Musical Prelude and Service.
saiah 65:17-25
I find the season of Creation a challenging time. I fully believe it is crucial that we as a community set aside time to reflect on our place in creation and our responsibility to God’s wondrous creation. I think it is vital that we express our gratitude for God’s work and love and marvel at the complexity and beauty of the cosmos and the way we are woven into the fabric of life.
But as we reflect on the beauty of the world, we are also confronted with the incredible brokenness of creation. We must confess to the way humanity has exploited our environment and abused our neighbours.
We are forced to acknowledge that we have failed as a people to live up to the vision God set for this creation. We keep putting off the very real work that is needed to properly live with respect in Creation.
We can so easily feel helpless in the face of so many stories of the way our fellow human beings wound and kill their neighbours. These stories come to us from around the world and right next door. And our efforts to show love to our neighbours can seem completely inadequate in the face of these stories as we witness the incredible suffering of so many outside our reach. It is in this context that we find ourselves reading scriptures such as this one from Isaiah this morning. A promise and a sign of hope from God in the form of a beautiful poem or song from the prophet.
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.
This is written in the latter part of the book of Isaiah. The exiles have returned to Jerusalem after a few generations in exile.
Their welcome home has not been warm. Jerusalem was not left empty when they were displaced. The workers, the farmers were left behind and forced to find a way forward. In some cases they married colonizers. They adopted new ways to survive. Those who return are forced to find a place in a different Jerusalem – one that doesn’t fit the stories shared by parents and grandparents.
They demand a return to the way things were. And they are royalty, the bureaucracy, the priesthood. They come to this place with power and authority. There is tension.
Be glad and rejoice in what I am creating.
Isaiah is not blind to the reality in front of him. He sees the injustice; he sees the anger and the violence. The fear and the distrust. He witnesses the heartbreak.
He doesn’t set out a timeline, but he tells the people that God desires something more for them and he is in the process of creating.
Remember what I said a few weeks ago?
God’s act of creation is a labour of love.
And God keeps creating.
God’s love is ongoing, and God keeps creating.
We can lose sight of that. We can only process so much at one time, and at times like this we can be overwhelmed by the anger, the violence, the fear and the visions of violence and sorrow.
But God hasn’t stopped creating.
What are some signs of the peace of God?
What are some signs of God’s beauty in creation?
What are some signs of justice and love at work in this world?
If you are struggling to come up with answers to those questions, I can understand that, we are inundated with terrible news. We have to work to see the lovely signs of new life; of love and joy in our midst. But I also believe we are called to seek out and rejoice in the presence of those signs.
And we are called to nurture those glimpses of God’s love, to nourish them, care for them and help them to grow into something more.
God is at work all around us, and God desires us to be partners in their work.
In all the things Isaiah says he sees coming, he also acknowledges to suffering and the cries of parents, of children, our neighbours is very real.
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.
But a new world is coming, and we need to be a part of bringing it into reality.
As futile as the work may sometimes seem, we do not have the luxury of giving into despair and futility. We need to be a voice calling out hatred, a voice naming injustice when we see it and voice and presence standing on the side of love and mercy.
One of the cornerstones of our faith is a belief the world can and will change. It is a belief people can repent and find a new path in their lives. It is in our faith and devotion to our loving creator, revealed to us in the person of Jesus the Christ that we experience hope. We are offered a vision of what this world can and will be, and we are shown how we can play a part in bringing that world into being.
So, let us live with open eyes, listening ears and a heart open to the possibilities of a new heaven and a new earth. Let us seek out and celebrate the signs of new life revealed to us by God and let us work together to grow those signs of God’s love and life into magnificent trees that take root in the glorious mountain that God has promised us.
Thanks be to God,
Amen.
Rev. Warner Bloomfield
Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789
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