So we find ourselves really at the cusp of the new year. The old year is almost complete. The new year is about to begin. I don’t know whether it was kind of chance that they chose that in our lectionary, because we’ve been following Isaiah in the Anglican Church through Advent, looking at different prophecies from Isaiah authorising the arrival of the Messiah. And obviously, this is a very different passage, the theme is different, and yet it’s allocated to us as our lectionary reading for today. And it’s just perfect for this time of year.
It’s a good thing at the cusp of the change of a year to take stock and ask ourselves, well, how was last year? I wonder how it was for you. Did you achieve the things you wanted to achieve? Did you go maybe to interesting places? Did you keep healthy? Or maybe for you it was a difficult year. Maybe you had illness or disappointment or loss or deep sadness. Frankly, sometimes we’re glad to see the back of the old year if it’s been a difficult, a challenging year. We look forward in the hope that things might be a little bit better in the year to come.
Now, when I look back over my year, there have been highs and there have been lows. Not many lows, but there have been a few challenges. But on balance I think I can say these were outweighed by the positives. There’s a challenge for me at the moment, which is why I’m slightly hesitant. Some of you all know what’s going on. But for me the positive thing that keeps me going has been the encouragement of others, particularly seeing God work in the lives of those around me — and we’ve seen that over Christmas particularly.
I love to see friends, Christian friends, with an enthusiasm for their faith and for the gospel in our towns and villages. I do a bit of work with curate training in the Diocese of Gloucester, and I’ve just seen some fabulous new curates coming through — people with a real burn, a real enthusiasm for the gospel and for their ministry as they’re still in training. And month on month, that’s the kind of thing that keeps me going. I’m encouraged, particularly by the enthusiasm of others. And at times, I, for one, really need that encouragement. And I suspect you do too.
And I love that word, enthusiasm. Do you know what it means? I mean, literally, etymologically, it means possessed by God. Entheos in the Greek. Enthusiasm. Possessed by God. And in the days of John and Charles Wesley and the other great evangelicals, of course, it was a criticism. The establishment didn’t like enthusiasm. It was seen as vulgar, uncontrolled, even maybe dangerous. But for me, I think enthusiasm is biblical. I think Isaiah was enthusiastic about his faith. And our reading reminds us how good it is that we share enthusiasm — our enthusiasm for our God — particularly in the stories of what’s been going on in our lives and how God has dealt with us.
Now, Isaiah is a book — it’s 60 odd chapters, it’s a big book. But it reminds us frequently of the judgment of God on an unfaithful Israel. But amongst those judgments there’s also a peppering of prophetic passages — that’s what we’ve been thinking about in St Mary’s through Advent — the prophetic passages which promise the coming of a Messiah, the restoration of the people of Israel back to the promised land, and so forth. And today’s passage is the very beginning of a long and really quite moving prayer that runs all through the rest of chapter 63 and all through chapter 64, where Isaiah takes stock of how things have been between God and his people. They have rebelled and grieved him, as they seem to have had a habit of doing. But in his loving kindness he rebukes them to bring them back to their senses. So if you get a chance to read chapters 63 and 64 at some point at leisure, it’s worth reading it through. It’s a great prayer. But what we’re going to do today is just see what we can glean from the short passage we had — just three verses. And I’ve got three headings. The first is God in relationship, the second is God in action, and the third is people who tell.
God in relationship.
In verse 8
God said, “Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me,” and so he became their saviour.
And then it goes on:
In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
One of the things that the Wesleys and others like them were enthusiastic about was the possibility of a personal relationship with God — that faith isn’t just about attending services and going through the motions, but about relating personally to God. Maybe previously, for many people — and certainly for the Wesleys, and perhaps for some of us too — God was just an idea, something distant, something to which we had no particular connection. And then sometimes, often through a moment of crisis, we turn to God and begin to pray. And to our astonishment, we discover that there is someone on the other end of the prayer. And so that prayer becomes the beginning of a relationship which we never really understood was possible. There is a new connection. Verse 8 puts it like this:
“Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me.” And so he became their saviour.
It’s that complete honesty of prayer that makes it valid — as we reach out to God from the very depths of our heart, particularly if we’re struggling in some way. From the depths of our being we cry out to him, and he takes our hand and becomes our rescuer, our saviour.
We know that in Isaiah’s day it was Israel, of course — and only Israel — that had that special covenant relationship with God as his chosen people. But that was only ever meant to be an example to the rest of humanity, a kind of beacon to demonstrate how God and all of mankind could relate to one another. And this is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. And we started our service with those words of Simeon at the temple:
For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.
