can really be when you believe in the power of God. God brings joy and peace and a lot of hope. He shares his life with us and makes our friendships wonderful and filled a new spirit. Jesus brings to us newness of life.
The next time you smell something so good that it makes you take a deep breath I want you to remember Mary and how she shared her most expensive perfume in the worship of Jesus. When you remember this story you will also remember how Jesus brings you a new life to be shared with many. Amen.
* * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 28, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503
