Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
November 18, 2007 – 25th Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 65:17-25
2nd Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19

Another Look at New Life

“The land of the free, and the home of the brave.”

Have you ever thought about that – really? We like so much to think we are free. But, honestly, how free are we?

Potato chips, cheese curls, and candy may be some of your favorites, but for twenty-four mule deer in the Grand Canyon National Park, these indulgences proved deadly. Park rangers were forced to shoot more than two dozen mule deer that became hooked on junk food left by visitors. It was death by Cheetos and suicide by Snicker bar! Why eat twigs or chew bark if a Twinkie is nearby? Once deer taste the sugar and salt of snack foods, they develop an addiction and will go to any lengths to eat only junk food. They ignore the food they need, leaving them in bad health and edging towards starvation. With these cravings, deer even lose their natural ability to digest vegetation. One ranger calls junk food “the crack cocaine of the deer world.”1

What is our “crack cocaine?” Or maybe the question needs to be, what are our addictions? How free are we?

How free are we to refrain from passing along gossip?

How free are we to go to sleep … or is our sleep interrupted by some of those fears that creep in – usually more powerful during the dark hours than the daylight – but always present, just under the surface?

How free are we when it comes to insecurities and worries about the future?

How free are we to live with confidence?

How free are we to be the people we’d really like to be?

Maybe another question we could ask ourselves as we go through our daily lives has to do with what it is that we look for.

Are we free to look for what God might be doing in our world and in our lives?

Are we free to ask ourselves what God might want us to learn, what God might want us to become in the midst of whatever circumstances we find ourselves?

The prophet Isaiah has God saying, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create a New Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.” (Is. 65:17-18)

What is the “new thing” that God is wanting to create in us … or around us?

What is it that would allow us to truly be at peace – within ourselves, as well as with those around us?

Every time we take a step in freedom, we participate in the new heaven and the new earth that God is creating.
You probably read in yesterday’s paper about the guy who found a wallet with $8,000 – and no identification … and returned it to the guy who lost it … and later the guy gave the “finder” all the money in the wallet. A new creation! How many of us would have been free enough to return the money under those circumstances? How many of us would have been free enough to give all the money away as a reward?

Every time we choose not to allow our fears to control us, every time we act on faith, we participate in the new creation.

Every time we are free enough to turn the other cheek, instead of retaliate, we participate in the new creation.

Every time we are free enough to forgive, instead of seek revenge, we participate in the new creation.

Every time we are free enough to act as peacemakers, we participate in the new creation.

Every time we are free enough to walk away from temptation, we participate in the new creation.

My hope for us, as we move into this busy and sometimes overwhelming holiday season, is that we might all be free enough to participate in the new creation that was begun in Jesus Christ!

SERMON IN A SACK: A Thanksgiving “word search” … remember all that we have for which we can be thankful!