A New Day
Today’s sermon is about stewardship.
If that doesn’t excite you, I promise you, I will make it exciting. I won’t talk about money (much). And by the end of this sermon, you’ll be glad you listened to the whole thing.
So, to start, let’s talk about today’s scripture from Isaiah 65, which says: “I am about to create a new heaven and a new earth.”
Through Isaiah, God makes this proclamation in a time of trouble and distress. Oppression. Occupation. Captivity.
It’s a time when the bad days outnumber the good days; a time when there is so much more bad news than good news.
But a new day is coming. A new day is here! A day of joy and gladness!
The lectionary actually presents four different Old Testament scripture readings for today; you’re not supposed to read all of them; you’re supposed to pick one or two. But I can’t help but notice that all four - in one way or another - talk about this new day.
Isaiah 12 says: “You will say in that day: ‘I will give thanks to you, O Lord… I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.”
It’s another description of God’s new day that is coming; the new day that is already here.
Malachi 4 says: “The day is coming [when] the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.” God’s new day will be a day of healing. A day of wholeness for all who live in a fragmented world.
Psalm 98: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” In a time of trouble and distress, the songs that are sung are songs of lament. But a new day of joy and gladness means new songs will be sung: songs of praise and thanksgiving.
A new day. A new heaven. A new earth. A new song…It’s not like the days we have known (days of toil and oppression)... It’s not like the world we currently live in (a world of inequality and injustice). It’s not the same song we’ve been singing (a sad lament).
It’s a new day, a new world, with a new song.
Proclaiming Good News
All this talk about a new day, a new song, etc. is thematically related to the new kingdom Jesus talked about: the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom that is present, now within and among all those who follow him.
It’s a day marked by peace. Not the peace of any empire, which is enforced by armies and occupations; but true peace, characterized by the love neighbors have for one another. It’s a peace that values the good of the community, the nation, the world, rather than just the good of oneself or one’s own family. It’s a peace that is based on justice and equality.
And this message of God’s new day is a message that has been entrusted to us. We are the proclaimers of this new day! We are the proclaimers of the new heaven and new earth! We are the proclaimers of God’s new kingdom!
The world that we live in proclaims its own message. And too often that message - the message of the world - is:
You’re not good enough.
You’re not worthy of love.
You don’t deserve peace.
Your rights are not important.
Your life doesn’t matter.
But the message that is ours to proclaim is this:
You are created in the image of God.
God’s presence is in you!
When God created you, God pronounced you VERY GOOD!
YOUR LIFE MATTERS TO GOD!
If that’s not the message you’ve received from the church, I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry. If church has made you feel less than worthy - if church has made you feel guilty or ashamed - if church has left you feeling worse about yourself than you felt before you heard the church’s message, I’m deeply, truly, sorry.
Because that is not the message that has been entrusted to us to share. That is the message of the world, which, in many places, has infiltrated into the church, and corrupted the truly good news that is the message we are supposed to proclaim.
Reminders…
Speaking of good news: whenever we have an election, we hope the results of the election will be good news. We pin our hopes on election outcomes that will bring about a new and better day for our country.
Yet when the results come in, there is always some disappointment; there is always the realization that the new kingdom is not yet fully realized in our world, or even in the hearts and minds of our fellow voters - especially when election results show that too many in our country are willing to support candidates whose campaigns are based on lies, or who support white supremacy, or Christian nationalism, or who are willing to deny justice or equal rights to the more vulnerable segments of our population.
It helps, then, to seek out reminders that the promise of God's new day is still alive, and that the reality of that new day is, in many ways, present, right now, all around us - no matter what the election results are. The kingdom is present within us and among us, as the scripture says.
There are glimpses of this new day, this new kingdom, all around us. This weekend, the new Black Panther movie premiered; the movie presents a fantasy world in which Black lives do matter every bit as much as white lives - a world where Black lives are seen as sacred and valued. Yes, it’s fantasy, but the movie was made by real people, and millions of people seeing it feel joy and hope at this glimpse of the world as it can be.
