" 'The New Normal' -- as old as the hills" (Sunday, January 15, 2023)

 

Focusing:

 

We’re half-way through January – hardly a “new year” anymore.  I hope you’ve found a good way into it.

 

Does it seem like “new normal” yet? Or are we still on the way?  Still needing to be open to, and opened by whatever next steps, new visions, and new or renewed commitments God has for us, desires of us, wants for us?  Living towards a new normal is not new, nor unique to us.  It’s as old as the hills.  It’s the message of our reading this morning, and a focus of our worship.

 

 

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 49:1-7

 

Today we easily identify and think of Isaiah as a prophet, helping us to know what God desires for the world.  But among the people of his time, Isaiah and his message were not so easily and universally accepted.

 

For one thing, the people of Israel were scattered; it took time for Isaiah’s message to get around. 

Also, what Isaiah said didn’t always match what people expected God’s way and God’s good news to be.  Many just wanted God to help them defeat their enemies, and make Israel great again.  But Isaiah sees that God’s desire is for the well-being of all the world – of all nations and all peoples. 

 

Isaiah knows this will be hard for people to accept.  So, in this passage, in addition to preaching God’s message, he also reminds people of his credentials for doing so.

 

Listen to me, distant nations,
    you people who live far away!
Before I was born, the Lord chose me
    and appointed me to be his servant.
He made my words as sharp as a sword.
    With his own hand he protected me.
He made me like an arrow,
    sharp and ready for use.

He said to me, “Israel, you are my servant;
    because of you, people will praise me.”

I said, “I have worked, but how hopeless it is!
    I have used up my strength, but have accomplished nothing.”
Yet I can trust the Lord to defend my cause;
    he will reward me for what I do.

 

Before I was born, the Lord appointed me;
    he made me his servant to bring back his people,
    to bring back the scattered people of Israel.
The Lord gives me honor;
    he is the source of my strength.

The Lord said to me,

“I have a greater task for you, my servant.
    Not only will you restore to greatness
    the people of Israel who have survived,
but I will also make you a light to the nations—
    so that all the world may be saved.”

 

Israel's holy God and savior says
    to the one who is deeply despised,
    who is hated by the nations
    and is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you released
    and will rise to show their respect;
princes also will see it,
    and they will bow low to honor you.”

 

This will happen because the Lord has chosen his servant;
the holy God of Israel keeps his promises.

 

Reflection

 

“Good news!” the prophet says.  “We’re going home!  God is going to gather us together, lead us back home where we belong, and help us be God’s people in the world, doing God’s good work in the world again.  It’s good news, folks!”

 

“Hurray!!” the people cry.  “We’re going back home.  We can gather again in the Temple, and praise God as a single community of faith.  Our cities and towns will be alive and vibrant.  We’ll be a real people … a kingdom once more … God is going to make us great again.  We’re back.  To the way things used to be.  Back to the way we used to be.  Thanks be to God!”

 

At which point the prophet pauses.  Takes a deep breath.  And says, “Well, that’s not exactly what I was saying.  Not exactly what I meant in what I was saying.  That’s not what I see.  Not exactly what God has shown me.

 

“We’re going back … but to the future.  Or, at least, to the chance of a new future.  To a new way of being.  A new way of showing God’s will for all the world.  Towards a new normal.

 

“For one thing, the times have changed.  The issues, the needs to be answered, the forces at work at in the world, our neighbours, our enemies, our land are not what they used to be.  And never will be again.

 

“For another thing, God’s purpose in gathering us together again is not just our success, our well-being, our being blessed.  God is really not that small. 

 

“God’s goal is to gather us again to serve and to be part of God’s good work in the world, for the healing and well-being of all – all people, all creatures, all the world really.  To be a channel and a guiding light of God’s good will for all the world.

 

“That’s God’s new normal.  Really, when you think about it, it’s the original normal that God began with when God created us as human beings, and gathered us to become God’s people.  It’s the eternal normal, that gets expressed and lived out in new ways with every turn of history, every change and shift in us and in the world around us.

 

“And the question – new every day, is:  are you ready to live into it?  Are you willing to embrace it, and be embraced by it?  Are you coming along?”

 

To which the people reply … well, I wonder what they reply.

 

Does this sound at all familiar?

 

Do you remember how, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, when everything was shut down and we were forced into isolation, rest and reflection – like being sent to sit in the corner for a while to think about what we have done, we quickly came to visions upon visions of different, better and more godly ways of being a world together?  People posted youtube videos about the needed “new world” that they saw, and their commitment to it when the pandemic would end.  And we all watched and shared and celebrated the new vision that was being discerned.

 

“We’re all in this together,” was one of the big phrases.  “No one is well, until all are well.  We need to share what we have more freely,” we said so boldly. 

 

“This quieter pace is good for us.  Room and time in our lives for silence and reflection.  More consideration of others.  More attention and more resources needing to be given for those who are vulnerable, in greater need, at greater risk.  More support for persons in service positions – who are really the essential members of any society.”

