2024-11-05
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
Pastor Vicki McGaw
November 3, 2024
Psalm 139:1-12
Isaiah 43:16-21
Many years ago, I was called by a church to lead their faith formation program. In the interview, the committee told me how much they needed change. The person who had just retired from the position had been there 16 years, and she had simply taken over from her predecessor by continuing the programs that were already in place. They were enthusiastic about my ideas for innovative programming and offered me carte blanche to implement some new dreams and plans.
All of that was well and good . . . until the first event I planned which was a typical potluck supper with the families of youth to kick off the new year and have a chance to get to know one another.
The first person to arrive that evening, as I was putting the final touches on the table settings, stopped abruptly in her tracks as she walked into the room. “Is something wrong,” I asked. “Well, whenever we have a potluck, we always put the plates at that end of the table.” True story! And this person was on the committee that hired me, part of the group that waxed on about wanting change. So much for new ideas!
Even as we laugh at this, we also know that when we are completely honest with ourselves, we often respond similarly. We think we want change . . . right up until something actually does shift!
All of you have just undergone a very significant change as your beloved pastor of 20 years has retired. I was so happy to hear about your celebrations of Hamilton over the last weeks and, I loved watching last Sunday’s worship service, which was so full of appreciation and love. And I have to say that I am a bit overwhelmed by the number of people here this morning! I figured that after so many of you were here last week, you wouldn’t be back today!
In all seriousness, it is an honor and a privilege to serve as your guide during this time of transition. But I know that some of you are here this morning filled with a sense of trepidation. What will things be like now? Will they ever be the same? You may be thinking, “she’s no Hamilton!” And you are right . . . I am no Hamilton . . . and I won’t even try to be because each of us has to be our own authentic selves, the pople God has called us to be. And things won’t be the same . . . they never remain that way. Change is the one constant we have in life.
Although I understand that it likely doesn’t feel this way right now, the transition ahead will be exciting and full of blessing. But we also need to recognize that our nature is to be creatures of habit. We like things to be stable and predictable because then we feel like we are in control. And we tend to look backward at things with rose-colored glasses, recalling all the best parts of the past and blessedly forgetting the moments that presented challenges or heartache.
This is what is happening with the Israelites as Isaiah is addressing them in our text this morning. God is, as usual, doing something new, but the people are so busy looking back at the past that they fail to see the amazing things God is doing in the present. Isn’t it interesting that we are relatively quick to believe in a God who worked wonders in the past, but when it comes time to trust God to do a new thing in the present, we struggle. One of the things that we will focus on during this interim period is trusting not only in the God who has done great things in the past, but also in the God who always promises to do a new thing in our lives today. We have to learn to trust God right here, right now.
You might have heard the line in the reading that says, “Do not remember the former things” and felt like you had been punched in the gut. Hamilton just left. You are grieving that loss . . . and now the scripture is telling you not to remember those great times together, the love and respect that you have for your former pastor? “No way,” that voice in your head may be yelling!
While it may sound like I am preaching against the text, I encourage you to hold on to your current feelings. Grieve the loss of the one you have loved and trusted. Another thing on which we will focus during this interim period is to learn to be vulnerable and to share our feelings. Grief that is not allowed to be acknowledged will come out at some point and may impede your ability to move ahead. So in the coming weeks, as I get to know you, I’ll be asking how you are feeling . . . and I really hope that you will answer me honestly.
When Isaiah says to not remember the former things, I think we need to consider these words as a hyperbolic phrase to make a point. In fact, in view of so much of the message of the bible, it seems incredible to hear Isaiah say this. We have been taught throughout our faith journeys to remember what God has done for, and given to, us. In just a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of holy communion where we will share yet again Jesus’ words to “do this in remembrance of me.”
So instead, I think that Isaiah’s words are offered to enable people to keep the past from bogging us down and blinding us to the open-ended opportunities God offers for our future. God wants not just a history with God’s people, but also a future with us. Isaiah is simply asking us to stop dwelling so much on what God has done in the past so that we can envision what new things God is doing that enables us to be the people we were created to be.
Please hear me when I say that I realize that you may not be ready right now to envision the future God is offering to you. You may not yet have the emotional or even the mental energy to think about what comes next. That is understandable. But Isaiah offers these words to the people in exile . . . and to you today . . . calling you not to despair but to hope.
Why? Because the same God who brought people out of the land of Egypt, who sent a Messiah to walk among us, is not done with us yet. The exile in Babylon and the departure of your beloved pastor are not ends, but rather opportunities for God to display once again the power and grace offered to God’s people.
At our staff meeting this week, Beth shared the forward of a great book for this time, called Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes by William Bridges. I want to share a little of what we heard that day. In his forward, Michael Bungay Stanier notes that Bridges talks about the journey of transformation in which transition is a constant and unsettling process that offers the chance for growth and redemption.
He then notes three phases of the journey: the process of an ending that leaves you disoriented as something familiar changes and leaves. You might also find yourself at a new beginning where an unknown and uncertain landscape opens up before you. Finally, Stanier suggests you might be in a neutral zone where you feel untethered, apathetic, like you are drifting. You may well experience all three of these phases at the same time!
Now at this point, you may be feeling daunted and overwhelmed! But please hang in with one another and with me. Although I have only had the chance to meet a handful of members, I can sense that you will find your way through this process with great faith in God and in one another. You have a strong and steady staff on whom you can rely. And you have a rich history that offers examples of how you can negotiate difficult circumstances.
In the coming months, I will ask you to listen closely for the new things God is doing here at Federated Church. We will consider the gifts and strengths of the congregation and then form a vision of what the future holds for you so that you can seek a leader to guide you as you live into that future.
Listen to these words from the end of the text: “I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people.” God offers these words of promise and hope to all of us in our various deserts, including you as you wander in your place of transition, fear, doubt and grief. It is in this place that God calls out: “Look! Pay attention! I am about to do a new thing!”
As the psalmist reassures us, there is nowhere we can go that God cannot find us. So even as it may seem that you are on the edge of a desert today, my prayer is that you will trust in God to guide us so that together we can envision the bright future God offers to Federated Church, and then share that vision so that you are able to call a pastor to lead you in manifesting it.
I give thanks to God for the privilege of joining you on the journey. Amen.