Welcome Sunday: September 12, 2021
Introduction
“What do you do when your expectations crash on the rocks of despair? What do you do when God does not seem to behave as God’s word indicates he would? Or even as his word indicates how he should? What do you do when it seems God has changed his mind about you? What do you do when God just doesn’t behave the way you expect God to behave?”
These words of Rev. Charles E. Blake Sr. resonated with me when I heard them because they encapsulate questions we all have faced.
He goes on to say, “I’m hearing from a lot of people that God was just not there when they needed him. They experienced a repossession of their car, a foreclosure of their home, the death of a loved one, a serious illness, the absence of a job, the destruction of a relationship or even a marriage. And under circumstances like these some people begin to wonder ‘Where is God?”
Blake goes on, “Isn’t it strange when something we depend on disappears—it almost seems that God himself has disappeared? Many of you have hope that God would show up in an area in your life but God simply has not shown up in the way you wished God would have shown up. You prayed and you expected God to do something that you expected God to do in the way you wanted but God didn’t. Have you ever been in a place where you needed to feel the presence and power and anointing of God in a special way but you could not feel anything? Have you ever needed God and God felt so far away from you? Jesus on the cross reached that point. He reached out to God and could feel no sense of the presence of the Lord and cried out ‘My God my God why have you forsaken me?’ David overwhelmed with the weight and guilt of his sin said ‘Don’t take your holy spirit from me.’ Job in his affliction and despair cried out to God… Job 23:3… O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.”
And finally, Rev. Blake says, “Some people interpret move to mean leave. And some people think when God moves God has left them. But the truth is God hasn’t left. God has simply moved. And what’s likely happening… what is probably happening… is that we have not moved with God.
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These words are striking. The ideas, concepts, theology, reality of Rev. Blake’s words have a lot of truth to them, don’t they? None of us has been immune from these thoughts and feelings. All of us have said them and felt them at some time in our lives—especially sometime in the last 17-18 months. And with things such as they are beginning to be, it seems we are probably going to be asking them for a while yet still.
So what are we to do then? Well one thing we can do is look for the new thing God is surely doing and know God is not leaving us behind, rather God is moving us to a new thing.
Move 1
When God is doing something different… When God is doing something new… do we not perceive it? Many of us would like to say yes to this question, but the truth is, a lot of the times—especially in the church—we don’t perceive it. And the reason we don’t is because we don’t—especially in the church—we don’t do different; we don’t like different; we don’t do new.
And because we don’t, when God moves, when God is doing a new thing we don’t perceive it because we don’t want to. And then we go a step further and start thinking, “Why is God not behaving the way I expect God to behave?” “Why is God not here?” “Why is God not showing up?” “I know I messed up, so is this how God is getting back at me?” Or maybe we say, “I’ve been good! I’ve been faithful! Why is God not showing up?”
There are times when we need God the most but we use this thinking to interpret as God not being there, that God is angry with them for a sin they committed. Some will interpret this as God abandoning them. Some will interpret this as “Well, all things happen for a reason.”
So I will give you some truth and some encouragement… God does not move to punish anyone. God has not moved because God is angry. God has not moved to make us mad. God does not make bad things happen to good people—or any people.
But God does move. God moves to make good things happen because everything of God is good. God moves to make new things thing happen. And because God is always good we can know when God moves to make a new thing happen, it will make lives better. Our job is to perceive it. And then get on board with it.
So with this understanding, we have to ask ourselves… Are we willing to move? Are we willing to perceive what God is doing? Are we willing to move toward the new and good thing God is doing?
These are the questions the prophet Isaiah was asking. He asked them of God’s people who were in a really hard place—a place where they thought God was not; a place where they needed God the most but thought God had abandoned them.
But Isaiah says, that God says, “That’ just not true. I’ve been here all along. I am with you, and here’s what I’m doing—it’s a new thing. And it’s going to be good. So good, in fact, that this wilderness—there’s going to be a clear path. So good, the desert of life—rivers are going to flow. So good even the wild animals are going to know something is different and that it was me who did it. So good, you’re going to know I never left you and you’re going to praise my name once again.”
