"New Things"
Sermon For Lent 5, Year C
3/22/2010
All of us experience water on a regular basis. Though Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill are not bisected by any major rivers or sit on a port, we have visited or lived in places where this is true. Many of us have traveled across long bridges providing connection between far points of land. Many have us have traveled on water in boats or ferries, sailing across with the open waves. Many of us have traveled above water in planes, looking down on the open expanses of blue. Water for us still provides barriers for transportation, but technology thankfully has created ways around, over, under, or through these problematic barriers.
Because of our technology, we loose much of our understanding and appreciation of how water played a role in earlier times. I believe it's something we recognize when we think about it, but it's easy to overlook. Water determined where towns and ports grew. Water determined where languages and dialects spread and stopped. Water determined where farms, mills, and industry could be located. Water also determined where we could cross and where we must only stand on the shore and look, longing to reach the other side.
The prophet we heard this morning in the words from Isaiah is naming these meanings of water in the passage from Chapter 43. The book of Isaiah is divided into different sections based on the time in which scholars believe it was written. Named 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Isaiah, this passage comes from 2nd Isaiah, which begins in Chapter 40. It addresses the people of Israel during a dark time in their history. 2nd Isaiah was recorded during the exile period. They are in exile in Babylon, having been conquered by the Babylonians. This was a very dark time when all hope had been lost because they had lost their land, their homes, their possessions, and many wondered, even their God. Had God abandoned them in this foreign land?
2nd Isaiah begins in chapter 40 with, "Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God." (Isaiah 40:1, NRSV) 1st Isaiah was written as a warning to the people of Israel for their forgetfulness about who God is and what God had done in their midst. We see that the tone has shifted to offer words not of judgment and warning, but words of comfort; words of hope; words of encouragement. They are in a dark, lonely, desolate place and their memory is failing them. They need to hear these words of comfort, and Isaiah's words are just what they needed.
In today's section in particular we see water as a sign of hope and encouragement to the people of Israel in exile. Water is referenced at least 8 times in these 6 verses: water, sea, rivers, quenched, springs, drink... types of water, actions associated with water... they are both here. Water serves as a reminder of Israel's past. Remembering water helps them remember who they are as a people of God. Images of water abound in Scripture, and here the prophet in Isaiah is using this image to help the Israelites' memory. You who live in exile in Babylon, don't you remember God who formed the waters of creation? Don't you remember when your ancestors lived in exile in Egypt, held as slaves for the Pharaoh. Don't you remember how I made a way in the sea for you to escape slavery? Don't you remember walking on the dry ground bridge across the water? Don't you remember how I saved you from desperate times?
But then the tone of the passage shifts. The prophet says for them to not remember the former things or consider the things of old (Isaiah 43:18). It's not the exodus from Egypt that they are to forget, but are instead to forget about the hopelessness they currently feel. Don't remember the hopelessness. Don't remember the complancency and feelings of giving in to Babylon. Don't remember the traditions Babylon taught, and instead, remember me. Remember that I am going to do something new, just as I did something new in Egypt. Parting the sea to walk on the dry ground bridge was new, and maybe, just maybe now I will again do something new, something unexpected, to bring you through the dark place of exile.
In this chapter from Isaiah, the prophet uses the images of the sea and river as contrasting one another. Yes, they are both water, but they carry different meanings. Seas were often seen as barriers, partially for their literal size.[1] The image of water or seas indicates judgment for different people groups, and can be seen in earlier places in Scripture. We see that image here referencing the Egyptians in the exodus, in verse 17: "Who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick."[2] The parted sea was a barrier for the Egyptians for their very lives. Contrasting the sea is the image of a river. Rivers provide life along its banks for crops and people. They convey life, which we see in the Garden of Eden with the four rivers it contained or the Jordan River in the Promised Land. The prophet in Isaiah announces God's promise, "I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" in verse 19. God also declares, "For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert" in verse 20. Water and life will teem where it hasn't been possible before. Water in a desert creates an oasis of life. Rivers flow with living water, nourishing the roots and encouraging growth. God provides a way; provides life; provides new things for the people of Israel. They will have a new life beyond the exile because God is doing a new thing in the life of the community.
The prophet in Isaiah is confident that some day, the people will praise God for the new things that have been happening in their lives. God's promises will come true. Not too long after the prophet wrote these words, the Israelites found themselves able to return home because the exile was over. Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians in 539BC (or BCE--Before the Common Era) and then allowed the people to return to their homes.[3] God was doing a new thing in their midst, and they were able to declare their praise to God.