I’m also reminded of God’s new day when I watch the TV show Queer Eye. On this show, the whole spectrum of humanity is lifted up as sacred and beloved. It shows a new day where people of every sexual orientation, every gender identity, every race, are valued and deemed worthy of love. Often, the people featured on the show don’t fully love themselves, and throughout the show they learn to love themselves, they learn to see the good in themselves, they learn to look in the mirror and see the beauty that is more than skin deep.
BKCC!
But for me, the most significant reminder that God’s new day is a present reality is the ministry of Bixby Knolls Christian Church. I’m not saying our congregation is perfect, because no congregation is perfect; but we are learning to live out the good news of God’s new day - the kingdom that is present within us and among us. And we’re learning how to share the message that God’s love is genuine, is real, and is for every person without exception.
I’ve heard people who are too familiar with the life-denying, judgmental, condemnatory messages all around us, say about Bixby Knolls Christian Church: What a breath of fresh air.
I’ve heard them say: This little church is the best-kept secret in Long Beach.
I’ve heard them say: Bixby Knolls Christian Church is the first place that accepted me and loved me just as I am.
These are actual quotes; I’m not making them up.
And it lets me know that we’re doing something right. That we’re proclaiming a message that is so desperately needed, a message of good news that is exactly what our neighbors need to hear.
One thing I’ve learned from substitute teaching is that a lot of the love and affirmation in our world today is conditional. The students I teach often have a hard time believing that they are worthy of love and affirmation just as they are.
The message they’ve heard is the same message told to people by empires past and present. Your worth depends on what you can contribute to the empire, to the emperor. Your value to society depends on the contribution you can make to the empire’s treasury, or the service you can provide as part of the empire’s military.
But the new message of God’s new day is that you have value and you are loved simply because you exist. Simply because you are a human - a human who God created in God’s own image.
That’s the message that is ours to proclaim. And believe me, it’s a message that changes lives! It’s a message that saves lives! It’s a message that makes a huge difference in our world!
I’ve been connected to a number of churches in my life - and no church that I’m familiar with does a better job of sharing the good news of God’s new day than Bixby Knolls Christian Church.
And maybe some of you wonder why I’ve stuck around here for so long. Isn’t there another congregation somewhere that could pay more, or have more programs, more excitement, that might be more attractive to a pastor?
But I haven’t found a congregation more committed to being so fully loving, and growing in love, as Bixby Knolls Christian Church. And I believe that Bixby Knolls Christian Church is a congregation worth staying at. A congregation worth fighting for.
Committed to God’s New Day
So I’m committing to continuing to fight for this congregation, this ministry, so that the message of God’s new day and the message of God’s amazing, radical, unconditional love for all people will continue to be shared with those who need to hear it.
And I invite you to join me.
If you believe that this is a ministry worth fighting for…
If you believe that the good news of God’s new day needs to be heard…
If you believe that BKCC is called to share this good news with the world…
Then I invite you to recommit to making this ministry a priority in your life.
There are three main ways to do that.
One is by your participation - by making your presence a priority.
Two is by prayer - by making it a priority to pray for our church.
And three is by your financial support. (I did say I was going to talk a little about money.) In addition to participation and prayer, ministry does require money…
So: will you join me in prioritizing the ministry of this church in 2023?
In the past, we have collected pledge cards to help us plan our budget, but this year I’d like to collect commitment cards. And I’m inviting every teenager and adult to fill one out.
Now, if only one person in your household makes a pledge of money on behalf of the other members of the household, that’s fine; and only that person should mark a monetary amount. So, if a married couple, for example, pledges to give jointly to the church, only one of them should mark that dollar amount on their card.
But every person - every teenager and every adult - can indicate their commitment to participate, and their commitment to pray. And that’s why I’m asking that every teenager and every adult fill out a card. Even young children can fill out a card, if they want to.
And together, we will proclaim the message of God’s new day. Together, we will sing a new song, full of hope and affirmation. Together, we will spread the news that God’s love is real, and it is for every person.
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