A New Thing ~ Note: this sermon was offered at the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Corning, New York. The Rev. Marraine Kattell of the Corning Church preached in Norwich ~ 03/17/2013 ~ Fifth Sunday in Lent.

A New Thing ~ Note: this sermon was offered at the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Corning, New York.  The Rev. Marraine Kattell of the Corning Church preached in Norwich ~ 03/17/2013 ~ Fifth Sunday in Lent.

A New Thing

“Look!  I am about to do a new thing! / Now it springs forth! / Can you not see it? / Do you not perceive it? / I am making a road in the desert / I am making a way in the wilderness / I am making rivers in the desert— / setting waters to flow over parched earth.” — Isaiah 43:19.

It is March 17th.  Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!  (Slight pause.)  Rarely on St. Patrick’s Day do I even bother to wear green.

Whereas it is often claimed we are all Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day, my presumption is if my full name— Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr.— does not say I am of Irish descent, nothing will.  I figure for me the wearing of some green on March 17th would be redundant.  (Slight pause.)

A few of you know me from my work in the Susquehanna Association, but most of you do not know me.  Therefore, I’d like to tell you a little something about myself other than the biographical notes you will find in the bulletin.

And yes, if you have not already guessed it, my name— Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr.— by its nature tends to profess another truth.  I am not just of Irish descent, but of Irish Catholic descent.  Further, I grew up in an epicenter of Irish Catholicism— New York City.

But it’s worse than that.  It’s not just that I grew up Irish Catholic and in New York City.  For his entire career my late father was a teacher at a parochial high school.  And not just any parochial high school.

My Dad taught at Regis High School, a well known Jesuit, all scholarship high school on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.   One Jesuit became a particularly close friend of the family.  He was another Irish fellow— the Rev. Vincent O’Keefe.  At one time Vinnie— or as I liked to call him, Uncle Vinnie— was the President of Fordham University, later the second in command of the Jesuits, stationed in Rome and because of that position wound up being a commentator for ABC News on all things concerning the Vatican.

Ah, but it gets even worse than all those connections might imply.  You see, then there’s my mother.  My late Mom was a nun.

Now, I don’t mean to provide any scandal here so, to be clear, she had left the convent far behind and had married my father by the time I came along.  But let’s address the reality of my personal history.  The fact that I stand in this pulpit, any pulpit, given my family history is merely an affirmation that I went into the family business.  (Slight pause.)

It is hard to escape from history.  It is hard to escape from personal history.  It is hard to escape from institutional history.  Escaping from history to a new place, a new thing, can be done.  But it is also well to be aware, in the words of  George Santayana, that (quote): “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”   (Slight pause.)

History— my ancestors arrived on these shores from Ireland shortly before the Civil War, an era when the Irish were stereotyped as uncivilized and their very humanity was questioned.  Advertisements for employment regularly said: “No Irish Need Apply.”

Many regarded the Catholicism of the Irish as an alien, rebellious religion and the Irish culture, itself, as an alien, rebellious culture.  In fact, during the mid and late nineteenth century insurance companies would often refuse to sell Catholics insurance.  Why?  Simply because they were Catholic.   (Slight pause.)

And so, in 1882 the Knights of Columbus was born.  Early on my grandfather, Edward James Connolly, joined the Knights of Columbus.  He joined the 197th Council ever formed.  Today there are 15,000 Councils world-wide.

The initial purpose and the real purpose of the Knights of Columbus was and is to be a (quote) “mutual benefit society,” an insurance company, one from which Catholics could buy life insurance without fear of discrimination.   So, I suppose that specific history does raise the question: are we really all Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day?  And if not, what does that say?  And if we are, what does that say?  (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “Look!  I am about to do a new thing! / Now it springs forth! / Can you not see it? / Do you not perceive it? / I am making a road in the desert / I am making a way in the wilderness / I am making rivers in the desert— / setting waters to flow over parched earth.”  (Slight pause.)

