Minister: Rev. Kerry McCormick

October 15 and 16, 2011

Theme: Wrap up of OT Series, looking ahead to a time of transition.

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. 

Let’s pray.

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and your word proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

Someone once asked a paratrooper how many times he had jumped out of the plane while he was in the military.  The seasoned vet answered, “None.” 

His friend was surprised, and asked, “What do you mean, ‘none,’ I thought you were a paratrooper.”

The airman replied, “I was, but I never jumped.  I was pushed several times… but I never jumped.”  It is with some resistance that the prophet Isaiah spoke about the calamity facing Israel during his day.  The same sort of resistance we might be experiencing as we hear God’s word for our lives today. 

Bible Basics: the Old Testament.  We are wrapping up our study of the Old Testament with a look at one of the best-known prophets in the Hebrew Bible. The 40^th chapter of Isaiah is said by some commentators to represent the whole of the Hebrew Bible’s judgment and salvation narrative in a nutshell.  Written from the historical perspective that Israel is about to come to ruin at the hands of Assyria (in 722 BC) and later Babylon (chapters 1-39 predate the Babylonian captivity in 586 BC) because of their continued defiance of God’s will; the prophetic voice warns of both the downfall and the restoration (chapters 40-66 reflect the hope for the return of the exiles to Jerusalem after 538 BC).

Throughout the Book of Isaiah, there is tension between the anxiety (on one hand) about what will become of Israel in light of their noncompliance to faithfully worship God and God alone and the comfort (on the other hand) of being God’s people protected by a sense of divine presence and guidance when the nation is faithful to God’s ways of being.  Like the old paratrooper, Isaiah was pushed by God to speak these words of warning and of well-being. I wonder how we might hear them for our own lives.

(Today) We encounter Chapter 40, which introduces the comforting train of thought.  If you have your bibles with you, I would invite you to open them to Isaiah chapter 40.  First notice that chapter 39 is prose – you see text in paragraphs; but chapter 40 is poetry – written in strophes (or verses).  Hear the opening words with me:

1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." 

I hear these words most dearly when I hear them in GF Handel’s famous oratorio, The Messiah.  Later in the first few verses we hear:

9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!" 10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. 

In this pastoral opening, we know something about the nearness of God.  We trust that God is in control and wills good things for us.  We hear in the middle of the chapter that God is unique – incomparable.  Much like the conversation between Job and God about who knows what about the creation of the universe, God is again recognized for power and strength.

We hear the reassurance that God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.

Within Isaiah’s context, these were words of hope in a dark time, calm in the midst of chaos, certainty in a moment of swirling anxiety.  They were addressed to a people about to lose their national identity because of their rebellious, stubborn resistance to being faithful to God.  Israel was not about to avoid the consequences of her behavior.  Judgment was inevitable.  Yet hope springs eternal.Written 700 years before the birth of Jesus, and 2 millennia before our circumstances, is there anything here for us?

Some have picked up on, and personalized, the image of the renewed strength to be found in the flight of eagles.  Soaring above the earth with power and majesty, eagles offer us a familiar image of what it might be like to feel renewed in the Lord.  Tireless, unbounded by gravity; eagles give the impression that they effortlessly take to flight – free from all constraints that weigh us down to an earthbound existence.  Eagles, as we look at them, have a piercing stare.  It gives them an air of intelligence, far-sighted vision, indifference and grandeur.  They are fierce: as protectors of their nests, as predatory hunters, as guardians of their territory.  Talons and beaks are kept sharpened and vigilance is essential. Eagles are terrifyingly beautiful. 

Would that we, who ‘wait on the Lord’ possess these same characteristics?  In the midst of crisis and illness, addictions and failures, worry and unease in our relationships, wouldn’t it be great to feel as detached and ‘above it all’ as an eagle?  Wouldn’t you love to never feel anxious about your life?  What’s the saying, “It’s hard to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by turkeys.” In my life and ministry these days, I am coming to terms with phrases like: the ‘relocation of all Sunrise ministries in time and space’ and ‘transition by January 1’ and ‘project planning’, deadlines, calendars, equipment, people and functions.  And I think about that paratrooper who didn’t want to jump, but felt pushed often enough.

From time to time, I admit, I catch myself becoming anxious about the details of what’s before us and I lose sight of what I believe we’re all about: offering Christ to a hurting world.  Our mission of ‘knowing Christ and making him known; serving Christ by serving others’ seems left on the ground when our concerns about the migration of buildings and stuff gets in the way.  So here am I, living in anxious times.

