Isaiah 43:16-19
16This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
As I sit here and type these words, I will have been Minister of Word and Sacrament for both Trinity and East Side Presbyterian Churches for 30 days. Time seems to have sped up as I cannot grasp that my first month has gone by. But, over the course of this time, I have had to learn not only how to Pastor a second congregation, but I have had to adjust to balancing time between them. But one thing that remains constant and steady over the entire “yoke” process is the Word from God that says, look, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? New work also means new energy, and God not only is doing this new thing, but giving us a new means and power to fulfill it; and we truly have only begun to see the plans God has for us.
But, with the new energy and joy that comes with a new focus or endeavor also comes new struggles. Entering into unfamiliar territory means surprise difficulties that no one could foresee but still must be navigated. Questions of policies and processes and procedures have to be worked out between congregations. Times must be adjusted and people must adapt to every changing circumstances. For the people of Israel while in exile about to experience God’s deliverance once again, they also faced the joy and difficulties of God’s new work. But Isaiah reminds them not only of God’s faithfulness but also of God’s power.
Not only was God doing a new thing, but God had planned and made a way forward, I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. God knew the barriers standing in their way. God knew the difficulties they would have to face. God knew what they needed to accomplish a second Exodus. But God made a way through for them in exile, exactly as God made a way through Red Sea on the first Exodus. Since God was faithful and mighty then, in God’s new thing now, God is still faithful and mighty.
So too with us, we are in the midst of God’s new thing, but we have a long history of God making ways through; through the Red Sea, through the exile, through the cross, through the dark ages, and the middle ages and the reformation ages, and the renaissance, and the industrial age, and the atomic age and information age. God is still faithful and mighty to make a way through. Even a way through this time of yoking together one church to another: faithful to love us abundantly and graciously, and powerful to create everything good out of nothing.
Perhaps then the faithful response on our part is to press forward instead of looking to the past or going back, forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. We are not called to forsake or abandon our histories or those who came before us, that would be absurd and detrimental because those memories and history have formed who we are. But we are called to be re-formed into the new people God has provided for us to be. We are called to be formed by our past and to be re-formed by our present situations.
My friends, no one faces more struggles and daily surprises than I, but I rest content not in my own abilities or strength. But I rest solely on the foundation that this is God’s new thing and God will make a way. This means that our Yoke has divine help. Our Faithful God to love us through and our Mighty God to carry us through. But if this is our help, then our challenging discipleship is to follow through the waters or the fires with faith and hope and not to quit because we seek the familiarity and security of the past. Let us press forward through the next 30 days and through all the time God has commanded us to yoke together because God is Faithful and Mighty. Amen.
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