February 19th

A New Thing

Isaiah 43:18-25
2 Corinthians 1:18-22



Do you remember back in the day when, if you wanted to take a long car trip, all you really had to guide you was one of those large, difficult to handle, paper maps? You know the one I’m talking about, right? It is that map of the entire United States that has been in the glove compartment of your vehicle since the days of 8-track tapes and rotary dial telephones.

I remember the time when people would plan long trips with these maps close at hand. Then, somewhere in the middle of Timbuktu, Kentucky, they suddenly learned that that little red line on the map labeled Route 4 no longer existed. Oops! Lost. Now what? Think about the implications here. For example, have you ever been lost in a place like Timbuktu, Kentucky while sporting a rainbow flag on your vehicle? You would be amazed at how quickly your prayer skills come into play in just such a situation!

Well, now, thanks to some wonderful technological advancements, we can print off not only maps specific to our trips, but even directions that have been updated in the last 24-48 hours for any major changes that have taken place on the roads on the route. Hey! We can even get street names, exit numbers, the works! Now, for people like myself who are not inclined to read maps, these directions are truly a gift from God.

So you can imagine my concern when I read in an article this week that urban planners in Holland and London are redesigning strategic traffic areas by stripping the area streets and thoroughfares of all signage—no traffic lights, no white crosswalks on the streets, no red hand crossing signals, no stop signs—and get this—no speed bumps or speed limits! Are these people crazy, or what?

Well, as crazy as this idea sounds, you may be as surprised as I was that it has worked rather well so far. People on foot, bicycles, and in motorized vehicles share the same space; and with no strict traffic laws to guide them, everyone seems to slow down, calm down, and pays close attention to their surroundings. Also, this “new thing” actually seems to be encouraging healthy human interaction! The golden rule from the Bible is in full effect: “In everything do to others as you have them do to you.”

While I am really happy that this experience seems to be working so well in areas of Holland and London, I still have to admit I have some reservations about how such a system would work in the United States. We tend to operate under the rule, “Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you.” Taking away the familiar rules and regulations that we have always followed—because you know that is always the way we have done things—can make us feel unsafe, lost, insecure, and threatened. Loss of the familiar can make us feel like we are wandering in the wilderness, or like we are in exile in a foreign land.

The children of Israel certainly knew a lot about wandering in the wilderness and being in exile. Of course, the main reason they had wandered in the wilderness, and after a time of prosperity and blessing, were now in exile in Babylon is because they had not paid attention to the signs that God had provided through Moses and the prophets. These were signs that said, “Slow down and pay attention to your relationship with God and with others.” These were signs like the Ten Commandments, for example.

So you can probably imagine how unsettled the Israelites were when God, through the prophet in Isaiah basically says, “Quit living in the past. I am about to do a new thing,” and then does not exactly define that “new thing.”

I can almost hear some of them now. “New thing? What new thing?” “What? No more partings of the Red Sea?” No more laws written on stone tablets? No more crazy prophets? No more fire and smoke, wind and hail? After all, that’s the way it has always been done before! Oh, we simply can not function unless this “new thing” is all spelled out for us!”

You see, the children of Israel had become accustomed to God acting in certain ways. And even though they were now in exile, they were still remembering the “good old days” of the exodus out of Egypt. Now don’t get me wrong; there were a lot of wonderful and powerful memories in the Israelites’ past. But, they were so stuck in that past, they were having trouble perceiving that God was about to do a new thing. Can you imagine some of those discussions?

“Yep, I heard the story about how God parted the Red Sea, and our ancestors crossed on dry land. Then God caused the sea to cover the entire Egyptian army. I’ll bet that was a sight to see!”

“Um hmm. I heard the story about how Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai. The Lord actually spoke to people back then. God’s voice was like thunder, and you had better believe people respected that kind of power!”

“Were you ever old the stories about how God provided manna in the wilderness, and caused water to spring forth from a rock? Haven’t seen anything like that in my lifetime!”

“Yep! Those were the days!”

Sound familiar? Sure it does! Today we have some of the same types of conversations. For example, some of us mourn the loss of our youth, and we recall how much better everything was “back in the day”—whether things really were better or not. Sometimes we become so preoccupied with romanticizing the past that we cannot see any signs of the wonderful “new things” that God can do in our lives—regardless of our ages!

And church folks? Oh, church folks are really good at having these kinds of conversations! Some of us remember fuller sanctuaries and offering plates, potlucks and fundraisers, and we recall over and over how much more spirit there seemed to be “back in the day”—whether there really was more spirit or not. Sometimes we become so preoccupied with romanticizing the past, that we cannot see the signs of a wonderful “new thing” that God is about to do in our midst. Not one sign.

No signs. That can be scary, now can’t it? No blinding flashes of light from heaven complete with an instruction manual written in stone giving us step-by-step instructions for living full, happy, and successful lives as individuals and as a community of faith. Sure we have the Bible, and here we teach that it is the inspired word of God. But it isn’t always user-friendly, now is it? Sometimes we may even begin to wonder, “Why doesn’t God act like God used to act back in the days of the Old Testament?”

Is it possible that maybe—just maybe—that the reason we don’t see all the obvious signs from God that we read about in the Old Testament is that this lack of signage is actually part of God’s plan? Could it be that by not giving us every little detail of God’s plan in obvious back and white signs, that God is encouraging us to slow down, and be more observant of life around us? Could this maybe even be God’s way of prodding us to use the intelligence with which God has blessed us to figure out a few things? Could it be that this lack of obvious signage is God’s way of encouraging us to be more caring and more cautious about how we relate both to God and to one another?

Well, those ideas are definite possibilities. Or, what about this idea? What if God has provided this signage for us; but rather than using outward signs, God has placed this signage inside of us? After all, God did promise to write it on our hearts. For as Jeremiah 31:33 tells us, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

And the fulfillment of that law written on our hearts came in the person of Jesus Christ—the ultimate “new thing” that God has done to this point in history—God with us, and God within us.

Of course, accepting this “new thing” in Jesus Christ means stepping out in faith and letting go of the familiar past to face an uneasy present, and an even more uneasy future. How do we find our way? How do we get nourishment for those dry times on the journey? Can’t we just feed off the past? Well, the answer to that last question is simply, “No.” Positive past memories are comforting, but they don’t provide the nourishment we need for our journey into the future God has planned for us.

Sometimes stepping out in faith can feel like we are wandering in the wilderness. But hear the good news today! In our reading from Isaiah today, God says. “I will make a way in the wilderness.” Jesus Christ says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

God says, “I give water in the wilderness.”
Jesus Christ says, “Those who drink of the water I give them will never be thirsty.”

If you’re here today feeling like you need a fresh start in life—whether you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior, or if you just feel “out of touch” with God right now, I pray that you open your heart—perceive and receive the “new thing” that God wants to do in your life.

If you’re here today and you are happy in your relationship with God, know this—God is not through with you yet—the best is yet to come.

And as for our church family, today we celebrate 24 years as a community of faith. We honor the “new thing” that God did here in 1982, and we honor those first members through whom God worked to found this church. But if you think God has done great things for MCC of Corpus Christi in the past, you had better hold on; because we ain’t seen nothing yet! The best is yet to come!

God bless you, and amen.