Doing A New Thing
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series II, Cycle B
Doing A New Thing
Robert liked new things. He was one of those personalities who sought out new experiences and new approaches to life. He thrived on things different and new. He really couldn't help it. It was just the way he was. He was amazing. He would buy tickets to concerts by musicians he had never heard of, just so he could hear something new. If there was a new restaurant in town, particularly of an ethnic slant he hadn't experienced, he'd go there opening day for lunch. Robert was forever rearranging his apartment and finding unique colors to paint the walls. Each week a new picture or hanging would appear upon his return from the flea market. Every day he would arrive at work, bursting with a story about someone new he had met during his morning walk in the park. He reveled joyously in the eclectic and different and sought to share these new things with his friends.
And it drove them crazy.
They liked Robert well enough, but his never-ending penchant for things new and different was annoying. When Robert was off on one of his adventures, they'd talk about him. Couldn't he just relax and decorate his apartment like everyone else? He asked me to go to a concert with him, so I asked who the musicians were. He had never heard of them before! Did you hear that new CD he bought? He got that because he liked the cover! And goodness, do you see the strangers he picks up? Phew!
The talk always was about how to get Robert to settle down a bit. How could they tame this unpredictable rebel and reel him in ... just a little. It was always in the middle of such conversations, of course, that Robert would come waltzing in with a new invitation or challenge, a new idea or some new piece of bric-a-brac for his apartment. He would shout, "Let's do something new today! Let's forget this old stuff that you've been doing!" And the response would be a collective groan of unwilling respondents, saying, "Let's not!"
Robert's friends weren't bad people. They weren't mean or nasty. They were just stuck in a way that made no sense to Robert. He saw them day in and day out, doing pretty much the same things they had always done. It didn't matter if these activities were helpful, profitable, or time well spent. They just liked to do the things that they were used to doing. All of Robert's creativity, initiative taking, and energy wasn't going to budge them, especially when he asked them to stop doing what they had been doing. It was just the way things were.
Have you known anyone like Robert in your life? It's rough to have someone around who is always challenging you. It's a pain in the neck to have to turn around every day and fend off some new and strange thing that has been brought by an equally strange person! People like Robert can drive you crazy.
I think that Isaiah must have had the same effect on his friends as he ran about offering God's Word for the people. Can you imagine it now? His friends are all sitting around sipping wine and in comes Isaiah, and he's talkin' for the Lord! "Forget all the things you've been doing! Put it all out of your mind! I'm gonna do something new!"
It seems that Robert's friends and Isaiah's friends may have had a few things in common. As the "something new" part emerges from Isaiah's mouth, his friends roll their eyes in unison and start thinking of a good excuse to leave. "Uh ... my mother-in-law is expecting me for dinner." "Gee, Izzy, we gotta go. You know. Things to do, people to see, places to go ... all of that." Isaiah heaves a long sigh that sounds curiously like Robert's and says, "Sure. Okay. See you later."
Whether it's Robert or Isaiah, corporate America or church boards and committees, it seems clear like most people are allergic to trying to new things. You've probably heard the old adage about the seven last words of the church ... "We never did it that way before...." You've heard the story about the energetic young pastor who faced a curmudgeonly board with a list of ideas for ministry and outreach. To each idea the response was the same. "We tried that once thirty years ago, and it didn't work...." There's another story about a pastor who was trying to convince her parish trustees to build a ramp in order to make the church more accessible. The church members frowned and looked at her and said, "Why would we spend all that money? We have no one in our church in a wheelchair."
Most of us are creatures of habit. New things are tough. New things are hard to absorb whether we're friends of Robert or Isaiah. And yet, here we are as a church, following a God who is promising to do a new thing. God calls us to let go of the former things, the things of old. What do we hear when those words are read aloud? What former things could God be asking us to release? After all, don't we have the "old time religion"? You know the song ... "It was good for my dear mother, it was good for my dear father, that makes it good enough for me! Give me that old time religion, that old time religion...." Why change?
