The Once and Future Church: Old Stories, New Things, and the Witnesses (2015-1108)

Call
to Worship, Psalm 41

Children, Thanksgiving Tree

Message,
Isaiah 43.1-25

Historical
context: Israel in exile

      Brutal

      Paralyzed by Cynicism, Fear, and Nostalgia

      Lost the ability to adapt and still remain
authentically Jewish

            If we change something, or if
something changes,

            do we lose our identity?

      Lost Hope, and with it the ability to
notice God’s new work

            Future with hope – Jeremiah 29.11

Isaiah’s
message

      We’ve been here once before (Egypt)

      God delivered us once before (Exodus)

Isaiah
43:16-18  Thus says the LORD, who
makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters,  ¹⁷ who brings out chariot and
horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are
extinguished, quenched like a wick:  ¹⁸
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.

      “Forget the former thing” … the best is
yet to come

Paul:
“Pastor, we don’t like change”

      Buggy shed to Social hall

Nostalgia?

      Memory and Hope

      The best is yet to come!

1870s
– one charge with Mountaintop, Rippletown, Stairville, Slocum

Mountaintop
Methodist Episcopal Society separates, constituted in 1880

      Nov 24, 1881 church construction for $1600

Albert
– tearing down an old church building and relocating it (1926)

      Labor Day, transport by wagon, 2 chicken
& corn roast feasts

Building
this church, the memorial stained glass windows

A
new thing at Christ Church: Care ministry – Mike Case story (video)

Through
Isaiah, God calls upon us to forget the former things and to perceive, to
notice, the new thing springing into life, to pay attention to the NOW. Yet,
instead of typical language calling people to attentiveness, to slow down, to
“be still and know that I am God”, we get a very interesting and unconventional
way to be present in the now: to practice praise and generosity (not separate
things here) as God’s forgiven people.

Isaiah
43:21-25  the people whom I formed
for myself so that they might declare my praise.  ²² Yet you did not call upon me, O
Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! 
²³ You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or
honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or
wearied you with frankincense.  ²⁴
… But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your
iniquities.  ²⁵ I, I am He who
blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your
sins.

God
has not burdened us with demands

      We have burdened God with our sin

Not
burdened us? But … the tithe, the Sabbath?

Why
should making time for those who love us best be burdensome?

Why
should giving gifts to those who give us the best be inconvenient?

      Because the issue is not our time or our
money, but our FAITH

      Because the issue is not our time or our
money, but our HOPE

      Because the issue is not our time or our
money, but our LOVE

This
is why talking about generosity – appropriate talk – is

      about SOULS, not FUNDING,

      about GODLINESS, not MONEY,

      about MISSION, not SURVIVAL.

God
doesn’t need our money: “The cattle on a 1000 hills”

      (but someone else’s brand!)

God
is a giver … to become more generous is to become more like God

  

Do 4 things: