Preached January 19, 2014
St.
Paul’s United Church of Christ
Gerald, TX
Pray
with me.
God
our Creator and Sustainer
As
we reflect on your Word this morning
May
we have ears to hear and eyes to see
May
we open ourselves to all that You are
And
may the words of my mouth
And
the meditations of my heart
Be
good and pleasing to You
Amen.
Thank
you for welcoming me into your church family this morning
I celebrate with you about Pastor Sharyl’s
new baby
And am honored to preach
in her place this morning
Even as you
joyfully anticipate her return
Soon
and very soon
This
morning, I will be preaching from Isaiah 49.
You
may know the story of the people of Israel
How they went from being the people
of the covenant
To slavery in Egypt
To wanderers
in the wilderness
To
inheritors of the promised land
They
finally reach the promised land
And they call for themselves a king,
Saul
And David after him, and
Solomon after him
And things
seem to be going very well for them
But
somewhere in the midst of all of this success,
The Assyrians conquer Israel
And then the Babylonians
conquer Assyria
And the
people of God are captive
In
exile
The
book of Isaiah was written over time, spanning the exile.
Our text today is from the last part
of Isaiah,
Written during
Babylonian captivity
This
means that at the time our text was written,
Exile is not new.
This generation has
grown up in exile.
They
don’t remember the promised land.
They have only heard about it from
their parents
Who heard about it from
their parents
They
know that they are destined for more than this exile
But this exile is all that they
know,
It has become eerily
like home to them
Where
we encounter the prophet Isaiah,
He
is anticipating that Persia might conquer Babylon
And
this was good news
Because Persia was notorious for setting captive peoples
free
The
people of Israel know that they are special
They know that they are called
They were made with a
purpose
They are God’s
holy people
Set
apart by the covenant
They
have been told since the time of their father Abraham
That God will make them into a great
nation
That they will number as
many as the stars
And
at every turn where that covenant promise seemed threatened
From the barrenness of Sarah
To Egyptian slavery
To finding
that the promised land was already occupied
They
have found that God has provided for them
God has made a way out of no way
To fulfill what was
promised to them
Because they
are God’s special people
Have
you ever felt that way
That you know God has a special
calling for your life
That you are sealed with
a promise?
There
is so much anticipation with this sort of thing:
Big dreams of how God will use you
Fantasies of being the
exalted chosen one of God
They
are waiting for the time when they will fulfil their special role,
Daydreaming about their bright
future
Let
us remember that anticipation of what God will do is not always a bad thing
If we have hope in anything
What better hope could
we choose than
Anticipating
how we could be part of what God is doing?
But
for some it can become a source of pride
A holy gift made into unholy idol
And
as often happens for those who are full of themselves,
The trappings of success lead these
people of the covenant
To turn their
backs on God
They
live for themselves,
And worship other gods
They ignore the many prophets
that God has sent to call them back
And they
forget who they are
And
whose they are
And
then they are lost
Though they have inherited the
promised land,
Though
they have built a monarchy and a great temple,
They
are defeated by the Assyrians
And then they are taken
captive by the Babylonians
Forced
to worship other gods
Driven from their
homeland
And
sent into exile
After
being lost in the wilderness, building a foundation, and then losing
everything,
They are searching for meaning
For a place to land
For anything
that can remind them of God’s promises
They
are searching for a God that they can’t see
But who they know must be there
Church,
have you been there?
Have you ever gone from nothing to
everything
From ambiguity to
prosperity
From failure
to success,
Only
to have everything that you’ve worked so hard to build
Come
tumbling down before your very eyes?
Have you ever been so lost in the
darkness
Whether by choice or by
circumstance
That you
know light must be there somewhere
But
all you see is darkness?
You know that there is still reason
to hope
And in your gut, beyond
what you can explain,
You know that
God is faithful
But all that you can see
All that you can touch
All that you
can taste
All
that you can hear
Is loneliness and despair?
You
pray and you pray
But you hear nothing in response?
And
then you don’t even know what to pray anymore?
All that comes out are the groans
that words cannot express.
Those deep melodies of
longing
Where even
singing seems useless
But
you do it anyway
In hope that
Maybe God might
hear you?
Precious
Lord, take my hand
Lead
me on, let me stand
I
am tired, I am weak, I am worn
Through
the storm, through the night
Lead
me on to the light
Take
my hand precious Lord, lead me home
Church,
have you ever been struck down at every turn?
People say demeaning things about
you
People say untrue things
about you,
Words
intended to bring you harm,
And
there is nothing you can do to correct the lies
Or
silence the wicked?
Have
you ever suffered from an illness
Or a loss
Or a sorrow
That
unfrayed you to your last inch
And
you have no idea how you’re going to make it
And no one seems to
understand what you’re going through?
And
something in you,
Something you can’t explain,
But something you know
you can rely on,
Tells you
that God is faithfully present with you
Even
though you can’t see it
Even
though you can’t feel it
Even
though you can’t hear it
Something
inside you assures you with
Illogical,
intangible, unshakeable hope…
Why
should I feel discouraged?