Meanwhile, God has done a new thing. In Christ Jesus, God has come among us to fulfill the prophecy by offering us a new way of life rooted in love and forgiveness. In Christ Jesus, God comes to make a way in the wilderness, to help the lost and lonely find their way; to cause rivers to flow in the desert, to give succor to God's children so that they might finally sing God's praise (Isaiah 43:19-21). God has sprung forth in newness right in front of us, offering us a chance to begin anew as we claim the forgiveness that is ours in what happened on that cross.
Of course, the question comes: How often do we respond to God in the way that Robert's friends responded to him? How often do we turn away and continue doing what we have been doing all along? How often, in refusing to open our hearts to the wonder of God's new thing, are we just like the people Israel who go on and on ignoring it all?
God, of course, takes note. "You did not call upon me, O Jacob, but you have been weary of me O Israel" (Isaiah 43:22). The people basically turn away from the God who has done that new thing, the God who has blotted out their transgressions, the God who will not remember their sins (Isaiah 43:25).
Sisters and brothers, this same story echoes with clarity and truth in the life of our church today. God is doing a new thing! God is calling the people to emerge from the slumber of the same old way and to step out into the light of newness of faith through Jesus Christ. God comes always to us with this newness of life. God comes always, challenging us to let go of the former things, of the way things used to be, so that we can step forward with open arms to embrace a new day in Christ's love.
Ask yourselves now, in all serious consideration. What are the things we must leave behind as we prepare to receive this new thing that God is doing? What are the old ways that must be abandoned as we step forward to meet a God who enters history in the twenty-first century? Where, in our lives together, can we meet Christ anew? How, in this day and time, can we rise up to receive the gift of newness of life from a God who loves and forgives, a God who has blotted our mistakes and refuses to hold them against us?
The truth is, that no matter how we view it, we are challenged to receive God in a fresh and powerfully new way. God hasn't given up on us! God has a vision, a dream for the church which itself is called to do something new! To let go of the former things and to awaken to a dawn of discipleship, a new day of wonder and faithfulness. What do you say? Shall we meet this challenge? Shall we make the list of the former things together? Shall we link our arms and hearts together as we go to accept this gift of new life? And shall we, as God's people, welcome this newness as surely as we have welcomed the Christ child in our midst?
Amen.
Robert liked new things. He was one of those personalities who sought out new experiences and new approaches to life. He thrived on things different and new. He really couldn't help it. It was just the way he was. He was amazing. He would buy tickets to concerts by musicians he had never heard of, just so he could hear something new. If there was a new restaurant in town, particularly of an ethnic slant he hadn't experienced, he'd go there opening day for lunch. Robert was forever rearranging his apartment and finding unique colors to paint the walls. Each week a new picture or hanging would appear upon his return from the flea market. Every day he would arrive at work, bursting with a story about someone new he had met during his morning walk in the park. He reveled joyously in the eclectic and different and sought to share these new things with his friends.
And it drove them crazy.
They liked Robert well enough, but his never-ending penchant for things new and different was annoying. When Robert was off on one of his adventures, they'd talk about him. Couldn't he just relax and decorate his apartment like everyone else? He asked me to go to a concert with him, so I asked who the musicians were. He had never heard of them before! Did you hear that new CD he bought? He got that because he liked the cover! And goodness, do you see the strangers he picks up? Phew!
The talk always was about how to get Robert to settle down a bit. How could they tame this unpredictable rebel and reel him in ... just a little. It was always in the middle of such conversations, of course, that Robert would come waltzing in with a new invitation or challenge, a new idea or some new piece of bric-a-brac for his apartment. He would shout, "Let's do something new today! Let's forget this old stuff that you've been doing!" And the response would be a collective groan of unwilling respondents, saying, "Let's not!"
Robert's friends weren't bad people. They weren't mean or nasty. They were just stuck in a way that made no sense to Robert. He saw them day in and day out, doing pretty much the same things they had always done. It didn't matter if these activities were helpful, profitable, or time well spent. They just liked to do the things that they were used to doing. All of Robert's creativity, initiative taking, and energy wasn't going to budge them, especially when he asked them to stop doing what they had been doing. It was just the way things were.
Have you known anyone like Robert in your life? It's rough to have someone around who is always challenging you. It's a pain in the neck to have to turn around every day and fend off some new and strange thing that has been brought by an equally strange person! People like Robert can drive you crazy.