 

And then – when we saw animals – deer and sheep and others, moving into the quieted suburbs and even downtowns of our society, we took to heart the calling to live in more peaceful and respectful relationship with the natural world, with the environment, with the earth, with our own home, really.

 

And suddenly so many things made more sense.  And seemed more imperative.  Seemed more in accord with God’s good will.  Like the call for truth-telling and reconciliation with the First Nations.  Black Lives Matter, Idle No More and Me Too gained traction in our hearts.  As did the need to address problems of climate change, and be far less reckless and thoughtless in the way we use and use up the land, the water and the air we all need for life.  And the call to put more money, resources, and really creative thought into health care, long-term care, guaranteed basic income, and all kinds of other programs to serve and sustain the dignity and well-being of all members of society.

 

Today, we are still really only on the edge of the new normal that the world is in need of.  Some are living towards it; others are living and working in direct opposition to it.  Some are inspired by it, and are giving themselves to it in the ways they can; others are fearful of it – afraid of what is changing, of what has already changed, of what they might lose or have to give up along the way.

 

But can you imagine it?  A new way of doing things?  A better way of being world together?  A more godly way of we humans really living in the image of God, in sacrificial care and undying commitment to the well-being all that is?

 

It's an exciting, inspiring vision that deserves the enthusiasm of the prophets among us.  Deserves the wisdom and creativity of leaders who can discern and design good next steps towards it.  Deserves the commitment of persons and communities of people to embrace the vision and join the journey.

 

And the question is, as it always is:  Are we ready to live step by step towards God’s new normal for the world?

 

Am I willing to commit myself and my life – my way of life, to the kind of normal the world around us, needs of us?

 

Are you coming along on the journey as well?

 

And … one last question (really three): since this vision and the new normal that’s needed is so different from what we’re used to, and so alternative to what the world thinks “normal” should be, how do we nurture this vision within us, among us and with other companions of the way?  How do we grow together in understanding it better?  How do we find and sustain the strength, the courage, the faith, the hope, and the love to really be part of it?

Shepherds galore (Sun, Jan 8, 2022)

 

Focusing

 

Christmas is over.  We decorated, celebrated, enjoyed, and shared the day and the season as much as we could – the feast of God-with-us, the memory and celebration of God coming to dwell with us in all the happy / heart-breaking messiness of life in the world.

 

Now we enter Epiphany – both a day and a season of seeing, and of praying to see the light that has come, and that remains – seeing where and how God’s light remains with us, and for us, and within us, in all the happy / heart-breaking messiness of life in the world. 

 

It’s a time to wonder.  Where is God’s light in the world today?  And how are we part of it? 

 

 

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9

 

Isaiah is preaching good news to people who are tired of bad news.  The people of Israel are a broken, defeated kingdom.  Losers in the normal politics of war and militaristic might, they are living in exile in the land of their conquerors.  They are forced to serve the needs of their oppressors, and they suffer at the hands of powerful elites.

 

At one time, they trusted in their own leaders and elites to save them, and they thought the best answer was to find a stronger, more forceful leader. 

 

But now, the prophet offers them a vision of God raising up a new kind of leader entirely.  God’s kind of leader, the prophet says, will not simply beat their enemies at their own game.  Instead, God’s leader will change what politics is about, and how it’s done.

 

The Lord says,

 

“Here is my servant, whom I strengthen—
    the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased.
I have filled him with my Spirit,
    and he will bring justice to every nation.
He will not shout or raise his voice
    or make loud speeches in the streets.
He will not break off a bent reed
    nor put out a flickering lamp.
He will bring lasting justice to all.
He will not lose hope or courage;
    he will establish justice on the earth.
    Distant lands eagerly wait for his teaching.”

 

God created the heavens and stretched them out;
    he fashioned the earth and all that lives there;
    he gave life and breath to all its people.
And now the Lord God says to his servant,
“I, the Lord, have called you and given you power
    to see that justice is done on earth.
Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples;
    through you I will bring light to the nations.
You will open the eyes of the blind
    and set free those who sit in dark prisons.

I alone am the LORD for your God.

    No other god may share my glory.

    I will not let idols share my praise.

The things I told you before, have now come true.

Now I am telling you of new things even before they happen.”

 

Reflection

 

The word “shepherd” does not appear in the reading.  But it is hard to imagine it not being in the background and in the minds of the people hearing or reading Isaiah’s message. 

 

From the very start of their history as a kingdom, Israel lived with a tension between two poles of thinking about their king. 

 

On one hand, they wanted a warrior-king – someone strong, mighty in battle, and able to win and maintain a place for Israel in battle against other kingdoms.  Other people around them seemed to have strong warrior-kings, and in order to compete and have a place among other nations – if not above them, is why the first king Israel chose was Saul – a man who fit the bill, and ticked off all the boxes as a strong warrior-king.  Except, he was almost immediately a disaster as a leader of God’s people, and he needed to be replaced as soon as possible.

 

The next choice was David, and David at his best was a shepherd-king.  He wasn’t always at his best.  He had his own quite significant and tragic failures and flaws.  But in many ways David – the shepherd-king, became the alternate archetype or ideal of what a king should be.