You see, God in relationship — not just to Israel, but God in relationship to the entire world, to you and me, as much as to anybody else. And because God is in relationship with us, he is also emotionally connected. And so we read this in verse 9: *“In all their distress, he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy, he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”
I find it just overwhelming that God can feel the distress in our situations. Our distresses are his distresses. Our pain is his pain. Our suffering is his suffering. Of course, our joy is his joy as well. And perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by this. For in Jesus, God has known it all. We read this in Isaiah 53 — we haven’t read it today, but you’ll know it well:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.
So what is astonishing is that when you or I are struggling — when we’re low, when we’re depressed, when we’re weepy, when we’re frightened, when we’re anxious — God in Jesus knows those emotions too. He understands. In the words of William Blake, my namesake the poet, he is not a God far off, but a brother and a friend.
God in action.
Verse 9 of our passage says:
In all their distress, the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
If you experience someone else’s pain or distress, there is often a natural and quite powerful drive to do something about it. In my previous job as a GP, people would often bring very difficult situations to me in surgery — a newly diagnosed cancer, a family member struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, or a very difficult domestic relationship. And as a doctor, of course, I would feel some of the pain of those situations. But as a professional, I also had to remain a little distant in order to preserve my objectivity. It’s hard to help someone if you’re an emotional wreck alongside them, so we maintain professional boundaries.
Does God have professional boundaries? I don’t think so. Does he remain aloof when we suffer? The scripture tells us no. Verse 9 says again:
The angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them.
That’s a key point: with God, he acts. He doesn’t always act according to our timetables. He doesn’t always act in the ways we expect. But be assured — he acts. And I wonder how often he has picked you or me up and carried us, perhaps at times when we didn’t even feel his presence near to us. “Where were you, God, when I was suffering?” And he says, “That’s when I was carrying you.” He acted in history — in the Exodus, in the Promised Land, in the rescue from Babylon. And you, no doubt, could tell me times when he has acted in your own life. But of course he acts most profoundly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in his letter to Titus: *“When the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us… through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
People who tell.
Our reading began with these words in verse 7:
I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us — yes, the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
What is Isaiah’s response to all that he has seen? “I will tell.” He wants to tell. He is enthusiastic to speak of the things of God.
It is good to tell. If you have a great relationship with someone in your life, you don’t keep it secret. It naturally spills over into everyday conversation. I know somebody sitting not far from me who was probably talking about her wedding plans every five minutes — because you want to. You’re excited about it. You want to talk about the person you love, the one who means so much to you. If we have a relationship with a God who is so loving and so compassionate — who feels our pain and carries our weaknesses, who carries us and who saves us — then of course it’s going to spill over. We will want to tell.
Now, we may not all be blessed with the gift of evangelism. We may not be very articulate about it. We may not know where to begin. But gently, respectfully, and tactfully, we will probably want to share that relationship with others. We don’t preach at people. We simply share what we’ve seen and heard. That’s what a witness does in a court. And the most powerful witness for God, of course, is a changed life. A distinctive, Spirit-filled Christian life should be attractive. A new life with a passion and a love for the Lord who created and redeemed us — even enthusiasm for him — should draw others in. Maybe the changes he is making in our lives, as he remakes us and rebuilds us, will draw people to ask about him. Perhaps people will be curious to know why we seem to have such hope and such joy in Jesus Christ, even in the midst of our sufferings.
But of course, the people Isaiah is speaking to in this passage are not non-Jews. He’s speaking to his fellow Israelites — his fellow church people, if you like. It was really important for a people who were losing their way in Isaiah’s time to be reminded of their relationship with God. “Remember what God has done for you,” Isaiah is saying. “Rededicate yourselves to him.” And what a message that is for us as we stand on the cusp of a new year. As we turn into a new year, we too need that encouragement.
In our own day, we receive that kind of encouragement through our home groups in the benefice, through things like Thursday Fellowship here, and through other gatherings. In those places we sometimes exchange stories of how God has been working in our lives. That is a great encouragement to us. We should talk about these things, because it builds us up as we share our experiences of the grace of God in our lives. It brings glory to his name, and it encourages and builds up our brothers and sisters in our congregations.
So there we are — our three headings are done.
And as we bid farewell to the old year and welcome in the new, can I ask you: are you also enthusiastic? Are you God-possessed in your relationship with God in Jesus Christ? Are there things for which we want to thank God, because he carried us through them in this past year? And even if we’re struggling at the moment — if there are things in our lives that are difficult, that are challenging — we may pray that in time we will also be able to look back and see what God achieved through our trials.
And then, in our turn, with Isaiah, we may also tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us. Yes — the many good things he has done for my house, according to his compassion and his many kindnesses.
