Sermon for January 1st, 2023 - Revision history

Iraneal at 01:20, 1 January 2023

2023-01-01T01:20:49Z

Iraneal at 00:33, 1 January 2023

2023-01-01T00:33:04Z

Iraneal at 23:20, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T23:20:15Z

Iraneal at 23:14, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T23:14:24Z

Iraneal at 23:02, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T23:02:07Z

Iraneal at 22:04, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T22:04:07Z

Iraneal at 21:55, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T21:55:39Z

Iraneal at 21:08, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T21:08:56Z

Iraneal at 20:17, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T20:17:44Z

Iraneal at 20:16, 31 December 2022

2022-12-31T20:16:03Z

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 *Do you remember, Israel, when God lifted you and carried you around? (v.9)
-Here again, both of those appeals to memory, to the past, are necessary if we are to look forward to the future with any measure of hope and confidence.  The promises and the covenant between God and Israel was extended to everyone, through God's son, Jesus, when he came into this world and gave his life for ours.  And God's providential care for us--lifting us up and carrying us, extends in both directions now--through all the days of old, AND all the days to come.
+Here again, both of those appeals to memory, to the past, are necessary if we are to look forward to the future with any measure of hope and confidence.  The promise and the covenant between God and Israel was extended to everyone, through God's son, Jesus, when he came into this world and gave his life for ours.  And God's providential care for us--lifting us up and carrying us, extends in both directions now--through all the days of old, AND all the days to come.
-Incidentally, if you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's Day, 529 BC, not a lot would have changed for you in the year to come.  Some things (like the taxation) might have even gotten a little worse.  But if you had been alive on that day, there's a good chance you would have lived to see the completion of the temple just 13 years later.  And your children would live to benefit from the completion of the city walls.  Your descendants would see Israel become an independent nation again (albeit briefly) in the 2nd century BC.  And just a few generations after that, some of them might have been around to see a man from Nazareth come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, while crowds waved palm branches and called him Messiah.
+[Cue Audiomachine "Humanity Defined"]

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:33, 1 January 2023
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	*Do you remember, Israel, when God lifted you and carried you around? (v.9)		*Do you remember, Israel, when God lifted you and carried you around? (v.9)

−	Here again, both of those appeals to memory, to the past, are necessary if we are to look forward to the future with any measure of hope and confidence. The promises and the covenant between God and Israel was extended to everyone, through God's son, Jesus, when he came into this world and gave his life for ours. And God's providential care for us--lifting us up and carrying us, extends in both directions now--through all the days of old, ~~and~~ all the days to come.	+	Here again, both of those appeals to memory, to the past, are necessary if we are to look forward to the future with any measure of hope and confidence. The promises and the covenant between God and Israel was extended to everyone, through God's son, Jesus, when he came into this world and gave his life for ours. And God's providential care for us--lifting us up and carrying us, extends in both directions now--through all the days of old, AND all the days to come.
		+
		+	Incidentally, if you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's Day, 529 BC, not a lot would have changed for you in the year to come. Some things (like the taxation) might have even gotten a little worse. But if you had been alive on that day, there's a good chance you would have lived to see the completion of the temple just 13 years later. And your children would live to benefit from the completion of the city walls. Your descendants would see Israel become an independent nation again (albeit briefly) in the 2nd century BC. And just a few generations after that, some of them might have been around to see a man from Nazareth come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, while crowds waved palm branches and called him Messiah.

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 But Isaiah reminds us that the very act of remembering those GOOD things, counting them, naming them--all the ways in which God WAS faithful and helpful to us in the past--that's what gives us the confidence to face the future, knowing that God is consistent.  If God has brought us through the challenges and threats of the past, he will bring us, somehow, through the ones we face today.
-Throughout the book of Isaiah, sometimes the writer speaks on behalf of God to the people of Jerusalem, and sometimes he speaks on behalf of the people of Jerusalem to God.  We can see both of those approaches in today's reading.  Barbara Brown Taylor summarizes verses 8 and 9 this way:
+Throughout the book of Isaiah, sometimes the prophet speaks on behalf of God to the people of Jerusalem, and sometimes he speaks on behalf of the people of Jerusalem to God.  We can see both of those approaches in today's reading.  Barbara Brown Taylor summarizes verses 8 and 9 this way:
 *Do you remember, God, when you claimed this people as your children? (v.8)
 *Do you remember, Israel, when God lifted you and carried you around? (v.9)
-Once again, both of those appeals to memory, to the past, are necessary if we are to look forward to the future with hope and confidence.
+Here again, both of those appeals to memory, to the past, are necessary if we are to look forward to the future with any measure of hope and confidence.  The promises and the covenant between God and Israel was extended to everyone, through God's son, Jesus, when he came into this world and gave his life for ours.  And God's providential care for us--lifting us up and carrying us, extends in both directions now--through all the days of old, and all the days to come.

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 But Isaiah reminds us that the very act of remembering those GOOD things, counting them, naming them--all the ways in which God WAS faithful and helpful to us in the past--that's what gives us the confidence to face the future, knowing that God is consistent.  If God has brought us through the challenges and threats of the past, he will bring us, somehow, through the ones we face today.
-Throughout the book, sometimes Isaiah speaks on behalf of God to the people of Jerusalem, and sometimes Isaiah speaks on behalf of the people of Jerusalem to God.  We can see both of those approaches in today's reading.
+*Do you remember, God, when you claimed this people as your children? (v.8)
+Once again, both of those appeals to memory, to the past, are necessary if we are to look forward to the future with hope and confidence.
-−
-Do you remember, God, when you claimed this people as your children? (v.8)
-Do you remember, Israel, when God lifted you and carried you around? (v.9)
-Barbara Brown Taylor

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:02, 31 December 2022
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	#Need to keep re-building the temple. When grandma saw the foundation for the new temple, she compared it in her head to the old one she remembered. And then she cried. Not in a good way.		#Need to keep re-building the temple. When grandma saw the foundation for the new temple, she compared it in her head to the old one she remembered. And then she cried. Not in a good way.

−	With new freedoms and new opportunities come new threats and new challenges. They go hand in hand.	+	With new freedoms and new opportunities come new threats and new challenges. They go hand in hand. We can make our own plans and resolutions, but even if we are able to keep them, they only govern what we say, think, or do. We cannot control or even predict what the people around us will do, what the world will do, or what effect those things will have on us, and our plans.
		+
		+	If this is beginning to sound like a rather depressing New Year's Day message, both for the people of 2023 and for the people of 529 BC, then bear with me for just a moment longer. Because that's where our scripture passage comes into the story. The people of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC were beginning to lose hope in their future. And as he often does in such cases, God spoke to them, through the words of the prophet Isaiah.
		+
		+	The book of Isaiah, in the Bible, focuses on the relationship between God and Jerusalem. It's usually divided into three sections: The first third is written for the people of Jerusalem before its destruction, the second third is written for the people of Jerusalem during their exile in Babylon, and the final third is written for the people who return to Jerusalem afterward--for our discouraged and disheartened observers of New Year's day in 529 BC.
		+
		+	For those who are having a difficult time looking forward to the future, Isaiah has some counter-intuitive advice. He says, effectively, "look back, instead." Make a list of all the gracious deeds, all the praiseworthy acts of the Lord.
		+
		+	You see, it's very easy for us to get caught up in all of our problems. Because of their very nature as unresolved, unpredictable, future-oriented things, problems take up an enormous amount of our head space. Past things, things that have already been solved or resolved in a positive way, we just file those things away in our stack of pleasant memories and move on--usually right back to our unsolvable problems.
		+
		+	But Isaiah reminds us that the very act of remembering those GOOD things, counting them, naming them--all the ways in which God WAS faithful and helpful to us in the past--that's what gives us the confidence to face the future, knowing that God is consistent. If God has brought us through the challenges and threats of the past, he will bring us, somehow, through the ones we face today.
		+
		+
		+	Throughout the book, sometimes Isaiah speaks on behalf of God to the people of Jerusalem, and sometimes Isaiah speaks on behalf of the people of Jerusalem to God. We can see both of those approaches in today's reading.