The people of God were in a hard place—so hard the resolved themselves to that place, unwilling to change, unwilling to even perceive the new and good thing God was doing. But God said, “Stop that thinking. Stop that way of being. Perceive this. See this. And get on board because you are not going to want to miss out.”
Move 2
Are we willing to move? Are we willing to perceive what God is doing? Are we willing to move toward the new and good thing God is doing?
These are the questions the prophet Isaiah was asking. He asks them of God’s people who are in a really hard place—a place where they think God is not; a place where we need God the most but think God has abandoned us.
Are we willing to move? Are we willing to perceive what God is doing? Are we willing to move toward the new and good thing God is doing?
Isaiah is asking us these questions today—on this Welcome Sunday that is supposed to be all about getting back to normal—but we haven’t had any semblance of normal for 17-18 months. And with things such as they are beginning to be, there is no telling when or if we will ever be “normal.” (See my September Pathways Pastor’s Pen for more about “normal.”)
So no, we may not be normal, but we can be new. Because no matter what… God is moving. God is moving toward something good. Something so good that paths will be made clear, dry barren places will flow with life, the unknowing will know, and we will praise God for moving us to the new good.
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Do we perceive it? Are we willing to move? Are we willing to perceive what God is doing? Are we willing to move toward the new and good thing God is doing?
We have to ask ourselves these questions. But we can’t just ask them today on Welcome Sunday. We can’t just ask them next week. We can’t just let Jonathan say we should ask this stuff until he moves on to something else.
We are going to be asking these questions—in some form or another—for the next year. We are going to be asking these questions because—one, God is already doing a new thing here at First Christian Church of Stow. And two, God is setting us up for a new thing that is going to be unfolding over the next year here at First Christian Church. No, I’m not resigning. (Some of you were getting excited there—I know. It’s fine.) But a year from now we will be coming back together—in some form or another—after our sabbaticals. My sabbatical from the church and your sabbatical from me. And we will be a different church because of them. God will have moved us because of them. God will be doing more new things because of them. But we will need to prepare ourselves to perceive them and get on board with them.
Conclusion
The global pandemic has forced the church to do a new thing, different from the normal thing—and First Christian Church has been doing new things, figuring them out, making them happen.
We have new staffers, new ministries, new order of worship, even a new worship time. A new normal has begun. But the new things aren’t done. The good things aren’t done. The new normal is not yet complete. God is still moving, and still moving us as a church in a new direction that will take us to a new and good place.
Why? Because that’s what God does when such is needed. The spiritual needs, the physical needs of God’s children are different today than they were 17-18 months ago. They are different today in our church because we are a different church—and we are going to be a different church a year from now.
So let us perceive how God is moving. Let us see where God is moving us to. Let us prepare to get on board with the new. And let us know that though it may be different and new, it will be good. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, September 12, 2021
Gracious God, we have gathered on this Welcome Sunday to mark the beginning of a new program year for our congregation. Normally our prayers would be for you to fill us with excitement for what we stand at the beginning of…
Normally we would pray for excitement for our children and young people as they begin their music, study and fellowship groups.
Normally we would pray for the inquiring minds of adults as we return to more disciplined study.
Normally we would pray for help to stretch out our hands and offer your presence to those in need.
Normally we would pray—just like before.
But things are not normal anymore. They are not just like before. Things are different. Things have changed. Things are new. And that can be hard.
So help us with the hard parts O God. Help us to know there is still excitement to be found. Remind us that different does not mean deficient; that change is not bad; and new can be good—especially when it’s with you.
Help us perceive what you are doing, inspire us to be a part of it—because we know the world around us continues to be plagued by violence and destructive behavior. Anxiety and apprehension is great; and the world groans for your pathways in the wilderness: your rivers in barren, dry places.
So help us be a church that invites your children to perceive your new things; helps others know you never leave or abandon your children; and inspires all to embrace the truth that they are surrounded by your arms of love.
No, things may not be normal. But a new normal is surely coming through you. Help us perceive it. Help us get on board with it. Help us to share it with all.
This is our collective prayer, and now we pray you will listen to the individual prayers deep within our spirits as we offer them in this time of holy silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”