Series: September 2024
Speaker: Bethany Nelson
Today's Sermon
"Creating Together"
Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord - and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent - its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
(Note, the sermon began with a video visual meditation, set to the song, “Behold,” by Alana Levandoski.)
One of the big gifts of my sabbatical was time. When not on sabbatical, I am a doer, even a rusher. Going from one thing to the next … constant motion. The folks who deposit our offering money each Sunday do their work right outside my office. More than once they have remarked to me that I am always on the go following worship. That way of being makes it hard to notice things. To behold what God is up to. To sit in awe and wonder. But on sabbatical, I got a chance to do just that. To take in the beauty of God’s creation. To notice the ways in which God is continuing to create, making things new. To even participate in this new creation. What a gift that time was.
As I move into this post-sabbatical time, I have challenged myself to not mindlessly return to the before-sabbatical way of being, but to continue to make space for noticing, for creativity, for wonder. I don’t want to be so focused on the next to-do item that I miss the chance to celebrate our Creator God regularly and often.
For there really is so much to celebrate. Though I realize that sometimes, when we are caught up in the mire of day to day life, it doesn’t really seem like it. The people that God is speaking to through the prophet Isaiah in the passage we heard this morning certainly didn’t think there was much to celebrate. They were returning from exile and life was hard. They were faced with rebuilding not only a ruined temple but a ruined city and a ruined community. Many of their leaders had gone astray. Many of the people had turned their backs on God. They were caught up in the very overwhelming tasks ahead of them, filled with so much despair and very little hope. There was not much celebrating happening.
But in the midst of all of this, Isaiah tells them that our Creator God is at work. Promising a new heaven and a new earth. Promising a city of joy with no more cries of distress. Promising abundant food and housing, long life spans, and no more hurt or destruction. I can imagine the people hearing Isaiah saying all of this and responding, “Sure, God … whatever you say, God. I don’t really have time for all of this fanciful thinking right now, God, I have a city to rebuild.”
Perhaps that has been your response to God at certain difficult times in your life. But what if, during those tough times – or even during the good times, we actually took a pause to consider that God-promised vision. Perhaps not a three month sabbatical pause, but enough of a pause to take a deep breath, to look at the natural beauty that surrounds us, to remind ourselves that God makes all things new – all the time.
This is good news! Though, almost unbelievable news, perhaps? Could this promise of what sounds like utopia ever really be achieved? If we remember the angel Gabriel’s words to Mary, we remember that nothing is impossible with God. What Isaiah describes is very possible. However, rather than waiting around for all of this to one day happen, our call is to be creative partners with God. To respond to and participate in this new creation that Isaiah prophesies.
I don’t know about you, but I do know how to either plant vineyards or build houses – two things that Isaiah mentions – though I’m sure I could learn if needed. But, again, if I take a moment to pause and to consider what my role in this new creation could be, I realize that there is plenty I can do. I love how seminary professor Mary Eleanor Johns describes it. She writes, “We are able to give one drink of cold water at a time. We are able to bring comfort to the poor and the wretched, one act of mercy or change at a time. One book given, one friendship claimed, one covenant of love, one can of beans, one moment of commendation, one confession of God’s presence, one moment in which another person is humanized rather than objectified, one challenge to the set order that maintains injustice, one declaration of the evil that is hiding in plain sight, one declaration that every person is a child of God; these acts accumulate within God’s grace.”[i]
Whew, what a list. I’m overwhelmed all over again. I don’t know that I can do all of that! Luckily, I don’t have to. For, this vision that Isaiah shares isn’t for just one person, but for the entire community. We live into this vision together. We create together. I can offer some food to one who is hungry while you offer comfort to one who is downtrodden. I can remind someone that they are a beloved child of God while you write a letter to an elected official challenging an injustice. I’ll paint (which I know how to do) while you sheetrock (which I don’t know how to do) as we build the house together. We are creators together – with one another and with God.
And then, Isaiah reminds us, we take time to rejoice and delight together. To pause and take in the beauty of creation, just as God does. Did you notice how many of the images in the video were of nature? The song we heard is by Alana Levandoski, and there is a reason that when she is singing about God unseen taking form, we see images of trees and pottery and painting and clouds and the ocean and people holding hands. All of this is God taking form in our lives. All of this is God continuing to create something new in and with each one of us. In the song we’re about to hear, by the brilliant songwriter Michael Hatfield, there is a reason why the singer chooses to go to the ocean to reflect on life. The ocean, where “sun is rising, breeze is fresh, birds are flying, seals are playing.” There, surrounded by God’s creation, he can pause and he can realize that he has been blessed through both the good times and the hard times. That God has been co-creating with him through it all.
So let us pause and behold. Let us wonder. Let us be in awe. And then let’s give a drink of cold water and offer an act of mercy and fight against injustice. And then let’s pause and behold again. For when creating together, we continue to make all things new. Amen.