A New Thing

Preached at Hanover Street Presbyterian Church

On November 13, 2005

By Pastor Thomas C. Davis

Texts:

Isaiah 43: 15-21

I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.  Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:  Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Acts 11: 1-18

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.  So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?"  Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision.  There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me.  As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.  I also heard a voice saying to me, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'  But I replied, "By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'  But a second time the voice answered from heaven, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane.'  This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.  At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were.  The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.  These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.  He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, "Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.'  And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.  And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'  If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?"  When they heard this, they were silenced.  And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

Sermon Text

God is doing a new thing.  That's what Isaiah told the tired people of Israel, who were just coming back from exile in Babylon.  "Don't even think about how things used to be!  Didn't God bring you out of Egypt when you saw no way of escape?  Didn't God see you through the wilderness, feeding you with manna?  Didn't God quench your thirst with water from a rock?  Hasn't God always provided what you needed for your journey?  Well then, why are you fretting today?  God is up to today, and God is already doing a new thing.  Can't you see it?  God will make a new way through your wilderness.  God will give you water in your dessert.  Don't despair, people!  Just get on with your journey!  Scripture says that's what God said to our spiritual ancestors.

We hear such a message often in advent, the church season that's just around the corner.  Isaiah also wrote, "Comfort, comfort you my people."  That message, that God was doing a new thing, was supposed to be comforting, you see.  But sometimes we aren't comforted when God does new things and we have to go with the flow.  Take, for instance, the new thing that God was doing in our passage from Acts.  Peter had likely never visited the house of a non-Jewish person before.  Jews just didn't do that.  And Peter for sure had never broken bread with a gentile.  Eating their kinds of food, such as pork and shellfish, was strictly forbidden.  But now Peter had heard God speaking to him in a waking dream, saying:  Forget all those things I told Moses before, Peter.  I'm doing something new now.  It's all right to eat those things that you couldn't before.  Go to Cornelius' house.  It doesn't matter that he's a gentile, Peter.  It doesn't even matter that he's a Roman, one of your oppressors!  Believe me, Peter, I'm doing something new!  Trust me and get going!"

Let's put ourselves into these stories, my Presbyterian brothers and sisters, we who so often complain whenever we're asked to do something new, we who insist that the seven most sacred words are:  "We have never done it that way before!"  Let's admit it:  The announcement that God is doing a new thing may not be much comfort, for we'd rather not try new things.  We may even cling to the familiar claiming that it's sacred.  That was precisely Peter's situation, you see.  Keeping kosher was not only familiar practice for him; it was sacred practice.  But then God said, yeah, O.K. Peter, but now I'm doing something new.  Get with the program!

Now, I have to give this congregation some credit.  Hanover folk, you have been less resistant than many congregations when it comes to trying new things.  When black neighbors started coming to worship, some Hanover members got anxious and angry.  "We've never done it that way before," they protested.  But others of you felt that although this was true, nevertheless you felt God was calling you to open your hearts and minds to a new way of being church.  For you sensed that the Holy Spirit was doing something new among you.  And so, you crossed the color barrier; and because you were willing to try something unfamiliar and controversial, today this church is a model of interracial discipleship for our city and our presbytery. 

At another time you crossed another barrier.  You decided to stop putting up with the barrier that says to gay and lesbian and transgender people:  It's all right for you to worship and serve among us, provided that you don't make your sexual orientation an issue, that is, provided that you don't talk among us about who you really are.  I've read some of the documents that tell about that decision, one which again split away several members who could not bear to agree.  You wrestled with that decision a good while, Hanover people.  You don't go for new things just because they're new.  You prayed and you discussed and you prayed some more.  In the end you decided to open your hearts and your minds to a new way of being church because you sensed that God was doing a new thing among you, and that you must respond accordingly.

Today is Stewardship Sunday, a day when your pastor usually preaches to you about the importance of giving generously to the mission of the church.  But I'm not going to preach to you about that this morning, because there is an even more important message for you to hear regarding our mission; namely, that we cannot continue to be Hanover Street Presbyterian Church much longer in the way that we have been. 

This will no doubt come as a shock to some of you, so let me try to put our situation as succinctly as I can:  For a number of years, much longer than I have been your pastor, Hanover has annually been spending much more money than it has been receiving from living donors.  Despite generous giving to many causes by members and friends of Hanover, and despite admirable financial diligence, we have been steadily spending down our reserves, the memorial donations given over many years. 

Hanover is by no means peculiar in this regard.  There are hundreds of thousands of churches across this nation facing a similar challenge, because of the cultural and economic changes that have taken place since the 1950s.  There are fewer members in many churches because of spiritual changes in the culture.  Also, making a living for many people has become harder, not easier.  Many rural churches as well as urban ones are finding that newer members are not as wealthy as those who have passed on.  There are more single parent families now, more families headed by women; and these families tend to have less income.  While it is true that less wealthy people often give very generously, unless a church has many givers, it cannot make up for the loss of wealthier ones. 

On top of these woes on the income side, there are others on the spending side:  much higher prices for oil and natural gas and electricity, and aging buildings with big, expensive roofs, boilers, organs, stained glass windows, and other equipment to repair or replace.  What with all these factors on both sides of the ledger, Hanover has been spending down its reserves recently at the rate of $2000 a week.  That's $100,000 a year.  If we're very lucky, our reserve may last another two years.  We have that span of time, two years, to decide what our mission for the future is, and how we can accomplish it.  If we keep on doing things the way we have, after two years Hanover church will no longer be able to pay its bills and will be forced to make drastic adjustments without time to ponder its mission or resources. 

Stewardship concerns the right use of all our resources:  money, skills, and time.  Our church has a considerable challenge with respect to people resources as well as financial ones.  Hanover actually has more members now than it did three years ago, but the volunteer resources of this congregation and many others across the country are decreasing nevertheless.  We have fewer and fewer people to carry on the routine functions of the church, functions that we have almost taken for granted since the time when our membership stood at two thousand.  In most respects we are still holding ourselves responsible for operating as we did when our congregation was more than seven times larger!  This pastor feels that in terms of morale the deficit in volunteer resources is much more pressing than the deficit in financial resources.  In short, we simply cannot be the church we have always been.  We cannot.  Either we decide to redefine our mission and reorganize our resources, or we die not trying. 

This is not a problem that has arisen all of a sudden.  If you read our history on the Internet, you will see that Hanover leaders were aware even at the end of the 1950s, the heyday of American mainline denominations, that massive cultural changes were already underway, so that a resource crunch was inevitable unless these changes could somehow be counteracted.  The resource challenge before us should not be blamed on any pastor, or elder, or deacon, or group within the church.  It has come about because of huge cultural shifts over more than half a century.  But a crisis has occurred on our watch, people.  We are not responsible for it, but it has happened on our watch.  And I, for one, feel that God is calling us to do something about it.  Do you too?  Might God be doing a new thing among us?  Might God be calling us yet one more time to take a bold step and be a different kind of church?

Last Sunday you commissioned seven very gifted and conscientious Hanover members to guide us through the planning that will be required to redefine our mission and organize ourselves for the difficult road ahead.  Do pray for them and with them!  The future of this beloved church, over 235 years old, rests at least for a while on their shoulders. 

On this Stewardship Sunday do I urge you to continue to give of your money and time and talents generously?  Of course!  Everyone must pull in this boat if we are to stay afloat.  But just doing things as we have always done them in the past, only harder, will not suffice.  We are truly in a new world, people.  We may not like it, but we are in a new world.  If we are to continue to be disciples of Jesus Christ in this new world we must pray and ponder:  What new thing or things is God doing among us?  What is the movement of God's spirit in our place and time, and how do we respond accordingly?  May God give us the courage, the fortitude, the imagination, the patience, the brotherly and sisterly love to meet this challenge.  Amen!