But God didn't stop there. Did you notice the verbs in these passages. Makes... Brings... here is where translation becomes tricky business. These verbs don't show their full meaning in English. In the Hebrew they show the action began in the past and continues into the future.[4] God is making... God is bringing. These are new things that God continues to do in our midst as well. "Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"
I recently ran across an article about Ken Frantz that, for me, is a tangible example of God's work in our world to do a new thing and bring about new hope and rejoicing.[5] A photo in National Geographic magazine from a remote village in Africa moved Ken to action. The photo showed villagers trying to cross a severed stone bridge to navigate the deep gorge over the river. The village of Sebara Dildiy, Ethiopia, was cut off from surrounding areas and hundreds of thousands of people because of the lack of a passable bridge. The gorge was deep, and the next closest bridge was a week's walk away. Ken, a builder by trade, was so moved that he began an organization called Bridges to Prosperity USA to teach villagers to build basic footbridges to help this village and others like it around the world. There are 500,000 places they have found that could use an equally life-saving bridge, so the need is there. What began in 2001 as a single bridge project has grown to build 40 bridges in 7 countries and is expanding rapidly. Ken and his crew are creating new, sustainable ways to train villagers to help themselves and build better lives.
Like I mentioned earlier, it might be hard for us to imagine what this bridge means for the people in Sebara Dildiy. As a video on their website articulated, it literally means life... new life for the villagers. This new bridge is a new thing that allows for their lives to be remarkably better. Now, the crops they grow can be sold at bigger, better markets on the other side of the bridge. The extra money they make is helping them to repair homes. Now they are able to cross the bridge for school, so education is now possible for those who would have gone without. Now they are able to cross the bridge for medical care, their health and well being is only going to get better. The villagers were so excited in the video dancing and singing. They had the priest offer blessings to the bridge, and the joy was evident in their singing and praising God for this new thing.
God declares, "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" During Lent we are drawn to notice the new things around us. Can we not help but perceive where God is at work making new things? The trees are new again. The bulbs are flowering again. Do you not perceive it? Just as the exodus in Egypt was a new thing that God did, and freedom from the Babylonian exile was a new thing that God did, so was the resurrection. The story doesn't follow the same patterns as before. God brings new life from death. Jesus will have new life once again on Easter, and we will stand and proclaim "The LORD is Risen. The LORD is Risen, Indeed!"[6]
God is at work around us in other ways too, can you perceive it? We hear it in the theme of Synod for September, "Behold I am making all things new." We are becoming a renewed province, and I watch with great anticipation to see how God is going to re-form us to better serve our world in God's name. God is doing new things and we’re a part of it!
God is at work here in our congregation, can you perceive it? We begin a new chapter in Raleigh Moravian's history on May 1st when Craig begins his sabbatical for renewal. We will also spend the summer in sabbath renewal, and I am watching with great anticipation to see what God is doing in and among us during this summer of intentional time with God, and then in the fall when Craig returns.
God is at work here in our congregation today, can you perceive it? Tovah and Zoe Shore began their faith journey formally today. And by all of us participating in the marking of this Sacrament, we all remember who we are as children of God. We remember God's promise and the power of the Sacrament: "Through grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are united with Christ, are cleansed by his saving work, enter into the fellowship of the church, and are called to a life of faith and willing obedience"[7] through the waters of baptism. In the liturgy we just prayed together, we were all invited to remember what God has done throughout history and be re-membered, re-formed by our telling again the stories of our faith. Just as the rivers of living water provided new life for the Israelites in exile, we receive that same new life through the living water of baptism, and we claim God's promises to us. We celebrate this Sacrament and declare praise to God for these new children of God. God is forming Zoe and Tovah, just as we are all being formed to declare God's praise. God is doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? May we all declare God's praise for all the new things God is doing in our midst. Amen.
[1] Michael E. Williams, "Pastoral Perspective for Lent 5C, Isaiah 43:16-21" in Feasting on the Word, Year C. Volume 2, eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 122. Comparison of sea and river is drawn from his commentary.
[2] Christopher R. Seitz, "The Book of Isaiah 40-66" in New Interpreter's Bible: Volume VI (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001) 375.
[3] Samuel L. Adams, "Exegetical Perspective for Lent 5C, Isaiah 43:16-21" in Feasting on the Word, Year C. Volume 2, eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 125.
[4] Samuel L. Adams, "Exegetical Perspective," 125.
[5] Daniel Glick, "Building Bridges of Hope" in Parade Magazine (March 10, 2010, Pg 10-12) More info is in this article or on the web at The Bridges to Prosperity Website is: http://bridgestoprosperity.org/ .
[6]"Easter Morning Liturgy," Moravian Book of Worship (Bethlehem, PA: Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in North America, 1995) 82.
[7] "Liturgy for Baptism," Moravian Book of Worship (Bethlehem, PA: Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in North America, 1995) 165. 
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