Trinity Blog

Isaiah 43:16-19

¹⁶This is what the Lord says—
     he who made a way through the sea,
     a path through the mighty waters,
¹⁷ who drew out the chariots and horses,
     the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
     extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
     do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
     Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
     and streams in the wasteland.

As I sit here and type these words, I will have been Minister of Word and Sacrament for both Trinity and East Side Presbyterian Churches for 30 days.  Time seems to have sped up as I cannot grasp that my first month has gone by.  But, over the course of this time, I have had to learn not only how to Pastor a second congregation, but I have had to adjust to balancing time between them.  But one thing that remains constant and steady over the entire “yoke” process is the Word from God that says, look, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  New work also means new energy, and God not only is doing this new thing, but giving us a new means and power to fulfill it; and we truly have only begun to see the plans God has for us.

But, with the new energy and joy that comes with a new focus or endeavor also comes new struggles.  Entering into unfamiliar territory means surprise difficulties that no one could foresee but still must be navigated.  Questions of policies and processes and procedures have to be worked out between congregations.  Times must be adjusted and people must adapt to every changing circumstances.  For the people of Israel while in exile about to experience God’s deliverance once again, they also faced the joy and difficulties of God’s new work.  But Isaiah reminds them not only of God’s faithfulness but also of God’s power. 

Not only was God doing a new thing, but God had planned and made a way forward, I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  God knew the barriers standing in their way.  God knew the difficulties they would have to face.  God knew what they needed to accomplish a second Exodus.  But God made a way through for them in exile, exactly as God made a way through Red Sea on the first Exodus.  Since God was faithful and mighty then, in God’s new thing now, God is still faithful and mighty.

So too with us, we are in the midst of God’s new thing, but we have a long history of God making ways through; through the Red Sea, through the exile, through the cross, through the dark ages, and the middle ages and the reformation ages, and the renaissance, and the industrial age, and the atomic age and information age.  God is still faithful and mighty to make a way through.  Even a way through this time of yoking together one church to another: faithful to love us abundantly and graciously, and powerful to create everything good out of nothing. 

Perhaps then the faithful response on our part is to press forward instead of looking to the past or going back, forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  We are not called to forsake or abandon our histories or those who came before us, that would be absurd and detrimental because those memories and history have formed who we are.  But we are called to be re-formed into the new people God has provided for us to be.  We are called to be formed by our past and to be re-formed by our present situations. 

My friends, no one faces more struggles and daily surprises than I, but I rest content not in my own abilities or strength.  But I rest solely on the foundation that this is God’s new thing and God will make a way.  This means that our Yoke has divine help.  Our Faithful God to love us through and our Mighty God to carry us through.  But if this is our help, then our challenging discipleship is to follow through the waters or the fires with faith and hope and not to quit because we seek the familiarity and security of the past.  Let us press forward through the next 30 days and through all the time God has commanded us to yoke together because God is Faithful and Mighty.  Amen. 

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

A new neighbor of mine, after moving in, noticed that the neighborhood had many feral cats, who loved to torment his inside cat.  To keep them away from upsetting his indoor cat, he built a fence from the ground up to about seven feet.  The feral cats could not climb over it, nor dig under it, and his cat would not feel territorial and must fight off the “invaders.”

Just as my neighbor built a fence to keep the cats out, so too does the church.  As is written in the Gospel of John, when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.  The disciples locked the doors to keep the Jews out, in order that what happened to Jesus may not happen to them and so they hid.  In many times and in many places, the Church has been threatened by the community around them and in an effort of self-preservation, the church builds fences, the church locks its doors, and the church hides.

But, while the Church might be protecting itself by locking the doors to keep the world out, the flip side is that the Church also might be keeping Jesus out.  To keep outsiders out, might just mean Jesus is treated as an outsider.  To protect oneself from the world, might be to create a barrier between Jesus and the Church.  To create self-security, might be to sever oneself from the covenant with God in Jesus Christ.  To lock the doors and keep others out, might just mean Jesus is one of those others, and we unintentionally or intentionally keep Jesus out.

But no matter how hard the disciples tried to keep the Jews out, Jesus comes right on in, Jesus came and stood among them.  No locked door could keep the Risen Jesus out.  No barrier could separate the Risen Jesus from his people.  No fearful will could push the Risen Jesus from his mission.  The risen Jesus goes through them, around them, over them, and comes and stands among his people.  Even when we push away, or build fences or walls, or lock ourselves away, we cannot create any obstacle or barrier to keep the Risen Jesus out.  He comes right in and meets us in our time and space.

But he doesn’t just come to be with us, he comes to give us gifts of Grace.  “Peace be with you.  Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Blessings not condemnations are what Jesus brings.  Peace, which is not the absence of conflict, but well-being is the gift Jesus brings.  Peace to overwhelm our fears.  Well-being which calms the anxious storms over our heads.  Wholeness which grants courage to face life in freedom and responsibility.  These are what Jesus gives while breaking through our defenses and locked doors.  Jesus comes to us, through our walls and self-defense mechanisms to bestow the abundance of the Kingdom.

But the challenge lies in that after breaking through the locked doors and after bestowing the Holy Spirit and Peace, Jesus sends them out.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.  Equipped with the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ Peace, the disciples become apostles, sent with a mission and a purpose.  No longer cowering the upper room, the apostles are en-boldened to not only leave, but to courageously fulfill their mission.  Jesus not only breaks through to us, not only give us Peace and Holy Spirit, but Jesus also sends us with a purpose and mission.  To go out and speak in faithful witness.  The ones who hid became the ones who went.  Will we?

My friends, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus finds us, even through our resistances and our security measures to bestow Peace and Spirit for our fears and worries.  But the challenge of discipleship is to no longer hide in our upper rooms, but to hit the mission path in faithful service.  This is our calling as Resurrection people.  Jesus is risen, in order to raise us.  Let us no longer try to keep the world out in fear, let us go out into the world to proclaim the Gospel of the Risen Jesus.  Amen.