The Newness Of All Things

Isaiah 25:6-9

I have found that the more open I am about my faith at work, the more opportunities I have to share that faith. I enjoy conversations with people from all walks of life who both share and don’t share the same beliefs I do. It’s really good for my personal journey when I remain open and try my best to learn about what others have to offer me in order for me to continue growing in my relationship with God.

For example, I was talking with a fellow teacher about biblical healing. We were talking about how Jesus could easily heal with the touch of his hands or with words of compassion. We were in agreement with most things, not all things, but found within our mutual respect a spiritual growth in our relationship.

During the conversation, she had told me about her experience with the Sunday School she teaches. She has a small group of 5 year olds where she talks with them about how God loves them through stories from the Old and New Testament; stories about Noah’s ark and Moses being found by an Egyptian queen, stories about Jesus feeding thousands of people or what it means to be a good Samaritan.

Her class is getting ready to participate in their church’s Thanksgiving service, at which they will be performing a song about God’s love and how they can lean on his strength when they feel sad. She began to share the song with me, mumble singing it as she went through the movements she was teaching the kids in order to help them remember the song.

She wrapped her arms around herself to represent love and she held her arms in some kind of a muscle pose to represent strength. She pointed to heaven to represent God and to me and her to represent all of us. I wish I could remember the song and do it for you, but…yeah.

However, it wasn’t so much about the song she wanted to share with me, it was about the teaching moment that followed. She told me that as she was explaining to the kids what the song meant to her, about how through God we are protected and loved and how we’re to be thankful for all of that, she mentioned that it’s also through the people God puts in our lives we can share that same love and protection.

Then she told me something she was surprised came out through her words. She said, “Just imagine that if all those people we learn about in the bible could watch us and know that the stories they tell us really help us learn about God and Jesus, they would be so very happy with us right now.”
She could only describe that moment as a Spirit moment; where the Spirit of God took over and led her to say that all the people in our lives, even those from an ancestral past, are what makes us the people we are today; and a good people at that.

I shared in that moment with her, seeing how the many people God has put on my path has led me to where I am today. I’m not just talking about family and friends, colleagues and coworkers, or even professors and pastors. I’m also talking about those same people she was – Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Jesus, and so much more. And not just them, but all of the others with whom we share stories; so many saints, so many stories, so many lives, so many opportunities for God to show God’s self to us.

But, you know, it isn’t just the people who are directly in our lives who help us to get to where we are. There are so many others we don’t know or have never heard of that helped us along the way as well. I’m sure we all have countless stories where our day isn’t going well and is made better by someone holding a door open for us, or smiling and saying hello, or letting us cut in front of them on the freeway.

Yes, God has surrounded us with so much love, and placed before us many opportunities to understand that love, that I can firmly say that the saints of our past are definitely looking down on us and smiling, knowing that they have made a positive difference in our lives.

The hope of God is that we continue to do the same for others.

As I read through today’s passage from Isaiah I thought about all of those saints, those people who are either directly or indirectly a part of our lives and where, if anyplace, our paths will meet. I thought about Isaiah’s words in the midst of the Prophet crying out about the destruction of the world and how the whole earth will dry up and wither away.

Isaiah says in chapter 24, “The wine dries up; the vine withers; all the merry-hearted groan. The joyous tambourines have ceased; the roar of partyers has stopped; the joyous harp has ceased. No one drinks wine or sings; beer is bitter to its drinkers. The town is in chaos, broken; every house is shut, without entrance. There is a cry for wine in the streets. All joy has reached its dusk; happiness is exiled from the earth.” Isaiah paints a picture where all joy is removed from life’s very existence.

He does this because the world he is living in is falling apart. The 2 kingdoms which make up his beloved nation are close to being destroyed. The enemies of Judah and Israel are at the gates and Isaiah knows that soon it will all be gone – if the people don’t stop living the way they are and follow the ways that were set before them by their ancestors.
His call is to a nation to remain unified under the one thing which was passed down from generation to generation to generation: faithfulness in God lived through righteousness.

