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Sermon April 3, 2022
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Fifth Sunday in Lent
http://lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Lent/CLent5_RCL.html
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__April_3__2022
Video: https://youtu.be/xyliJyJ9wsc
Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:18-19
Please Be Seated
I really love mystery shows. One I have been working my way through is based in Toronto Canada and called Murdoch Mysteries, based on the novels by Maureen Jennings. William Murdoch is a detective in the Toronto constabulary.
The series takes place in the late 1800 and early 1900s. While the series often has appearances by historical figures of the time – think William Shatner as Mark Twain – it also seems to address contemporary issues. I’m not always sure whether the series is providing the truth about the genesis of some of these inventions we take for granted today, like electric cars, or using creative license.
In any event, the series does remind me about how different things were then. In one episode, William Murdoch, who is quite an inventor himself, builds a model of the home he wants to build for him and for his wife. They are newly married and living in a hotel suite. She is a doctor and psychiatrist and often the coroner, so just as busy as he is. He designs a house with what we today would call a dishwasher, for instance, so they would not need any servants. He didn’t quite come up with the Roomba.
As we continue our Lenten journey, we are reminded by this passage from Isaiah that God is always doing a new thing. God is always doing new things. Creation does not stand still.
The people being addressed in this part of Isaiah include some who had been forcibly moved to Babylon, as well as those who were left behind in a land that had been destroyed by war. In the first part of today’s reading, the writer seemingly references a past experience the people had with God. Remembering that God was with them and helped them in the past is important.
Yet, in the very next verse, the writer proclaims that they should forget these former things. They should not dwell on the past. Times have changed. Things will not go back to the way they were, because the context of their lives is different from the past. They must be ready and aware and alert to the new thing. The language, “now it springs forth,” creates a picture of something sudden and unexpected. And it’s almost like the writer is incredulous that we cannot perceive it.
Sometimes when we long so much for the way things were, we just cannot see the new thing.
Change can be so uncomfortable, can’t it? Often it is uncomfortable, because we cannot totally see the new thing clearly. We can hardly conceive of it. We feel a little lost about where we are headed and how it will all look.
You may remember the illustration of how we react to change like a “j” curve. We may start out with some excitement about the change. Yet, change is hard and challenging, so we hit a point where we just want to go back to the way things were, rather than keep working towards the change. Finally, if we keep at it, we come through the change and end up in a different place.
And it’s definitely different if we choose the change rather than have a change forced upon us.
Yet, we as a parish can relate to all of this, right?
Two years ago, we abruptly had to stop meeting in person due to the Covid pandemic. In nearly every area of our lives, we had to think differently. We could barely find a mask to cover our nose and mouth. We had to keep away from large groups of people and even smaller gatherings indoors could be fatal. The changes we needed to make in a short period of time were overwhelming. Yet, we kept at it. What else could we do?
We hoped we could see this virus disappear and our changes would be only for a short time. We hoped things would return to normal, didn’t we?
Now we know the truth. We are learning to live in a new way. Some things will never go back to the way they were. Some of the changes we’ve made have been helpful, like being able to have services in the church and also online. Some changes have been harder, like fewer meals together.
The one thing that doesn’t change and that we can always count on is that God is with us.
Amen