 

And here, in this passage, the language Isaiah uses to describe the kind of king under whom God will restore the people seems to lean pretty strongly towards the side of the shepherd-king.  The world is to be made good, and all will be made to live in peace and well-being, when we are led by a shepherd – or shepherds, who do what shepherds do: quietly and without fuss or fanfare caring for the sheep; giving particular time, attention and resources to those who are weak or ill; and taking care that none be lost along the way.

 

What are we to make of this, though?  The people of Isaiah’s time knew all about shepherds.  They were part of their world.  But what are we to make of the promise of a shepherd saving us of our ills, and making the world good?  We're not so familiar with shepherds.

 

But I think I’ve come to know one. 

 

His name is Terry.  He’s the Canada Post mail carrier in my neighbourhood in Dundas, and for the longest time, that’s all he was to me.  Until a few days after Japhia’s passing, when in with my mail was an envelope with just my name handwritten on it, and no stamp.  Inside was a sympathy card from Terry, expressing his sorrow at my loss.

 

A few days later I happened to be home while he was delivering.  I met him at the door to thank him for the card, and I asked how he knew about Japhia’s passing.  He saw the notice in the paper, he said.  It soon became clear he takes note of us who live on his route, he remembers the names on the envelopes he delivers to our door, and he honestly cares for our well-being. 

 

I’ve talked with him a few times since, and I’m amazed at how honestly he cares for the people on his route, and how a lot of people know and love him in return as a kind and caring man, a friend-as-needed to us all.  As someone who helps the world to be good in and through the limits and the opportunities of his place, his job and his relationships in the world.

 

He says his parents taught him and his sister to respect all people, and he tries to live that out as best he can, wherever he is.  And he honestly wonders at how easy it should be – and how hard we make it, for the world to be good, for all people to count, for the wealth of the country to be shared with the poor, for the weak to be cared for, and for people to live in peace.

 

Every time I talk with him, the light of God glimmers gently and peacefully before me.

 

Now … Isaiah, of course, is talking about a shepherd-king, not a shepherd-mail-carrier.  And no doubt, it would be good if our kings and our premiers, prime ministers and presidents had the Shepherd’s vision and spirit about them in the way they govern.  If they did, the world would surely be governed more in accord with God’s will than it is, and the well-being of all would be better served than it is. 

 

But the Bible is pretty clear, God does not pin a lot of hope on kings and princes to do that.  In addition to what good they can do, and actually accomplish, God also knows the limits of people who become kings, knows the idolatries they serve and even reinforce, and knows the failings they bring to the big stage and make into public policy.

 

In Christian teaching, we believe the promise of a shepherd anointed by God for our healing is fulfilled in Jesus – the holy One of God who in his life among us and death for us, refuses to act as king or be made a king, who lives and gives his life instead as a shepherd for the serving, the saving and the well-being of all.

 

And I wonder, does Jesus see himself as the only shepherd – the one and only Shepherd above and apart from us all through whom God’s love for all is brought to life and shared, and who alone is the light of the world? 

 

Or, does he see himself as One who has come mostly to show us the way of true life, and to call us to follow in it, and live it out ourselves?  With the promise that as we do this – as we give ourselves to reaching out to others with a shepherding care and touch, from within whatever limits and opportunities we have in our place in the world, we find our own healing in bringing the chance of healing to others around us?  That he comes to us as shepherd, by calling us to become shepherds for others – reaching out to others with the same kind and quality of love, of care, and of kindness that we have received ourselves?

 

I don’t know this for sure, but a friend has told me that she learned from a friend of hers who is Muslim, that a commandment of life that some Muslims follow, is to care for every household in their neighbourhood and to take responsibility for their neighbours’ well-being in whatever practical ways are available to them. A commandment of God, to be taken seriously.

 

It makes me think of Terry -- who, I assume, is not Muslim, but who in his own way and in his job lives out that same commandment.

 

It makes me think of others in my neighbourhood who unbidden and quietly reach out in simple and practical ways of love and care to other households around them, and make the neighbourhood a good place for all. 

 

It makes me think of people around our church in Winona – some of them members of the church, some not – who day by day, week by week, season by season, reach out indiscriminately in love to others around them, in whatever ways – big and little, are available to them. 

 

They are shepherds living in the world with the same Spirit alive in them, that lived in Jesus, thus making their neighbourhood – their little place in the world, a place where the shared well-being of all is real, and where the light of God’s love really does shine in the midst of the happy and heart-breaking messiness of the world as it is.

 

And when people – you, me, so many others – accept the call to live in this way – to be as a caring shepherd to our neighbours, in our jobs, and in the varied networks that make up our life, as we ourselves have been cared for, the only thing really that limits the shining of God’s light and God’s love in the world as it is, are the limits we ourselves put on our answer to that wonderful question Jesus asks, of who really our neighbour is, and who it is we are called to see and to care for in this way.

 

In the season of Epiphany, we look for where God’s light is shining in the world as it is.   

 

Maybe one of the questions to ask about that, is how others see it shining in you, for them?