Then, after prophesying about withered vines and the lack of joy in sharing wine, Isaiah has a promise: God will once again come and unite all people. It is that unification of all the saints, of all those whose stories from within the pages of the bible and of all the lives of our ancestors, that we are so beautifully told about, when Isaiah says, “On this mountain, the Lord of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples a rich feast, a feast of choice wines, of select foods rich in flavor, of choice wines well refined.”

Isaiah then gives us a glimmer of what life on that hill will look like. “He will swallow up on this mountain the veil that is veiling all peoples, the shroud enshrouding all nations. He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe tears from every face; he will remove his people’s disgrace from off the whole earth.”


Wow.

It is for this unification, this newness of all things where all people will once again know peace, joy, and love that we have been shown the path we now travel. It is for this unification we also show those around us the same path; a path into God’s feast on the hill where all are welcome and all will live a life eternal.

As I said earlier, whether we know it or not God places people into our life’s journey so we can begin to see how we are all invited to the feast on the hill. It’s when we realize God has placed people in our lives when we least expect it, that makes those moments very special; just as those Sunday School kids might have understood what their teacher was saying or how she felt as that Spirit moved through them.

A very good friend of mine lost her son about a year and a half ago. It was unexpected and she’s been coping with the pain of losing a child as best she can. I admire her courage in the way she allows people to travel with her on the journey towards reconciliation. She is inviting to all who want to be with her, as much as she invites others to join with her.

She wrote the following letter to a couple of young men who were sitting behind her in the movie theater:

Dear Young Men Who Sat Behind Us in the Movie Theater Last Night:
My husband and I don't go out often. We don't travel as much as we used to do. We've been married for twenty-two years. We were able to have just one child together.
We enjoy going out to the movies and would have family date night for the three of us. For many years, my husband took the aisle seat, and I'd sit in the middle with our son to the right of us.
Our son died two years ago after completing the last day of his senior year of high school. Instead of seeing him go to senior breakfast, having his senior class group photo taken, and then attending graduation rehearsal we held his funeral and burial services.
So last night, my husband and I went to see "Bridge of Spies." It was a good movie about an American hero during the Cold War.
I listened to the two of you talk during the movie trailers about which films you'd see or not see. One of you had a distinctive, loud laugh. You liked the previews for comedies and for the new James Bond movie.
And then the movie started, and you both got quiet and intently watched the movie, and laughed at appropriate places.
I wanted to turn around and see what you both looked like, but I didn't because I didn't want to be obvious, didn't want you to stop laughing.
The movie ended and you both left in the darkened theater.
On the way home I told my husband the best part of the movie was listening to you and your friend. Forgive me for listening to your conversations. I told him it was like having our son and his best friend sitting behind us. It was like hearing our son have a good time. It was like hearing our son laugh.
So, thank you both for being yourselves. Thank you for providing me with a glimpse of what life could have been for my son. It was good to hear my son's laughter through your laughter. I prayed to Creator to provide you both with a good life free from anxiety and depression. May you both have happiness and great success in life always.

She goes on to say how much she misses her son and how she longs for the day they will be reunited in God’s house, tor s Isaiah would say, to sit at the table of God’s feast on the hill.

Our paths might be individual, each of us carrying that which we accumulate along the way. But when we take into account everyone with whom God has sent to be with us, we realize we don’t have to carry those things alone. There has always been and will always be someone willing to help us reach the goal by carrying some of our baggage for us, just as we will be there for others along their own paths. It is God who ultimately provides us with our fellow travelers and the strength to be a good companion along the way. As we head towards the feast on the hill which is filled with joy, peace, and love in a life of hope fulfilled, let us honor all those who have traveled before us, and remember to be with all those who will travel the path when we’re no longer able.

God is always with us. Amen.