I think that Isaiah must have had the same effect on his friends as he ran about offering God's Word for the people. Can you imagine it now? His friends are all sitting around sipping wine and in comes Isaiah, and he's talkin' for the Lord! "Forget all the things you've been doing! Put it all out of your mind! I'm gonna do something new!"
It seems that Robert's friends and Isaiah's friends may have had a few things in common. As the "something new" part emerges from Isaiah's mouth, his friends roll their eyes in unison and start thinking of a good excuse to leave. "Uh ... my mother-in-law is expecting me for dinner." "Gee, Izzy, we gotta go. You know. Things to do, people to see, places to go ... all of that." Isaiah heaves a long sigh that sounds curiously like Robert's and says, "Sure. Okay. See you later."
Whether it's Robert or Isaiah, corporate America or church boards and committees, it seems clear like most people are allergic to trying to new things. You've probably heard the old adage about the seven last words of the church ... "We never did it that way before...." You've heard the story about the energetic young pastor who faced a curmudgeonly board with a list of ideas for ministry and outreach. To each idea the response was the same. "We tried that once thirty years ago, and it didn't work...." There's another story about a pastor who was trying to convince her parish trustees to build a ramp in order to make the church more accessible. The church members frowned and looked at her and said, "Why would we spend all that money? We have no one in our church in a wheelchair."
Most of us are creatures of habit. New things are tough. New things are hard to absorb whether we're friends of Robert or Isaiah. And yet, here we are as a church, following a God who is promising to do a new thing. God calls us to let go of the former things, the things of old. What do we hear when those words are read aloud? What former things could God be asking us to release? After all, don't we have the "old time religion"? You know the song ... "It was good for my dear mother, it was good for my dear father, that makes it good enough for me! Give me that old time religion, that old time religion...." Why change?
Meanwhile, God has done a new thing. In Christ Jesus, God has come among us to fulfill the prophecy by offering us a new way of life rooted in love and forgiveness. In Christ Jesus, God comes to make a way in the wilderness, to help the lost and lonely find their way; to cause rivers to flow in the desert, to give succor to God's children so that they might finally sing God's praise (Isaiah 43:19-21). God has sprung forth in newness right in front of us, offering us a chance to begin anew as we claim the forgiveness that is ours in what happened on that cross.
Of course, the question comes: How often do we respond to God in the way that Robert's friends responded to him? How often do we turn away and continue doing what we have been doing all along? How often, in refusing to open our hearts to the wonder of God's new thing, are we just like the people Israel who go on and on ignoring it all?
God, of course, takes note. "You did not call upon me, O Jacob, but you have been weary of me O Israel" (Isaiah 43:22). The people basically turn away from the God who has done that new thing, the God who has blotted out their transgressions, the God who will not remember their sins (Isaiah 43:25).
Sisters and brothers, this same story echoes with clarity and truth in the life of our church today. God is doing a new thing! God is calling the people to emerge from the slumber of the same old way and to step out into the light of newness of faith through Jesus Christ. God comes always to us with this newness of life. God comes always, challenging us to let go of the former things, of the way things used to be, so that we can step forward with open arms to embrace a new day in Christ's love.
Ask yourselves now, in all serious consideration. What are the things we must leave behind as we prepare to receive this new thing that God is doing? What are the old ways that must be abandoned as we step forward to meet a God who enters history in the twenty-first century? Where, in our lives together, can we meet Christ anew? How, in this day and time, can we rise up to receive the gift of newness of life from a God who loves and forgives, a God who has blotted our mistakes and refuses to hold them against us?
The truth is, that no matter how we view it, we are challenged to receive God in a fresh and powerfully new way. God hasn't given up on us! God has a vision, a dream for the church which itself is called to do something new! To let go of the former things and to awaken to a dawn of discipleship, a new day of wonder and faithfulness. What do you say? Shall we meet this challenge? Shall we make the list of the former things together? Shall we link our arms and hearts together as we go to accept this gift of new life? And shall we, as God's people, welcome this newness as surely as we have welcomed the Christ child in our midst?
Amen.