On my first day in Seminary the very first class I attended was a survey course in New Testament.  This is the first thing the professor said: “The New Testament is about confrontation.  The New Testament is about confronting in love.  The New Testament is about confronting one another in love.”

“But most importantly, the New Testament is about confronting yourself in love.  Unless you can confront yourself, do not bother confronting anyone else in any way.”  (Slight pause.)  Perhaps that is the real lesson of history: the need to confront who we have been and, therefore, who we are and, therefore, who we might be and, therefore, who we might become.  (Slight pause.)

(As was mentioned earlier), water is a recurring theme in the reading from Isaiah— from the water through which the people passed out bondage, to the cleansing, thirst quenching, life giving presence of the Spirit of God.  So, is water a sign of constancy or is water a symbol of change?  (Slight pause.)

The prophet, first, is clearly reminding the people of what God has done— the Exodus from Egypt, the making of Covenant.  This is an appeal to consistency.  This is a recognition of what has been.  Only having done that does the prophet proclaim the possibility of the new.  (Slight pause.)

It is only when we confront our own history and remind ourselves of our own history that approaching the new even becomes a possibility.  Please note: even after confronting our history ‘the new’ does not become a given.  But it does become a possibility.  (Slight pause.)

Historically we Christians have taken the words of Isaiah to address the thought that in Jesus God is doing something new.  However and therefore, too often we Christians have dismissed the thought that in Jesus God is also doing something old.

The theologian Nicholas Thomas Wright has said that in Jesus we find the “climax of the covenant.”  Jesus, you see, is the Christ, the Messiah.

Hence, in the resurrection of Jesus, in the resurrection of the Christ, we can see and experience both a fulfillment of what has been, what is past, a retelling of our salvation history because of our covenant with God.  But in, by and through our salvation history we can also see and experience the possibility of the new.  We can experience seeing ourselves, experience confronting ourselves right now as a people of the covenant.  (Slight pause.)

There is one thing which I believe to be constantly clear about the covenant God has made with humanity.  I believe that because of the action of God in the resurrection of Jesus tribalism is no longer an acceptable way of life.

We are no longer Greeks or Jews or Irish or Americans or Hispanics or Muslims or Republicans or Democrats or short or tall or thin or chubby any other tribal distinction you care to name.  We are all one, one tribe— God’s tribe— called to be in covenant with God and one another.  That, my friends, is our real history played out into the present and seeing hope for the future.  (Slight pause.)

So, what is this new thing of which Isaiah speaks?  Is it an old thing?  Well, yes, since the proclamation Isaiah makes is about covenant.  Is it a new thing?  Well, yes, since historically we seem to have this proclivity to break into tribes, to not see ourselves as one, in covenant with God, the new is a given.  (Slight pause.)

Perhaps the issues we must face and probably need to face on a daily basis can be summed up in a series of questions.  Who have we been as individuals and as a group?  Can we learn from that?

Based on that, can we just consider the possibility that God honors the old and is always doing something new?  If we can consider it, what will we have to do to work with God, to walk in the paths offered by God— God who clearly sees humanity as one people.  Amen.

03/17/2013
First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Corning, New York.

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “Church Historian and Theologian Karen Armstrong says this (quote): ‘If your understanding of the divine has made you kinder, more empathetic and impelled you to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this is good theology.  But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, self-righteous or if it led you to kill in the name of God, it is bad theology.’”

BENEDICTION: Hear now this blessing, commonly known as the Irish Blessing: May the road rise up to meet us.  May the wind be always at our back.  May we have full moon on a dark night.  May the sun shine warm upon our faces.  May the rain fall soft upon our fields.  And until we meet again, may the hand of God hold us and the wing of God offer us shelter, and the peace of God be with us, always.  Amen.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regis_High_School_%28New_York_City%29

[2] http://www.jesuit.org/blog/index.php/2012/07/fr-vincent-okeefe-sj-remembered/

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santayana - George Santayana (1863 – 1952).

[4] http://www.victoriana.com/Irish/IrishPoliticalCartoons.htm

[5]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus