Things Ive Learned About God: Constant and Changing, August 16, 2009
When a prophet says something like thus says the Lord, the people being addressed knew they had to listen up. This prophet - known as ‘2nd Isaiah’ prophesied in the 6th century BCE. The people were in exile in Babylon but things had begun to change in their world. It looked like Babylon itself would soon be conquered by Cyrus, the king of Persia - which in fact happened. Eventually, the fall of Babylon led to freedom for the captive Hebrews. Just as their ancestors before them had been freed from Egypt and led through the Red Sea and the desert to the Promised Land, so too would these captives of the Babylonians eventually make their way through another desert back to the Promised Land where they would rebuild their temple and their lives. That was the message of Mr. 2nd Isaiah to the Hebrews. Thus says the Lord . . . who made a way in the sea (that is, the Red Sea) and who defeated warriors on chariots (that is, the Egyptians) . . . do not remember those things for I am about to do a new thing!
If this were a movie, we’d see someone do a double take. What? What do you mean ‘don’t remember?’ We’re all about remembering - which, by the way, God told us to do! ‘Remember these things and teach them to your children.’ Every time we celebrate the Passover, the Seder, we remember. Every time we teach the ten commandments, we remember. What can you mean, Mr. 2nd Isaiah, that now God says we should not remember? Mr. 2nd Isaiah holds up his hand . . . listen! Thus says the Lord, I am about to do a new thing . . .can’t you see it? I’ll make a way in the wilderness - again. There will be rivers in the desert . . . again. Don’t miss it! Don’t remember so hard you forget to look for great deeds still to come!
You see, remembering is an important part of our identity. We learn from our memories. We grow from them. They encourage us. They remind us who we are and whose we are. They give us confidence. The Hebrews very likely had to work hard at their remembering work when they were in exile, away from their homeland and their temple. But memories can also blind us to the new things that are out there. They can make us so comfortable that they hold us back and make us complacent. Mr. 2nd Isaiah didn’t want the Hebrews to miss the opportunity for freedom when it finally presented itself. Because freedom would also have a cost. It would mean another journey through another desert and the hard work of rebuilding life back in Jerusalem. It would mean leaving behind the familiarity of life in Babylon - even though it was captivity, it was a familiar life and there must have been some comfort in knowing how things went. There always is. We all go through this any time we move . . . moving is hard. It demands our attention and our work, our wholehearted participation. And sometimes it is just easier to remember how it used to be.
And so, Mr. 2nd Isaiah warned the Hebrews in Babylon - and all of us - that our God demands more. God is a God who is both constant (one we remember and can count on) and changing (one who does a new thing). Thus, we dare not for a moment believe we have the answers to all of the questions, the correct way of doing everything or the only proper understanding of life and faith. God is still doing new things - leading us forward, calling us out, challenging well-worn beliefs about how things are! That’s just how God is. We do not - and indeed cannot - understand all there is to know about God and how God works. And while we have all come to understand some of God’s ways and some of God’s truths, we are limited, much as we might not like to admit it. All of revelation has not yet happened for thus says the Lord . . . I am about to do a new thing! So, while remembering is good . . . attentiveness is even better. Too much remembering can stifle the spirit.
As I pondered today’s message, I came across a poem that, while not particularly intricate in design, is nevertheless helpful . . . I don’t even know the title but the ditty goes like this:
Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl
and one was an optimistic soul
but the other one took the gloomy view,
"I shall drown," he cried, "and so will you!"
And with one last despairing cry,
he closed his eyes and said goodbye.
But the other frog had a merry grin,
Said he couldn't get out but wouldn't give in.
"I'll swim around 'til my strength is spent.
But for having tried, I'll die content."
Bravely he swam, until it would seem
His struggles began to churn the cream.
On top of the butter he finally stopped.
And out of the bowl he happily hopped.
So what's the moral? It's easily found.
If you can't get out, just keep swimming around!
Too much remembering can be deadly. Even if all we can do is keep swimming around, we need to do at least that.
The church faces this all the time. We have a big hymnal with lots of hymns many of us know quite well. And those of us who like them like them. They connect us with our roots, our history, our experiences of God. That’s a good thing but it is not the only thing. Today we have jazz and there are some who question the wisdom of doing that in church. After all, some of the songs sound different. Our jazz Sundays tend to shake things up a bit - but that’s a good thing. That’s exactly what Mr. 2nd Isaiah said might happen. For, the church is not meant to be simply a comfortable place where we know exactly how things go and the words to all the hymns. It is meant to be a place here we meet a God who is doing a new thing - always. New words and tunes and new beats to old tunes and new notes and new tempos. The Spirit of God is alive even here, even now. Breathing new life even into the customs and traditions we know well. Consider the Bible. The whole point of coming together and reading the Bible is not to assure us that what we always thought was true is true - although that may happen. It is also to ponder what God may be saying to us today. What might be God’s new insight or new challenge for us? Remembering- even honoring - the past is never enough for, you see, even now, God is doing a new thing. As one commentator wrote:
"...The Bible is not a dead text but a living document, born of God’s actions and sustained by God’s Spirit. The Bible has been misused to support slavery and bigotry. It has been manipulated by cults and television preachers to yield idolatry and avarice. It is used, still, to reinforce the prejudice, arrogance, and narrow-mindedness of churches that want things their way. The drive-through, fast-food culture of religion is about to be shaken up! God has renumbered the combo meals and changed the menu!"
God is constant and changing - both. Another way to say it, perhaps, is this: the best sign of the presence of God is not that everything stays the same but that nothing is safe! And we are able to face the ‘not-safeness’ of things because we remember that we can count on God. Which is to say that we can know God’s presence but not predict God ’s path or limit where God will lead.
Jewish people have a wonderful way of exploring the complexities of the Bible and of God. They do it through a thing called ‘midrash.’ One contemporary author of midrash, Rabbi Marc Gelman, defines midrash as "stories about stories in the Bible." This is Rabbi Gelman’s midrash, written for children, to help them better understand the meaning of the story of creation . . .
Before there was anything, there was God, a few angels, and a huge swirling glob of rocks and water with no place to go. The angels asked God, "Why don’t you clean up this mess?"
So God collected rocks from the huge swirling glob and put them together in clumps and said, Some of these clumps of rocks will be planets, and some will be stars, and some of these rocks will be . . . just rocks.
Then God collected water from the huge swirling glob and put it together in pools of water and said, Some of these pools of water will be oceans, and some will become clouds, and some of the water will be...just water."
Then the angels said, "Well, God, it’s neater now, but is it finished?" And God answered: NOPE!"
On some of the rocks God placed growing things, and creeping things, and things that only God knows what they are, and when God had done all this, the angels asked God, "Is the world finished now?"
And God answered: "NOPE!"
God made a man and a woman from some of the water and dust and said to them, "I am tired now. Please finish up the world for me — really it’s almost done."
But the man and woman said, "We can’t finish the world alone! You have the plans, and we are too little." "You are big enough," God answered them. "But I agree to this. If you keep trying to finish the world, I will be your partner."
The man and the woman asked, "What’s a partner?" and God answered, "A partner is someone you work with on a big thing that neither of you can do alone. If you have a partner, it means that you can never give up, because your partner is depending on you. On the days you think I am not doing enough and on the days I think you are not doing enough, even on those days we are still partners and we must not stop trying to finish the world. That ’s the deal."
And they all agreed to that deal.
Then the angels asked God, "Is the world finished yet?" and God answered, "I don’t know. Go ask my partners."
I love this midrash because it reminds us of a fundamental truth of our faith: God is constant and changing and engaged with us! We know a God who does not simply sit apart from us and watch, waiting for our failure, being surprised at whatever successes we make and judging it all. God does not simply want to be remembered as a benevolent deity who likes old hymns and long prayers. No, God is involved with us. Doing new things in us and through us. We are God’s partners. That’s the bottom line! Before all else, before God seeks us out as servants or worshipers, God makes us partners. That is our fundamental relationship with God. Partners. And that means our job is not to preserve what God has done or to defend God’s honor. Our job is to keep swimming about, working with God to continue the work of creating the world. Our job is doing such things as feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and visiting the prisoners and helping the homeless and caring for the earth and honoring the sacredness of every living thing. Might not sound new . . . but, indeed, in every age we must find ways new ways in the deserts of life.
I believe that is what Mr. 2nd Isaiah meant when he told the Hebrews that God was about to do a new thing. It was a reminder that they had a partnership. Remembering was not enough. It never is. In their desert, springs were about to flow and new life was just around the corner . . . but they had to look for it, participate in it. The new things God does are not done to us, they are done with us and through us. We need to keep our eyes open and be alert and keep swimming. Because, this God of ours is a God who needs us. Who is our partner. You see, without God, we cannot and without us, God will not. And that is the God I have come to know.
