Refocusing on God's Mission

God is doing a new thing in my life. I officially retired June 30 with 50 years under appointment as a United Methodist minister. As I have shared with you before, I was a 20-year-old college student when I was appointed to two small churches in West Virginia. Now, 50 years later, God is doing a new thing in my life.

I confess I struggled a little with the idea of retirement. What was I going to do? I had been a pastor/preacher all my adult life. I confess I do not hunt, fish, golf, woodworking, or garden. In other words, I have no hobbies. So, retirement was not going to give me more time to do what I really wanted to do. And besides, being a pastor/preacher is what I wanted to continue to do. I might be old, but I’m not quite over the hill.

Refocusing

My struggle within was about refocusing my life upon something that would bring meaning and purpose. So, God and I had a conversation. I tried to put it off on God. I asked “What am I going to do now? You created me, called me, and gifted me to do what I have been doing. That is coming to an end with retirement. What am I going to do now?”

What I heard (discerned) God say, “Set the past 50 years aside. I have something new for you.”

I laughed, “Okay. Are you going to teach this “old” dog some new tricks?”

So when the phone rang, God’s voice sounded like the Bishop in West Virginia, “I have a place for you in West Virginia. I want you to come and be the pastor of Christ Church in Charleston.”

In the back of mind I heard God laughing, “Tim, how many times over your short 50 years of ministry have you experienced, I always get the last laugh?”

“But God. I’m retired. How can I be the pastor of a church like Christ Church when I am retired?”

And God said, “If I can make paths in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, I can still make a pastor/preacher out of you.”

God is Doing a New Thing

Okay, thanks for being my therapist for a moment. God is doing a new thing in my life. The new thing is the opportunity to refocus upon God’s love for me in Jesus and to share that love with a new community of people. At Christ Church we seek to connect one another and you with Christ and with the community.

The refocus is always upon the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I now have the opportunity to put into practice what I have been sharing with you over the past eight years as a district superintendent. With 50 years of experience as a United Methodist minister, I am still in the ministry of resourcing Christ-centered leaders.

Through Transforming Mission, Sara Thomas and I are still providing the resources you need to lead a movement of Jesus followers.

Okay, with that said, it is time to refocus. Read Isaiah’s words to the Hebrew people. He is challenging them to refocus.

Read Isaiah 43:18-21

Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Reflect

These words were written while Israel was in exile. The people were separated from what was meaningful. Their lives were disrupted, and they felt hopeless.

God, through Isaiah, calls them to refocus. Isaiah reminds them who created them, who formed them, and who redeemed them. He reminds them they have nothing to fear because God has been with them through all the trials, disruptions, and disconnections.

God has been good to them. God led them out of Egypt and out of slavery. God led them through the Red Sea and protected them in the wilderness. God provided manna when they were hungry, quail when they wanted meat, and water out of rock when they were thirsty. God had led them to the promised land, a land of milk and honey. God had been good to them.

God Makes A Way

I am projecting here, but my guess is, Israel had grown accustomed to God’s goodness and lost focus of who God was for them and who they were in relationship to God. And even though they might have lost focus; God did not condemn them. Amid their disconnections and lack of focus, God offered hope. God makes a way for them.

So, Isaiah challenges them to set aside the past. God is doing a new thing, a new work in their midst. They are reassured that they can trust God because God is able to make a way in the wilderness and a river in the desert.

Now, here is what is interesting to me. The new thing is refocusing on God. Why? God wants the people to declare God’s praise.

They are asked to set aside all God had done for them in the past, the things that had gotten them to this point, and to focus on the present. “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?

When they lost focus on God, they began to focus on themselves. So, the challenge is to focus on what God is doing for them now. It is like God is saying, “If I can make a path in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, you can trust me for this moment in time.”

And speaking through Isaiah, God continues to say, “for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” In other words (Bias translation), “I am providing water for you, because I love you and I created you to love. All I want is for you to live the way I created you to live.”

To declare God’s praise was to focus upon God and God’s goodness, and to not only receive God’s goodness but extend God’s goodness to others.

Respond

Today, look for the situations and circumstances where you are being challenged to refocus. Where you are being challenged to receive God’s love and to extend God’s love to others. Look for the “new thing” God is doing in the lives of the people you encounter today? Be aware of how you are responding and how you might respond differently. When you are uncomfortable or are feeling especially challenged to refocus, remember if God can make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, God and certainly love you into becoming the person you have been created to be.

Today, set aside the past and experience what God is doing now in your midst.

Prayer

O God, I do believe you are doing something new in my life and in the lives of the people around me. Give me the eyes to see it and the heart to embrace it, so that I may become the person you have created me to be. I offer myself to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Return

Give God thanks for the people you encountered today. In whom did you see Jesus? What new thing did you experience? How did it help you see a way to refocus? Give God thanks for the experience. What did you learn that you will do differently tomorrow?

Pray for the faith to continue to step into the unknown with courage and hope. Give God thanks for the opportunities you had to become more who God has created you to be. Keep in mind, who you are is how you lead.