SERMONS

Isaiah 43:16-21 and John 12:1-8
Reverend Angela Ying
Bethany United Church of Christ
March 21, 2010

What do you do when something wonderful happens?

Celebrate.

Jump for joy.

Call a friend.

Smile quietly deep within.

Thank God.

All of the above.

And yet, isn’t it strange that as we get older, something else happens.

We stop and question — is it really possible?

Children often do not do this.

Something good happens to them and they pour it all out, take it all in, and go for it — not looking for some hidden, secret message that can be twisted into something completely different than intended.

And yet, we still ask:

When is the other shoe going to drop?

Did I do anything to deserve this?

Has God found me worthy?

With human beings — No, it is not possible.

But with God, all things are possible.

Is the other shoe going to drop? Perhaps — Perhaps not — but why wait when it may never ever happen?

Did I do something to deserve this and has God found me worthy? No.

You and I are in the company of sinners — we all fall short and we are at all the mercy and grace of God.

Which leaves the question: Could God do it again?

Would God do it again?

Would God make a way for all the people to connect as community, again?

God had done it before with Abraham and Sarah and their community — leaving the known for the unknown and giving birth when everything looked barren.

God had done it before with the Hebrew people who went from being a part of the empire and colluding with Pharaoh — to crying out for justice: “Let my people go” and wandering in the wilderness for forty years to learn new lessons.

In our scripture reading for today, the prophet Isaiah has faith God can and will do it again.

And yet, the people don’t seem to believe it.

Seems as if the people of faith had the same questions we have.

Do not remember the former things or consider things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

God was telling the people: Hey! Don’t keep going over old history.

Be alert, be present. I, your God, am about to do something brand new.

Make a way for the people to connect as community.

Now the Hebrew people having been in Pharaoh’s empire too long — and being just as over stimulated as we are in this 21st century, hear Isaiah proclaim that God is about to do a new thing.

I wonder how the people will respond?

Will they have a response that is distant, detached, despairing — Oh — that’s nice. Good luck — as they go on their own way.

Or will they have a response that shows that Isaiah may know something and we need to listen up, because perhaps God will do a new thing.

Which will it be?

I remember when there were no more than two children when Beacon Avenue closed and Bethany opened our doors in December 2000.

Would God do a new thing at Bethany — we all wondered.

For nearly two years, I preached in this pulpit that we may not want children in the church. I mean —children are rambunctious, loud, active, out of control — most of the time.

I wanted to be sure this multiracial, multicultural, intergenerational, open and affirming community of faith was aware of the possibilities when you pray and ask for children?

Do you really want these “monsters and fairies” disturbing your quiet meditation?

Strangely enough, this Bethany community said “Yes! Bring them on!”

I am like, “Are you sure you know what you are asking God to make a way for in our community?”

We started by offering childcare for a whole year — when we had no children.

Some started to wonder.

We spoke about a growing church school and our vision and values for our children.

Some started to wonder.

We spoke of music and dancing, and connecting learning the Bible with doing justice.

Some started to wonder.

Some wanted to go back to being a part of empire instead of learn the new ways of being earth community.

Some would rather be and remain in bondage and be over fed, than in the wilderness backpacking it at church with juice and granola bars and “what is it” — manna from God.

Some after being in exile for so long had forgotten how to hope.

And so, when we hear the words of Isaiah telling us that God is going to do a new thing — it is natural, even human, that we as a people ask: Could God do it again?

Would God do it again?

After a year of offering childcare with no more than two children in the church — five women got pregnant. The beginning of God starting a church school here at Bethany and it has been fruitful since.

The beginning of God making a way for the people to connect as community, again.

And now, in 2010, on this very day where in scripture we hear the words of the prophet, Isaiah say God is about to do a new thing — God has given us a Director of Children and Youth Ministries.

It didn’t come easy.

We as a community of faith have gone through a long, prayerful and discerning process.

Sometimes, you may have felt in the wilderness.

Sometimes, you may have felt in exile.

Sometimes, you may have wanted to return to where you had come before you came to Bethany.

And yet, through it all, the words of the prophet Isaiah, call us to believe in the God making a way for us as people to connect as community, again and again.

When Mary from Bethany had waited faithfully for years to connect in the community and chose to pour the ointment on Jesus’ feet — which filled the entire house of God — some started to wonder.

Even Judas Iscariot said, “Why we could have used the money and given it to the poor?”

Some started to wonder.

And yet, just as God had brought an either/or people out of bondage and out of exile — Jesus was again calling his disciples and the community of faith from either/or to a both/and.

Why we could have used the money from the children and youth program for Bethany House?

Why we could have used the money for the tweens and teenagers for our Food Bank?

Why could have used the money for our infants and toddlers childcare for Hospitality?

And Jesus through God says: I am about to do a new thing. Do you not perceive it?

It’s not either/or — it is Both/And when it comes to Jesus and the poor. Both/And when it comes to Jesus and the least of these.

For as an intergenerational community of faith, if you and I are following Jesus and having faith is what Jesus has faith in — by our very nature, you and I are and will already be hanging out and being with the poor here at Bethany, which in Hebrew means “house of and for the poor.”

When we see it is Both/And not Either/Or, it becomes possible for us to see God making a way for people to connect as community, this Bethany United Church of Christ — again and again!

Knowing this, the question now is: Are we as a community ready for God to do a new thing?