God of New Beginnings
A Sermon Preached by
Eddie Smart
December 31, 2006
Zephyr United Methodist Church
Early First United Methodist Church
Genesis 1:1-5
1:1In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
It was January of the year 2000 that I attended the Holy Ground Retreat. This was a two day prayer retreat that was held for several years in a row designed to get the new year off to a good start. The guest speaker was Dr. Andy Lester. Yes, my seminary professor I have mentioned from time to time. Dr. Lester reminded me that the God who created the heavens and earth created us as temporal people, people who are shaped in the present moment by a past we remember and a future we anticipate. Our lives are a series of stories that span from the past into the present. These stories through our imagination even extend into the future.
I want to share a part of my past story. Just after Christmas that year we went to visit Diana’s folks in Haskell. I looked over toward Pogue’s Grocery and to my surprise there was a vacant lot. The place I had first worked at a regular job – gone. One morning I just drove around town. I went by the High School. I remembered Gerald McCoy my science teacher and Bill Blakey my math teacher. Both of these men gave me basic tools that would serve me well in my 22 year technical career. I remembered Ray Overton, my coach and my Sunday School teacher. I was reminded how our lives are shaped by those around us. How our future stories are shaped by others.
When we returned home, I met a friend who goes to another church. The friend shared with me the concern for that church’s future. There was new leadership and the friend was feeling hopeless. I offered suggestions that had already been tried. The friend was looking for more. I had nothing left to offer until that Holy Ground Retreat.
In my own journey that weekend I found hope not only for me, but also my friend. I carried to the Glen Lake Retreat Center uncertainty about a part of my future story. An uncertainty that brought anxiety. On Thursday evening, we were asked to listen for a single word from the Lord. That word came for me almost immediately. The word – PEACE.
On Friday the peace came. Dr. Lester reminded me of something I needed to hear. The uncertainty in my future story remained, but the anxiety was gone. Dr. Lester reminded me that the God who in the beginning created is in front of us --- calling us into the future–pulling us into the future. Others have said it this way, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know the One who holds the future.”
Our future remains uncertain. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Our nation has been at war in Iraq far longer than many anticipated. We have experienced friends and family in harms way. We have experienced the death of heros in very personal ways. We long to help those people, but doubt the possibility for lasting change. Saddam Hussein was executed this week. What will the extremist do? What terror will they bring? So what does the future of the world look like? What about the future of the United States?
Our leaders are working hard that we might shape our own future. The details may not be clear, but there is one thing that is certain. God is calling us into a future that is larger than individuals or nations. God is in front, pulling us forward. In the beginning God created out of nothing. God was in front then. God is in front of us now, pulling us into the future. Jeremiah helps us with knowing what that future is like. “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.” Jeremiah 29:11-15
There are people feeling helpless & hopeless today. Some of them don’t know Jesus Christ. Some know about Jesus Christ. Some know Jesus Christ. Some of you may be feeling helpless or hopeless. BUT there is Hope. BECAUSE our God is in front pulling us into a new future.
The Creating God also creates new beginnings. So what is the role of the church, our church, in bringing Hope to the hopeless. The church–you and me– are the hands, feet, & voice of that God. who is out in front pulling us into that new future. God has plans for us to prosper, not to harm us. Plans to give us hope and future.
I didn’t realize until the Friday of that retreat how much I was hurting because of my mother’s death 16 months earlier. I thought I was doing great. I became aware that the hurt was still there. BUT I also experienced the healing found in the God that goes before us. I found peace that day. There are people hurting–needing healing. That healing can come through the God that goes in front of us.
There are churches that are feeling helpless, hopeless, & hurting. Hope and Healing is not likely. Moving forward into the future is not likely, UNLESS those churches look forward to a creating God who is pulling us into a future. Unless they look forward to the God that goes before us. Unless they look forward to the God who has plans for them to prosper—plans to give them hope & a future.
In the beginning God created the future. That same God stands in our future holding plans for our good. God is calling us into that future. Only the God who spoke the heavens and earth into being can bring peace and hope into our present and future.