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 And then ten years before our date of New Year's day 529 BC, that all changed.  The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and their King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree freeing the Jews from slavery and allowing them to return to their homeland.  The vast majority of them chose to remain in Babylon.  But a few, a handful, returned to to Jerusalem to rebuild and re-inhabit their holy city. So on New Year's Day, 529 BC, you might think they would have had a lot to be thankful for--their freedom (both religious and political), a place to call home, and a fresh start in the city of their ancestors.  A bright future with a lot to look forward to.
-And yet...if the people of Jerusalem in the year 529 BC were in the practice of making New Year's Resolutions, I think their top three would go something like this:
+And yet...based on a quick reading of their story in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, if the returned exiles in Jerusalem in the year 529 BC were in the habit of making New Year's Resolutions, I think their top three would go something like this:
 #Need to make more money in the new year.  Cyrus gave us our freedom and our land, but now we have to pay taxes.  Fortunately the tax is only 70%.
-#Need to finish building the city walls.  Turns out the neighbors were not exactly happy to see us move in.  They're still big.  Their spears are still sharp.
+#Need to finish building the city walls.  Turns out the neighbors were not exactly happy to see us move in.  They're still big.  And their spears are still sharp.
 #Need to keep re-building the temple.  When grandma saw the foundation for the new temple, she compared it in her head to the old one she remembered.  And then she cried.  Not in a good way.
+With new freedoms and new opportunities come new threats and new challenges.  They go hand in hand.

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 Imagine, if you will, New Year's Day, in the year 529 BC, in the desolate and ruined city of Jerusalem. Not quite our January 1st version of New Year's Day, but perhaps the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which occurs sometime in September.  If you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's day in 529 BC, you would have been one of only a handful of people.  80 years prior to then, the city of Jerusalem had been sacked and burned to the ground by the Babylonian Imperial Army. Most of its inhabitants had been killed or carried off as slaves.  For 70 years, Jerusalem was empty and abandoned (though not entirely forgotten).
 And then ten years before our date of New Year's day 529 BC, that all changed.  The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and their King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree freeing the Jews from slavery and allowing them to return to their homeland.  The vast majority of them chose to remain in Babylon.  But a few, a handful, returned to to Jerusalem to rebuild and re-inhabit their holy city. So on New Year's Day, 529 BC, you might think they would have had a lot to be thankful for--their freedom (both religious and political), a place to call home, and a fresh start in the city of their ancestors.  A bright future with a lot to look forward to.
-That's what you'd think.  But they also had a lot of challenges.  Cyrus the Great gave the Jews their freedom and allowed them to return to Jerusalem, but that's because free people with land...can be taxed.  The heavy burden of taxation made it hard to rebuild. We read in the book of Ezra that the returned exiles were in constant dread of the people of the surrounding lands--people who were openly hostile to the Jews. Finally, their own hopes and aspirations often fell short.  When they rebuilt the foundations for the new temple, Ezra tells us that the older people who remembered the original (and much larger) temple "wept with a loud voice" upon seeing how "modest and humble" (to put it nicely) the new temple would be.
+And yet...if the people of Jerusalem in the year 529 BC were in the practice of making New Year's Resolutions, I think their top three would go something like this:

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:08, 31 December 2022
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	Imagine, if you will, New Year's Day, in the year 529 BC, in the desolate and ruined city of Jerusalem. Not quite our January 1st version of New Year's Day, but perhaps the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which occurs sometime in September. If you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's day in 529 BC, you would have been one of only a handful of people. 80 years prior to then, the city of Jerusalem had been sacked and burned to the ground by the Babylonian Imperial Army. Most of its inhabitants had been killed or carried off as slaves. For 70 years, Jerusalem was empty and abandoned (though not entirely forgotten).		Imagine, if you will, New Year's Day, in the year 529 BC, in the desolate and ruined city of Jerusalem. Not quite our January 1st version of New Year's Day, but perhaps the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which occurs sometime in September. If you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's day in 529 BC, you would have been one of only a handful of people. 80 years prior to then, the city of Jerusalem had been sacked and burned to the ground by the Babylonian Imperial Army. Most of its inhabitants had been killed or carried off as slaves. For 70 years, Jerusalem was empty and abandoned (though not entirely forgotten).

