“What Is God Up To

“What Is God Up To?”

Text: Isaiah 65:17-25

© November 18, 2007 by C. Edward Bowen at Crafton United Presbyterian Church.

Quite often different people see the same thing, but they end up interpreting what they see in very different ways. For instance, recently an Armenian American man fell in love with an Iranian American woman. And so to show her how he felt, the Armenian American man sent her a dozen yellow roses, because in the Armenian culture yellow flowers mean “I like you.” But when the Iranian American woman received those flowers she went into a rage and refused to talk to him anymore. The reason was because in the Iranian culture yellow flowers mean “I hate you.”[1]

How are we supposed to interpret what we see? When we take a look at what’s going on in our lives and all around us, what does it all mean? That was an issue that the people in Isaiah’s day were struggling with. As you may know, it was during Isaiah’s time that Israel’s history hit rock bottom. Because it was during Isaiah’s time that God had sent the mighty Babylonian army to invade their land and conquer them as punishment for the people’s many sins. And not only did the Babylonians defeat Israel on the battlefield, but they also proceeded to march into the capital city of Jerusalem and burned down the temple, the city walls, and most of the buildings. And to add insult to injury, the Babylonians then rounded up just about all of the leading citizens and carried them off as prisoners into exile back in Babylon.

But then, about 40 years later, a new king came to the throne in Babylon, King Cyrus. And all of a sudden, out of the blue, King Cyrus issued a decree and said that immediately all the people could return home to their own land. Well, the people just couldn’t believe it. Many of them had given up hope that they would ever see their homeland again. But now here they were back home, rebuilding the temple, rebuilding the city walls, rebuilding their houses. “What’s going on?” many of the people wondered. “We didn’t see this coming! What’s it all mean?”

And here in this passage that we just listened to from the Bible, God steps forward and basically says, “What’s it all mean? I’ll tell you what it all means. I’m up to something. I’m creating something new and wonderful right there in your midst. My only question for you is this: are you ready to be a part of it?”

I have to admit that especially in the past couple of months, some things have been happening here in our church that have caused me to ask the same kind of questions that they were asking in Isaiah’s day. Especially in the past couple of months, some things have been happening here in our church that have caused me to wonder “What is going here? What does it all mean?”

For instance, this year, for the third year in a row we offered to help lower-income families get winter coats for their children. But whereas in the past we usually got requests to help about 30 kids, this year we received requests to help buy coats for more than double that number. We received requests to help buy coats for 62 children here in Crafton and Ingram.

And I have to admit that my first reaction when we got that flood of requests was to think “Uh oh! Have we bitten off more than we can chew?” But not only did we get enough donations to buy new winter coats for all 62 of those kids, a group of people in the church got together and said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if we gave those kids not only coats, but also blankets for their beds.” And so that group of people got together, bought the material, and made blankets for every one of those kids. And then this past week, when the families started to come in to pick up their coats and blankets, as a result of talking with Tricia, 4 new kids have already joined Youth Club and some of the families said that they’re interested in coming to church here. All that made me wonder: What is going on here?

Or as some of you may be aware, a couple months ago two of our members, Mid Davis and Sandy Taylor, decided that if our church is going to grow, we’re going to need to use some of the meeting spaces in our building that haven’t been used in a while. And so for the past couple of months they have been working like crazy to clean and paint and decorate many of the rooms upstairs in the church, and most recently they worked on the nursery to improve its appearance. And as they’ve done that, all of a sudden, seemingly from out of the blue, all kinds of other people have offered to help them paint, move furniture, pay for supplies, install lights, and do all kinds of other projects. I look at what’s happening, and I can’t help but wonder: what’s going on here?

Or this fall, our Adventure Group for kids in grades 4-6 has more than doubled in size. And we keep getting calls from parents of kids in Carnegie who hear about what’s going on here and they want to know how their kids can take part. And this past week we met with a group of our 6^th grade girls and talked with them about forming a small group, which would mean that in addition to coming for Adventure Group on Tuesdays and Youth Club on Wednesdays, they would also get together about every other week on another day to talk about things that are important to them, to pray, to study the Bible, to do service projects, and to do some fun recreational activities as well. And as soon as the other 5^th and 6^th graders heard that we were meeting with that particular group of kids, right away many of them said that they wanted us to form small groups for them too. What’s going on here?

Or just a few months ago when our former organist retired at the age of 83 we were wondering, what are we going to do? Where are we ever going to find someone to play for us during our services? Because the reality is that it takes many churches 6 or even 9 months to find an organist. But all of a sudden, from somewhat out of the blue, Ethan came to us. And you can tell from his playing, he’s one of the finest musicians in western Pennsylvania. In fact, he was approached about the job of becoming the organist at Memorial Park Presbyterian Church, the largest church in our presbytery, but turned them down to come and be here. And because of Ethan coming here, we can all see that great kinds of things that are just beginning to take place in our worship. Again, you have to ask yourself: What is going on here?

And in just about two weeks now, because of a special gift that our church received, we’re going to be able to add a young man named Mike Haddox to our church staff as our Coordinator of Youth, Family, and Young Adult Ministry. And there’s no telling in what kinds of ways our youth and young adult ministries are just waiting to explode. Why are all these things happening at the same time? Is it just coincidence? I don’t think so. No, I believe that God is up to something. God is up to something here in our church.

So, what does that mean for us? If God really is up to something here in our church, what should we do? Well, for one, I think it means we need to spend even more time praying. We need to spend more time praying that God will continue to be present here in our midst and that we might be able to see and understand what it is that God is doing.

Second, I think if God is up to something here in our midst, it means that we need to be open and willing to do what God is calling us to do. Are we willing to use our time to take part in what God is wanting us to do? Are we willing to give of our treasure, are we willing to generously give of our money, to support what’s taking place? And are we willing to take whatever talents and skills we have and put them to use to do what God is leading us to do?

And third, if God truly is up to something here in our midst, I think it means that we need to have a sense of expectation. We need to be convinced that the status quo, the way that things have been and are right now, isn’t good enough – that God has something even bigger and better in mind for us, and it’s that goal that we need to be constantly pressing on toward.

God is up to something here at Crafton United Presbyterian Church. Great and wonderful things are happening here in this congregation that you can’t describe as being mere coincidences. No, the good news is that God is at work to bring about a new hope, a new future – and God is inviting us to be a part of it.