"A way in the sea"-Sermon for Lent 5, Isaiah 43:16-21
So, for those who were not able to hear my sermon last Sunday, I preached on the Old Testament lesson from the fifth book of the Old Testament…the Book of Joshua, which told the story of the People of Israel arriving in the Promised Land…the home of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…after fleeing slavery in Egypt followed by 40 years of wandering in the wilderness…so in a since…it was and is a story of homecoming. As I noted, they named the place where they first entered the Promised Land, Gilgal, which is the Hebrew word meaning “roll”. For God had finally rolled away the shame, fear, exhaustion and uncertainty that accompanied their 40-years lost in the wild…the generational wounds left from their experience as enslaved people in Egypt…the fear that more loved one’s lives would end before ever reaching their new home…the exhaustion of decades on the road with scant food and resources…and the uncertainty that they would ever actually find the Promised Land…God had finally rolled away all that yuck…and brought them home.
And, though there would be times following that homecoming of peace and prosperity…the chance to plant themselves literally and figuratively in good soil…grow deep roots…bear good fruit…thrive as a people and nation…I noted further that their future would also include times of great pain, war, violence, separation, captivity, and dislocation. And, it is in one of these periods of captivity and dislocation, specifically the Babylonian Captivity, some 900 years after last Sunday’s Old Testament lesson…after arriving home to the Promised Land…where find ourselves in today’s Old Testament lesson from the Prophet Isaiah.
Thus, the People of God are now, once again, wandering in the wild…violently taken from their homes. Jerusalem and the temple that sits at its center has again been destroyed. God’s people are homesick and heartsick…lost and confused…puppets controlled by geopolitical powers and empires to which they are entirely subject. It is a time of mourning and loss. They are suffering, once again, through a significant period of both spiritual and physical exile from their beloved home. And, into such dislocation and suffering, God speaks through God’s prophet…assuring them that, despite their present darkness, God has not abandoned them. Just like when slaves in Egypt so many years before, God hears the cries of God’s people…and God will act…the new stone of shame, fear and uncertainty standing unmoving before their tomb like lives…will, once again, be rolled away. Isaiah proclaims to God’s people in exile, “Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters…I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert…for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”
And, this prophet through whom God speaks makes it clear that the God of life and love is the great ordering power of the universe. The one who created all things and has power even over the wind and waves that seek to blow us off course…over the wild beasts that seek to devour us up. The one who even the principalities and powers of warmakers and empires are themselves entirely subject to. This God, the one true and living God, sees the suffering of God’s beloved and will act…in time and space…to set God’s people free…to, once again, roll away the stone that holds them captive…to bring them home. God is about to do a new thing. It is springing forth…can they but perceive it?
And, friends, these are not only prophetic words of comfort, grace and hope for an ancient people living through a long-ago tragedy. They are for us to hear as well…to take to heart, as we live through our own unsettling times of dislocation, loss, fear and confusion. After two months in the hospital, my father returned home about a month ago. Though the progress never feels like it comes fast enough, over this past month back at home, my father was beginning his process of healing his body and mind following an infection that left both ravished. Our family was feeling hopeful…his body becoming stronger…his mind clearer…plans were being made for time spent together this summer. And, in the midst of all that hopefulness, my own family returned to Houston, where he lives, a couple of weeks ago over spring break to celebrate his birthday, which was March 20###sup/sup###. We decided this was certainly an important birthday to celebrate for it felt, sort of like, the one who was lost was now found. With his blessing, we actually planned a fairly large celebration with 40 people coming to my parent’s house for the party. Then, exactly 30 minutes before the festivities where to begin…with guests already in their cars headed our way…we got a call from his doctor that some tests had come back with troubling results, and we needed to head back to the emergency room immediately. And, as I sat with my mom the following day in the hospital at his bedside, my mom confessed, with unhidden pain in her voice, that she was not prepared to be back there so soon…away from home…back in the hospital…full of questions and uncertainty…the stone rolled back again…in front of the tomb like experience that my mom and dad are living through. Friends, we live in an unsettling, dislocating and confusing world…from the personal, like I just described, to the global, like we see playing out in the news and even in our own communities today. It often feels like stones are constantly being rolled before our path, again and again, that we cannot move…blocking our way forward. And, into such suffering, the prophet still speaks to us, God’s beloved people, saying, “Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters…I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
And, friends, I do…I do…for the signs, indeed, abound…even in the midst of the darkness…the difficulty and disorientation. There is light to see. The path home is taking shape before us…if we can but perceive it. And, I see it in ordinary and everyday expressions of human kindness and compassion. I see it as we care for one another in times of crisis and transition…as I have experienced it very personally in the prayers and expressions of love I have received through my father’s illness from you. I see them in love given and received…in courageous acts done on behalf of those living in great fear and in the shadows. I see them in the handful of bluebonnets that have popped up outside my office window growing from the seed balls our youth group made and tossed around our land last fall…seeds dying to themselves only to be resurrected into a living flower. Both the beautiful wild flowers and our wise and caring children who planted them are together powerful signs of a hope-filled future…a path forward…the stone being, once again, rolled away, whose ultimate story…we will tell at Easter soon and very soon…when God rolled away the final stone…the stone that, once removed, opened for each of us the way to eternal life. Friends…God is doing a new thing…can we but perceive it?
When my children were younger, my dad would always play a game with them and their cousins when we gathered together at our family farm. He would blindfold them and put them on the back of his four-wheeler and take them to some remote corner of the farm. He would then drop them off and make them count to 100 or so before taking off their blindfolds…then their task was to find their way back home to the house. It was a great adventure for them…and he was never far away just in case they ever were really lost. It was like the ultimate scavenger hunt. Well, they are all older now and my niece, Kirby, who is a senior at Dripping Springs High School, wrote about these experiences in one of her college essays, and I want to share part of it with you…for it is all about what we perceive around us, about paying attention to signs.
She writes, “Don’t take your blindfolds off yet!” I hear my grandpa shout as he’s drowned out by the four-wheeler speeding away. Soon, that sound fades, replaced by chirping birds, rustling leaves, and my cousin's giggling. “I think he’s gone” my brother says, and we proceed to remove the assorted scarves and bandanas blocking our vision. As our eyes adjust to the blinding sun, we take in our surroundings, a creek, a fence, prickly pear cacti. We’ve been dropped off in some remote corner of the farm, challenged with finding our way back to the house. But none of us are the least bit worried, with our Grandpa’s lessons about finding a familiar landmark drilled into our memory. And so, spotting our favorite hay bales in the distance, we begin towards our goal.” She continues, “Landmarks in the challenges I face today don’t look like packed straw, rather they’re patterns in the way a problem presents itself. And so, as life throws me into the unknown, I’ve learned to use what I know to discover what I don’t.”
I’ve learned to use what I know…to discover what I don’t. Wisdom from the mouths of babes. Like Kirby, I have learned to use what I know to be true…that God is on the move…that the great stone placed in front of the tomb in which the lifeless body of Jesus was placed has been rolled away…and flowing from that empty tomb…landmarks, signs of comfort, grace and hope…of new life…abound. And, if we can but perceive them, they point the way…a God-created path through the turbulent waters…a way through the unsettling seas of exile, fear, dislocation and confusion…a path that will lead us all home…through this present darkness…through even the grave and gate of death…and finally into the everlasting arms of love…our forever home…in the very heart of God…where there are no tears…no sorrow or pain…just all of us together with God in Christ at our center…deeply connected and madly in love…all wrapped up in light perpetual…from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.