Dear friends,
As I write this letter to you autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness as famously described by Keats, has arrived. Autumn is my favourite season – the glorious riot of colour as leaves change from green to shades of gold and brown, the chill mornings with that unique autumnal smell. Who doesn't enjoy observing the leaves from the trees and plants changing into multi-coloured works of art before finally falling away? The bare and vulnerable branches that are created reveal the true and beautiful scenery underneath. Most of all autumn, with its lengthening nights, is a time of reflection. As Mitchell Burgess wrote:
If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection. It's a time of year when the leaves are down, and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone. Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it's time to reflect on what's come before.
Looking back, surely the re-opening of our churches in July for prayer and worship must be a standout event! As churches began to re-open, a friend prompted me to read Isaiah 43:
Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Whilst I have read this passage before, this time it led me to consider whether there was more to the matter than the simple re-opening of the church doors. It imparted a theological flavour to this seemingly ordinary event.
This passage was written during the time when God’s people were in Babylonian captivity. During that difficult time, Isaiah, the prophet, reminded them of the many things that God had done for them in the past. God delivered them from Egypt, rescuing them from their enemies. Their redemption story is the most beautiful and wonderful experience they had with God. It was with a powerful hand that he delivered and fought for them until they inherited the promised land.
What is interesting here is that, as beautiful as the story was, Isaiah seems to be discouraging them from being stuck in the past. I believe this to be what God is saying to us today. As we are returning to our churches, maybe we should not do so with our minds stuck in the past. Instead, we should look forward in faith, expecting and trusting God to do new things among us. We often hear people referring to the “new normal”. Perhaps this is the way we can perceive the hand of God in guiding us and be part of what God is doing now.
This exhortation was given in the context of the wilderness. God said to his people, ‘I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert’ (v19). In light of the Babylonian captivity, the people of God had been experiencing a form of wilderness, a dry and fruitless season. They had lost everything they thought was permanent. Right there, in their wilderness experience, God gave them words, ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!’ (v18).
It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to prove that the lockdown due to Covid-19 was a form of the wilderness experience for many of us. It was a challenging and uncertain time. Hence, it is exciting to see our church building re-opened, even though there are numerous regulations that we have to abide by; sanitation, face covering, social distancing among others.
However, in this wilderness experience God has a word for us, ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!’ (v18). The wilderness is where God brings forth a fresh moving of His Spirit, fresh ways of doing things and fresh ways of living. It is never a sign that God has abandoned us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’
Let us pray that, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can look forward in faith, expecting and trusting God to do new things at a time such as this.
With every blessing
Sheila