Whenever Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Sundays, it presents unique challenges to worship planners. We really have no idea who is going to show up. I was pleasantly surprised last week when 15 of us gathered for an informal brunch worship in our fellowship hall. Some of us brought food to share, and there were hardly any leftovers…
It seems like forever since the last time Christmas and New Year’s were on a Sunday, although actually, it was six years ago, in 2017.
On New Year’s Day in 2017, I talked about how New Year’s Day was celebrated back in 1863, which - by the way - was a Thursday. I pointed out that it was 154 years ago, except that now, it was 160 years ago.
I talked about how there was so much anticipation and hope for so many people, because on January 1, 1863, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which he delivered a few months earlier - would go into effect.
Which meant that, for many, everything changed on January 1, 1863. All they needed was word that what Lincoln had promised had become, officially, the law of the land. Once that word arrived, they knew that, for them, all things had become new.
The Bible talks a lot about things becoming new. This morning’s scripture, from Revelation, was the same scripture we heard on New Year’s Day six years ago.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’
And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’
In scripture, when God makes something new, it is to bless the people, and to liberate them from whatever oppresses or enslaves.
When God does something new, the lost and lonely are found; broken souls find healing; hungry children are fed with warmth and good food; prisoners are set free; and the powerful learn to care.
When the Israelites were about to be set free from their captivity in Babylon, the prophet Isaiah wrote this:
Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters: I am about to do a new thing.
Isaiah was talking about freedom from Babylon, but he also referenced the exodus out of Egypt - something that happened many generations earlier.
Which is appropriate, because the new thing God accomplishes isn’t limited to just one time or place. God is always making all things new. God is always doing the work of setting people free. God is always leading the broken to healing and wholeness.
And the new world and the new life God promises is always being realized.
So here we are, at another new year: 2023. Another new beginning. Another new opportunity to do or make or be something new…
One thing I’m increasingly aware of is the fact that religion as a whole, and American Christianity in particular, is right now becoming something new. The late Phyllis Tickle famously wrote about how, once every 500 years, the church has a rummage sale in which everything that is no longer helpful or useful is tossed out, and what remains is made into something new.
We are in one of those once-every-500-year periods right now. The old is being tossed out. What remains is being made into something new.
And it’s exciting. And it’s terrifying.
Because whatever the church will look like once we get through this period, will be nothing like the church we have known.
It’s exciting and terrifying, but it’s also good, and necessary.
For too long, the church has identified itself with the powers of empire. For too long, at least in the United States, the church has been aligned with the movers and shakers of society, the people with authority and power.
But over the past several decades, the power and influence of the church has begun to fade.
Here’s why that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The movement Jesus started was a movement that was an alternative to the way of the empire. It was a grass-roots, bottom-up movement. The kingdom Jesus proclaimed was specifically an alternative kingdom to all the other kingdoms of the world.
It’s hard to be an alternative to the ways of the world if you are completely aligned with the ways of the world - as the church has been for all of U.S. history.
And it’s hard to be an alternative, grass-roots movement when you’re so used to being in the mainstream of society. Moving from the center of society to the side is not an easy move. It’s a humbling move, and despite the teaching to “humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,” we resist giving up the spotlight.
But it’s happening, whether we want it to or not. Things are becoming new, whether we want them to or not.
So let’s find the good in this. Let’s see how the church can benefit from this. Let’s discover how our current situation is drawing us closer to the way of Jesus, and how it can help us be more faithful Christians.
I’ve come to learn that there are many who are just done with a church that lords its power over others and exists to carry out the will of the rich and powerful. There are so many who are so over a church that expects perfect behavior and perfect lives. People are in need of a church that embraces the misfits, the outcasts, the people whose world is falling apart.
And so many people have been hurt by the church. I know you hear me mention this more and more in my preaching. I think it’s the thing that makes me more sad than anything else, that there are so many Christian leaders who pervert the teachings of Jesus, who tell people they are sinful, that they are going to hell, that their brokenness is their own fault, when really, God created people whole and good, and it is the world and, more specifically, the teaching and preaching of these pastors that has broken them.
And all these broken people don’t need a church that is aligned with the powers of the world. All these broken people don’t need a church with a fancy building with a fancy organ and flashing lights and a full-service coffee shop in the narthex. All these broken people don’t need a church that cares more about people's sex lives than it does with whether they’ve eaten today or not.
They need a church that has been made new.
I know; sometimes it’s hard to do anything new. If we’ve been doing the same thing for so long, we may not even know how to do something new.
One thing new about me is that I’m no longer trying to teach or preach to church leaders who have way too much pride in their own power and authority.
I’m not trying to preach to white supremacists anymore. I’m not trying to preach to those who are so very certain that gays, lesbians, and transgender people are going to hell. I don’t think I have much to say to them that will make a difference.
But there are so many who are lost, confused, or who have been abandoned by the church and hurt by the church; so many who have doubts and questions, and who are sincerely, genuinely trying to figure things out. Their numbers are growing, and I believe God is calling us to reach out to them, to help them on the path to healing on wholeness.
But for the church to effectively do all that, the church needs to repent of its past behavior; and the church needs to be made into something new.
Sometimes, it’s my own heart that needs to be made new. So, sometimes I will read a familiar scripture passage in a different translation than I’m used to, to hear it afresh - it’s as close as I can get to hearing it for the first time.
Because I know that a lot of what I’ve been taught ABOUT scripture in my life, is wrong, and I have to unlearn. About what scripture is really about. About how scripture is ONLY concerned with life after death, and not really all that concerned with the conditions under which people are living right now, in this life. About how God demands some sort of sacrifice in order to appease his anger. About how we are inherently evil sinners, instead of inherently good - the very good part of creation that God created on the 6th day.
We have a lot to unlearn, if we are to be made new.
During COVID - when we were ONLY livestreaming - we were forced into doing things a new way. And new people, searching for meaning in those weird, difficult days, were joining us online.
So, we started introducing ourselves and introducing our church, letting people know that we are an open and affirming community, providing a safe space for all… something we still do.
I know that on many Sundays now, the only people who hear that introduction are we who have heard it dozens of times before. But it’s a reminder that we do sometimes have people worshiping with us for the first time, either here, or online, being introduced to our ministry for the first time.
For them, it’s a new day, and possibly, a new beginning. Maybe it’s the first time they’ve been to worship in a year, or since they were children; or, maybe it’s the first time they’ve been to church since a preacher told them they were going to hell, or that their child was going to hell, because of who they love or how they identify. And maybe, for them, all the words of my sermon aren’t as important as hearing that the house of God is a safe and welcoming space for all.
Today is a new day. It’s also a new year. And these rambling thoughts are what’s on my mind. These are the things I’m asking you to pray for.
Will you talk to God about these things in your prayers this week? Pray about how we can let God make BKCC into something new, something that is an alternative to the rigid, harsh, unloving world we live in.
Then be sure to keep your ears open, and your heart open, to listen for God’s response.
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