February 17, 2008

Transition

The Rev. A. Thomas Carlson

Scriptures: Psalm 121

Genesis 12:1-4a

John 3:1-17

Listen to these words from the hymn writer, Brian Wren:

"This is a day of new beginnings, time to remember and move on, time to believe what love is bringing, laying to rest the pain that's gone.

"For by the life and death of Jesus, God's mighty Spirit, now as then, can make for us a world of difference, as faith and hope are born again.

"Then let us with the Spirit's daring, step from the past and leave behind, our disappointment, guilt and grieving, seeking new paths, and sure to find.

"Christ is alive and goes before us to show and share what love can do. This is a day of new beginnings; our God is making all things new." (The United Methodist Hymnal , Page 383).

The Christian faith, friends, is all about new beginnings. We can "remember," as the hymn writer notes, but life demands that we also "move on." That is what transition is all about. We, at St. Peter's, are feeling the pressure of change. Transitions have happened, are happening, and transitions are about to happen with staff. As we experienced Trista's leaving the youth ministries job and Mia accepting the families job; Alicia doing interim work. These transitions mark change! As our intern Tony and his spouse Starla leave, first for Africa and then for Tennessee, we experience more change. And, as I get ready to move into retirement, even more change is on the horizon for our congregation. In each of these situations, there has been a sincere effort to determine God's will for us, as staff, and for St. Peter's as a congregation. We can look at the future with fear and trepidation (some days I tend to do that), or we can see it as a "new beginning." It is my prayer that the sentiment of Brian Wren's hymn be the sentiment of us all!—"time to remember and move on"—also "time to believe what love is bringing.

Our Scripture passages are about "new beginnings." Look at Genesis 12. Here is God saying to a man named Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation. . . ." Abram was an old man at the time. He had no children. Now he would have no homeland, and God was promising him that he would be the father of a great nation. In Romans, Chapter 4, Paul writes that Abram "hoped against hope" that the promises of God were true. They were. God is a God of new beginnings. The key to facing the future with hope is faith, of believing God has a hand in our future. Believe that God is love and the hymn writer's challenge to believe what love is bringing.

We can say that about changes in church leadership or staff positions, but what about your individual situation as you come and sit in the pew? I think of the exchange between pastor and parishioner. The parishioner, an elderly gentleman with numerous health issues, complained to his pastor: "I don't know why God just doesn't take me home!" To which the pastor replied, "God must still have something for you to do." The old man snapped, "Well, I'm not going to do it."

There needs to be a measure of sensitivity here—sometimes "stock answers" do more harm than good. Yet at the very heart of the matter, our God is a God of love and never forsakes God's own! There is always the possibility of a new beginning.

The Christian faith not only makes a new beginning possible, it also makes a new beginning necessary. Jesus encounters Nicodemus—a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews. Here is no bum off the streets. Nicodemus is not only a good man and a powerful man, but appears to be open to the teachings of Jesus. "Rabbi," he says, "we know you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with Him." Jesus response is simply, ". . . unless one is born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." The imagery is puzzling to Nicodemus. How can an old man like himself reenter his mother's womb and be born again? He is puzzled, but he is also probably a little angry. After all, he is a man of nobility. What kind of new beginning could he possibly need to make?

Several hundred years ago, before Copernicus, most people believed that the sun and stars revolved around the earth. When Copernicus issued his revolutionary teachings that the earth was not the center of the universe, he was greeted with a great outcry. It was many years before his teachings were accepted. It is easy to see how folks might believe the earth is the center of the universe. After all, it is our home. The truth of the matter is that for most folks, they think of themselves as the center of their universe. What Nicodemus needed, and what every person in this world needs at some time in his or her own life is a radical reorientation in which we acknowledge that we are not the center of the universe. It is not some particular sin here or there that is important in our need for a new birth. What matters is our overall frame of reference. Are we centered on ourselves or are we centered in God and God's will for our lives? Beginnings are possible—beginnings are necessary.

Finally, when we meet Christ, new beginnings are inevitable. They're a way to approach the inevitable.

As Brian Wren pens his fourth verse of the hymn, "Christ is alive, and goes before us to show and share what love can do. This is a day of new beginnings; our God is making all things new."

Somehow when we enter into prayer, when we approach God, especially in worship, we should be prepared to experience God, encounter Christ. Jacob encountered God at Bethel and cried out, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is the house of God and this is the gate of heaven." That new awareness marked the new beginning for Jacob. Will your journey through Lent, 2008, be marked by new awareness of God, thus new beginnings?

As we go through transitions here at the church (as well as in our personal lives), let's try not to focus on fear, but instead faith—not dwelling on our doubt but learning to trust. Let the words of that hymn be words that will guide us through the weeks and months ahead! Amen.