And
why should the shadows come
Why
should my heart be lonely
And
long for heaven and home
When
Jesus is my portion
My
constant friend is he
His
eye is on the sparrow
And
I know he watches me
His
eye is on the sparrow
And
I know he watches me
Whenever
I am tempted
Whenever
clouds arise
When
songs give way to sighing
And
when hope within me dies
I
draw closer to him
From
care he sets me free
His
eye is on the sparrow
And
I know he watches me
His
eye is on the sparrow
And
I know he watches me
By
faith, the people of Israel
Continue to believe that
Just as God has been
faithful
God will
continue to be faithful
And
though they are still living in the mess
Living in the sadness
Living in the reality of
exile,
They know
that God is with them
And
they take courage:
When
peace like a river, attendeth my way
When
sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever
my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It
is well, it is well, with my soul
In
their exile,
they
reorient themselves to God.
They let their physical exile
Point them to their
spiritual exile
And they
draw closer to God
They
repent for the sins they have committed against God
They accept that they are in exile
because of their own choices
They realize that God
had given them a homeland
And a king
And
a temple
And they were not faithful stewards
They did not hold up
their end of the covenant
And even as
God sent prophet after prophet to steer them back on course
They
have ignored the word of God
They
have abandoned the way God called them to live
They
experience the height and depth and width and breadth of mercy
Of love beyond reason or measure
Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound
That
saved a wretch like me
I
once was lost, but now am found
Was
blind but now I see
And
they learn that God will not just take them out of exile,
But their story will be part of
something much bigger
Their
story will be part of God’s story in the world
Not that God caused their suffering,
But that God will
use their suffering
To save the world
Church,
did you hear that?
It’s not just that God has a plan
for them.
It’s that God has a plan
for the entire world.
Their
story will be a part of God’s redemption of humankind!
God
will rescue them
Like
God will rescue all who are captive
The
promise of salvation will stretch beyond the Jews!
The good news is for everyone!
O
Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider
all the works Thy hand hath made
I
see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy
power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my
soul, my Savior God to Thee
How
great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then
sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How
great Thou art, how great Thou art!
The
Canaanites do not have the ultimate power
For God drove them out of the
promised land
The
Assyrians did not have the ultimate power
For they were conquered by the
Babylonians
The
Babylonians will not have the ultimate power
For they will be conquered by the
Persians
The
Persians won’t have the ultimate power
Because God has a story
That is bigger
than any earthly kingdom
God
is bigger than we thought before
Because God isn’t just for the
Israelites
God is for everyone
God
has promises enough for everyone!
Great
is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There
is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou
changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,
As
Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be
Great
is Thy faithfulness!
Great
is Thy faithfulness!
Morning
by morning new mercies I see
All
I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great
is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
So,
church,
Let us not live like those who are
trapped in the darkness
Let us not live like
those who have forgotten the promise
Let us not live
like those who do not know
That God is
bigger than we ever dreamed
Because
the same God who spoke promises over Israel
Spoke promises over you
The
same God who rescued Israel from slavery and from exile
Sent Jesus to die on the cross to
save you
The same God who loved
Israel
Loves you
The
same God who forgave Israel
Forgives
you
And,
church, the same God whose plans were bigger than the story of Israel
Are bigger than the story of you
Will work in you and
through you
To redeem
and restore and renew
Your
story joins with the stories of those who have gone before
Testifying to the glory and power of
God
Bearing witness to the
saving power of God’s grace
And the
majesty of God’s creation
And
the wonder of the cross
The
same God who was faithful to Israel
Will be faithful to you
And
just as Israel has suffered
And just as you have suffered
Others around you are
suffering
Can
you see them?
Do you know people around you who
are suffering?
Who are bearing a heavy
burden and whose hearts are heavy laden?
Though
we suffer
And though we know others who
suffer…
God
is bigger than suffering
And God is bigger than you and your
circumstances
Glory
be to God that God is bigger than all the things which oppress us
God is bigger than the people who
speak lies about us
God is bigger than the
people who seek to harm us
God
is bigger than the things we have lost
God is bigger than our
sorrows
God
is bigger than our sins
God is bigger than our
loneliness
God
is bigger than our grief
To
God be the glory that God’s plans are bigger than our plans
To God be the glory that God’s ways
are higher than our ways
To God be the Glory that
God’s thoughts are bigger than our thoughts
And God’s
story is bigger than our story
But
thanks be to God that God wants to include us in that story
Thanks be to God that your story
joins with the angels as they proclaim
Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God almighty!
Who was and
is and is to come!
I
see the Lord seated on the throne Exalted
And
the train of his robe fills the temple with glory
And
the whole earth is filled, And the whole
earth is filled
And
the whole earth is filled with his glory
Thanks
be to God that the light of God
broke
through the darkness
in Israel’s
exile
Thanks
be to God that the light of God
broke
through the darkness
in your life
And
thanks be to God that the light of God
will
break through every dark place
As we, God’s church,
take that light out into the world.
So
as we go out from this place
May the light of God shine in us
And from us
And through
us
And
beyond us
That all who thirst may drink the
living water
That all who hunger may
eat the bread of life
That
every broken place may be made whole
That every crooked place
may be made straight
That every
dark place may be made brilliant
With
the love of God
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let
it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let
it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let
it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine
Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine
Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine,
let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