−	And then ten years before our date of New Year's day 529 BC, that all changed. The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and their King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree freeing the Jews from slavery and allowing them to return to their homeland. The vast majority of them chose to remain in Babylon. But a few, a handful, returned to to Jerusalem to rebuild and re-inhabit their holy city~~, Zion~~. On New Year's Day, 529 BC, you might think they would have had a lot to be thankful for--their freedom (both religious and political), a place to call home, and a fresh start in the city of their ancestors.	+	And then ten years before our date of New Year's day 529 BC, that all changed. The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and their King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree freeing the Jews from slavery and allowing them to return to their homeland. The vast majority of them chose to remain in Babylon. But a few, a handful, returned to to Jerusalem to rebuild and re-inhabit their holy city. So on New Year's Day, 529 BC, you might think they would have had a lot to be thankful for--their freedom (both religious and political), a place to call home, and a fresh start in the city of their ancestors. A bright future with a lot to look forward to.
		+
		+	That's what you'd think. But they also had a lot of challenges. Cyrus the Great gave the Jews their freedom and allowed them to return to Jerusalem, but that's because free people with land...can be taxed. The heavy burden of taxation made it hard to rebuild. We read in the book of Ezra that the returned exiles were in constant dread of the people of the surrounding lands--people who were openly hostile to the Jews. Finally, their own hopes and aspirations often fell short. When they rebuilt the foundations for the new temple, Ezra tells us that the older people who remembered the original (and much larger) temple "wept with a loud voice" upon seeing how "modest and humble" (to put it nicely) the new temple would be.
		+

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:17, 31 December 2022
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	Imagine, if you will, New Year's Day, in the year 529 BC, in the desolate and ruined city of Jerusalem. Not quite our January 1st version of New Year's Day, but perhaps the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which occurs sometime in September. If you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's day in 529 BC, you would have been one of only a handful of people. 80 years prior to then, the city of Jerusalem had been sacked and burned to the ground by the Babylonian Imperial Army. Most of its inhabitants had been killed or carried off as slaves. For 70 years, Jerusalem was empty and abandoned (though not entirely forgotten).		Imagine, if you will, New Year's Day, in the year 529 BC, in the desolate and ruined city of Jerusalem. Not quite our January 1st version of New Year's Day, but perhaps the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which occurs sometime in September. If you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's day in 529 BC, you would have been one of only a handful of people. 80 years prior to then, the city of Jerusalem had been sacked and burned to the ground by the Babylonian Imperial Army. Most of its inhabitants had been killed or carried off as slaves. For 70 years, Jerusalem was empty and abandoned (though not entirely forgotten).

−	And then ten years before our date of New Year's day 529 BC, that all changed. The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and their King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree freeing the Jews from slavery and allowing them to return to their homeland. The vast majority of them chose to remain in Babylon. But a few, a handful, returned to to Jerusalem to rebuild and re-inhabit their holy city, Zion. On New Year's Day, 529 BC, you might think they would have had a lot to be thankful for--their freedom (both religious and political), a fresh start in the city of their ancestors~~, the construction of a new temple was underway, and the city walls were also in the process of being rebuilt~~.	+	And then ten years before our date of New Year's day 529 BC, that all changed. The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and their King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree freeing the Jews from slavery and allowing them to return to their homeland. The vast majority of them chose to remain in Babylon. But a few, a handful, returned to to Jerusalem to rebuild and re-inhabit their holy city, Zion. On New Year's Day, 529 BC, you might think they would have had a lot to be thankful for--their freedom (both religious and political), a place to call home, and a fresh start in the city of their ancestors.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:16, 31 December 2022
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	==All the Days of Old==		==All the Days of Old==
		+	Imagine, if you will, New Year's Day, in the year 529 BC, in the desolate and ruined city of Jerusalem. Not quite our January 1st version of New Year's Day, but perhaps the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which occurs sometime in September. If you had been in Jerusalem on New Year's day in 529 BC, you would have been one of only a handful of people. 80 years prior to then, the city of Jerusalem had been sacked and burned to the ground by the Babylonian Imperial Army. Most of its inhabitants had been killed or carried off as slaves. For 70 years, Jerusalem was empty and abandoned (though not entirely forgotten).
		+
		+	And then ten years before our date of New Year's day 529 BC, that all changed. The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and their King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree freeing the Jews from slavery and allowing them to return to their homeland. The vast majority of them chose to remain in Babylon. But a few, a handful, returned to to Jerusalem to rebuild and re-inhabit their holy city, Zion. On New Year's Day, 529 BC, you might think they would have had a lot to be thankful for--their freedom (both religious and political), a fresh start in the city of their ancestors, the construction of a new temple was underway, and the city walls were also in the process of being rebuilt.
		+
		+
		+
		+
		+	Do you remember, God, when you claimed this people as your children? (v.8)
		+	Do you remember, Israel, when God lifted you and carried you around? (v.9)
		+	Barbara Brown Taylor