I am invited, as I encounter the text in Isaiah to remember that eagles gain some perspective as they soar.  From high above the earth, they are able to see more clearly the lay of the land and determine a direction. What I have learned about pastoral leadership is that I cannot make decisions for anyone else but myself.  I can’t tell you what to do, how to be or what to believe.  I can only tell you where I am and what my hopes and dreams are for Sunrise’s future through the next few months.  Unlike a soaring eagle, it’s is not my goal to distance myself from the process of relocation: on the contrary, I want to stay connected to the details of what’s going on through our days of transition ahead. Perhaps it would be helpful for me to share with you what I would like to see happen during the next few months.

First and foremost, I am inviting you into the conversation.  I have begun to wonder how we – all of us together – will approach the changes before us.  Transition of ministry in time and space is not an exclusive task for the staff and leadership of Sunrise Church.  I am not saying we have to call a congregational meeting for every little decision: I am inviting you into dialog in times and places where you feel most connected to the process. 

What I’ve seen so far – as we’ve held a couple of q & a sessions at Woodmen, is that the folks who are invested in knowing what’s going on stay and participate in the discussion, and those who are less attached to it don’t attend (and it’s okay to decide to just roll with future without being anxious about it).  Where I find the greatest difficulty is with those folks who don’t engage the discussion and yet want to have ‘say’ in the process beyond the intentional conversations, meetings, etc. Again, I want to invite all of us to be active participants in the stream of movement of what we call our church home in ways that help move us forward and avoid the eddies of discontent along the sidelines and in the parking lots.

I want to be in a place of collaboration with you, as you know best what brings you to Sunrise and keeps you connected here.  I perceive it’s more about the people than the address.  I suspect it’s more about the warmth you feel in the ways you have been in relationship with one another than it is about the layout of the space or the atmosphere of the building.  I observe that it’s more about the ways your children and students have formed friendships and have developed their faith in delightful ways than it is about almost anything else.

I need open, honest conversation about where you are, because I do want to partner with you to make the relocation successful.  I also need dedicated folks who care about their Sunrise experience enough to want it to become available to neighbors and friends who lack a church home.  I am part of a team (your clergy, staff and committee folk) that offers leadership by example, and not by directives; and it is our value that we are able to hear a variety of opinions and weigh each of them to faithfully find a way forward keeping our focus on our mission and our desire to offer Christ to a hurting world, creating space for the transformation of lives.

Good leadership depends on balance: I do know where we’re going (transition pieces and timeline); and I am open to the movement of the Holy Spirit to guide us; additionally, I invite all Sunrise people to embrace the process with me.

These are the things I need: a faithful adherence on keeping the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ at the center of all we do; an increase of leadership that invites dialog and relationship so that we can embrace change together; creativity and flexibility in problem solving; forgiveness and patience as we make mistakes along the way (and we will); and finally, an attitude of fierce optimism that ‘we’re not where we’re going to be’ and that God will open a way as we are faithful our discipleship. 

Before the end of the month, we’ll be turning our attention on the vows we took to be members of Sunrise Church – for we all said we would uphold and support the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness.  Exactly what these words mean to our daily lives may be a bit of a mystery for some of us.  And in order for us to move into a future with hope, we will be invited to reflect on where we are currently and the possibility of what our lives could look like if we imagined being more engaged with each of our vows.

The prophet Isaiah imagined a future of comfort and hope for Israel at a time when the people were at their most anxious.  He offered an alternative – waiting on the Lord.  This waiting was not passive.  Just as we are not passively waiting for the relocation of our ministries, nor are we waiting for rescue from our financial obligations.  We are actively engaged in a process of gathering our resources, assessing our needs, developing leaders from within our midst and preparing ourselves for a new chapter of life as the people of Sunrise church. 

In the hopefulness of this moment, I pray that you will join me.  There’s never been a better time to be part of Sunrise church.  Amen? Amen.

Let’s pray:

Holy One, you call us into new ventures, down unfamiliar roads.  We want to move forward with confidence and so we pray for your presence to be with and among us – as you were with Israel in the time of Isaiah. Protect us from becoming worn out, from fainting or growing weary.  Lift us up, and give us the perspective of soaring eagles to help us stay connected to one another and to you through the days ahead.  We thank you and offer our praises for all that you have already done to bless us.  And we seek your guidance for all that the future holds.  We know that your Holy Spirit is the wind that lifts us above our fears.  Blow through our midst and inspire us to become what you would have us be.  Amen.