God Offers A New Beginning

“Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”  Isaiah 55:6 

Dear Friends,

 

I am sorry to report that I am once again behind in my reading! I could provide you with some very good excuses and reasons why this is the case – but I won’t bore you with those! Just wanted you to know, if you are behind, you are not alone!! 

 

Join me – in either carving out some time to catch up or just jump ahead to where we are today and start again! God rejoices when we ask for help in starting over – in fact, God is an expert at offering grace and second chances! 

 

Which is exactly what we find ourselves reading about in this month’s reading of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. The life of a prophet was not an easy one, they were chosen by God to proclaim God’s Word – to God’s people. As you read through the prophets (we are about to embark on several weeks of prophets) you will see a pattern that repeats itself over and over – it goes something like this:

 

- God loves the people and makes a covenant to be with them always.

- The people rebel, turn away from God and sin.

- God sends a prophet to call them to repentance; to turn from their sin and back to God.

- The people repent. 

- God forgives and renews his covenant.

Sound familiar? It is the same pattern I find myself in not only with my attempts at reading the Bible through the year but with my daily living. God reaches out to me with love and I am grateful and eager to follow Jesus. But then sin gets in the way and I turn away from God and try to do things my own way. Thankfully, God pursues me and seeks me out – even in my sin - and invites me back into right relationship. I ask for forgiveness and God forgives me and we start again. 

And I find myself often whispering a prayer of thanksgiving: “Thank you God for your gift of your mercy and forgiveness.”  I am so grateful for the hope we have in knowing that no matter how far we may stray, no matter how rebellious we may become – God continues to seek us out, to love us, and to offer us a fresh start and a new beginning.

Keep on keeping on – God has not given up on us!!! - Rev. Wendy Cordova, Pastor of Evangelism and Lay Ministry 

On a Faith Journey

It was in the summer of 2000 and the tunnel that I was walking through was so black I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or closed…

Earlier that day we decided to join with a small group from our tour group. This was our free day to explore some of the ancient sites around Jerusalem on our own. Although we wore our sturdy walking shoes, we were not told that we also needed to bring a flashlight for the final stop of our day. The last stop was an ancient water passage, Hezekiah’s Tunnel. It was mentioned in our readings of Isaiah in chapters 7 and 8, and also mentioned in II Kings 20 and in II Chronicles 32.

In Isaiah, this tunnel is referred to as Shiloah. It is a little aqueduct that carries water from the Spring of Gihon to a pool inside the city wall of Jerusalem filling the Pool of Siloam. The tunnel was built as a means of providing a safe supply of drinking water inside the city walls. According to an inscription in ancient Hebrew script found in the tunnel, in 700 BC, two teams began at opposite ends, dug toward each other in the bedrock and met.

This very aqueduct we were about to walk (sometimes in water up to our thighs) was the one King Ahaz was probably examining as Isaiah challenged the lack of faith of Israel in 700 BC, almost 3,000 years before in the book of Isaiah!

That dark walk was about a third of a mile through the bedrock. I am told that IF you have a flashlight you can still see the tool marks on the walls. However we had none. Our friends had gone ahead and the gatekeepers that let us into the tunnel to walk had locked us in and disappeared. We had only one choice, forward. My sister had injured her knee, tearing her ACL just before we left for Israel. Determined to go with us, she had the doctor fit her with a knee brace to steady her knee and had been in quite a lot of pain throughout the trip. We had no choice but to begin the walk, so she placed one hand on my shoulder and one against the wall to steady herself and together we began our journey down the passage. All we could “see” as we crept forward was what we could feel through our fingers as we felt our way along the walls, the tilt of the ground underneath our feet as we carefully chose our steps and our hair as it brushed against the ceiling in places…..it was truly a faith walk.

As we began the descent we didn't know the length of the tunnel or what we would find. We also had to fight an increasing sense of panic in the darkness. To combat that feeling we began to sing, mostly hymns, as we carefully made our way through the tunnel. Often I would have to give directions to my sister to help her navigate each step, "OK, there's a small ledge and you'll step down." We sang and encouraged each other every step of the journey which seemed to us to last for hours until finally we began to see the faith glow of sunlight ahead. As we emerged from the darkness, I can still recall the picture of children playing in the water, laughing and splashing each other and the relief we felt as we walked into the sunlight.

Isn't that just like our journey of life? There are many times we may find ourselves moving into places that are unknown and often we feel ill-equipped for the journey. Yet when we trust in God he can lead and coach us through those dark and anxious times to a place of light and wonder.

The gentle stream of Shiloh was to Isaiah a symbol of quiet and confident faith in Yahweh, whose kingdom is more powerful and everlasting than the mightiest empires. (Isaiah 8:6) - Rev. Kathy Lamon, Pastor of Congregational Care and Older Adults

Feeling 'Called'

Author Ann H. Smith writes, "The Bible is full of people who protested when God called them. While some like Isaiah say, "Here am I; send me," many give God excuses for why he has made a poor selection. Jeremiah's excuse is his age. Although God tells him that before Jeremiah was born, he was set apart as a prophet, Jeremiah balks at his call.

Pastor of North Point Church, Andy Stanley says, "I never really felt called to ministry as much as my friends did. They would go down front after a worship service and tell my dad, 'I feel called to ministry.' ...And I used to think, 'I'm not feeling that.' I can remember trying to feel called to ministry - whatever that meant. Almost jealous of these guys who had such certainty about what God wanted them to do. I just didn't. And I think I was afraid.

"So one day - I was probably a sophomore or junior in college - riding with my dad somewhere in our Grand Safari station wagon, I said, 'Dad, do you have to feel called to ministry? Or can you volunteer?' He turned to me and said, 'I think you can volunteer.' I said, 'Well, I'd like to volunteer. I don't know if I'm called or not.' That was it. That was my big moment. No angels. No voices."

Whether we feel called to a "God idea" or we are simply willing to volunteer, this book of the Prophet Jeremiah helps us. It helps us because "God's ideas" are most always bigger ideas than "human ideas." And that means they are full of challenge and spiritual sweating. God's ideas pull us away from our "comfort zones" into God's "blessing zones." If I will (and maybe you, too) just be willing to go and do what the Lord leads us to do, then we will find blessing.

Jeremiah's task is difficult. He has to speak some hard words to a people as they move into and through a period of captivity. It is hard to speak of "God's ideas" when all is falling around you. It is also hard to listen for God's word when life is caving.

God bless the "Jeremiahs" whether they feel called or whether they simply volunteer.

Read on my friends. Good news is coming! - Dr. Terry Walton, Senior Pastor