The Lord God says, "Forget the past." Are you kidding me?! When was the last time the church told you to forget the past? I mean we sing ancient songs. Every Sunday, we read from ancient texts. Usually two readings come from something we call the "New" Testament. Well, this "New" Testament is just about two thousand years old. Way back there in the past! The Hebrew Scriptures we call the "Old" Testament stretch back even further. Forget about the past? We revel in the past!!

As we get older, we’re constantly whining that our church and country are not like they were in the good old days. If only those young people would act like we used to act, then things would be right. Sooner rather than later, we stop interacting with young people altogether because we can’t understand them anyway. We’re constantly thinking that all the answers are in the past. Let’s even get personal here, how many times have you let the difficulties of your past dictate and control how you live in the present. Is there a little voice in the back of your head always turning you to look at the past; your mother, your father, a spouse, a former boss, a past friend; someone always giving you an excuse for not dealing with what is right in front of you. It is here the Lord God says, "Forget about the past."

Maybe what’s at stake here is how we hold onto the past. I think this is really what the Old Testament lesson in Isaiah is all about. In the Isaiah text, God’s chosen people, the Jews, find themselves stuck in exile and after a couple centuries, they must wonder: are we really so "chosen" after all? God tells them yes: forget that you were defeated by the Babylonians and dragged away from your home. Don’t lose sight of the present and wonderful future God has planned; for you see God intends their release from exile and homecoming to Jerusalem. Instead of remembering their defeat; God wants them to remember that they have been saved from worse - slavery in Egypt. You see, it is not that we are to forget the past altogether, but we must forget the past when it leads us away from a thankful and gracious understanding of the wonderful liberation God desires for us all.

God is always doing a new thing, but it always relates back to just how much God loves us. The point of the Old Testament lesson isn’t really about the past at all; the Lord God in Isaiah is concerned instead with something of the utmost importance - the present! The real point of the Old testament story is this - how do we perceive and experience what is right in front of us, right now! "I am creating something new. There it is! Do you not see it?" Religion is not primarily about the past as some might think or even the future as many worry, God is concerned most fully with what we are doing with the present, what we are seeing, what we are experiencing right now. Have you ever thought about life as though this very second; this heartbeat, this breath, this pause in time between the past and the future, this present is the most important moment of life! And you thought you were going to church just like any old Sunday! I know that in my own life, I only see a small fragment of God’s desires for me. I am wasteful, selfish and barely functioning. I know this is the case with many people I talk to inside and outside the Church. What does God desire of you right here, right now.

How are we to perceive this new thing God is doing in our lives. As friends, as people who have been touched or intrigued by the words, the life, the way, the victory of Jesus, we are to live as the five individuals of the Gospel story lived. Let’s call them the five friends. These friends teach us that the key to life is to lower each other and be willing to be lowered into the presence of Jesus. Can you picture this wonderful story. Jesus enters a home in Capernaum to teach and the crowds that press in on him are so great that the five friends cannot reach Jesus. Rather than leaving their paralyzed friend behind, the five friends ingeniously climb up on the roof of the house where Jesus is at, tear a hole in the roofing materials, and, with great determination and a whole lot of gumption, four of the friends lower their paralyzed friend before Jesus who first forgives the paralyzed man’s sin and then heals him so that he gets up, picks up his mat and goes. And the only observation that Jesus makes about these five friends - they have faith!!

What does faith look like in our day. Well, I believe that you at Calvary are already onto this. I have taken the liberty to print your recently drafted ministry priorities on the back of your bulletin. You can take a look at this if you want. I couldn’t help but notice that the graph of the ministry priorities could be likened to the four friends of the Gospel story who each took a corner of the mat to lower the paralyzed friend into Jesus’ presence. What happens when we are bold enough to lower our friends and be lowered into Jesus’ presence. An amazing thing really, the forgiveness of sin, the bridging of the gap that separates us from God, the healing of body, soul and spirit, the recovery and restoration of life. Does it happen in the story to a solitary individual? No, we need friends. Just as our children noted in the children’s sermon, we need friends for lots of different reasons. We need them to play with and celebrate life together. I think that this is reflected in our worship priority. All God’s people experiencing the wonder of God’s presence through full participation in our liturgies of Word and sacrament. We need friends to help us grow and learn. That is reflected in the nurture priority. Children, youth, adults, and families learning and growing in Christ through small groups, educational programs, and social activities. Friends reach out to help one another and those they come in contact with. This is our outreach priority. Welcoming all people into the unconditional love we share in Christ. And finally, and of equal importance, friends challenge one another to be and become the best of what is in them. This is our daily life priority wherein each of us is [C]hallenging God’s people to recognize God’s gifts, motivating them to responsibly manage their lives for the sake of Christ’s work in the world.

Of the entire crowd that surrounded Jesus as he taught in that house in Capernaum, he remarked that it was these five individuals, these five friends, who had faith, as they boldly, and persistently, and all together brought each other, especially the one who needed the most help to get there, into Jesus’ presence. Oh what would it mean for our faith as a church and as the individual members that make up this body of Christ, if we took our ministry priorities as seriously as those five friends took their faith that one day long ago in Capernaum. What would it look like? All I know is that if we did this, we would not hear the Lord God remarking from the outskirts of our lives, "Look, I am creating something new. There it is! Do you see it?" Do you see yourself and Calvary actually living in the present mission priorities we have set as a congregation. If we come to do so boldly, persistently and all together, I believe Jesus will observe, "Those people who live as friends at Calvary, they have faith." Friends, live in the present, faithfully.." Amen.