Remember the past or forget the past?

Sermon delivered Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013 (26th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 28C), at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, TN (Isaiah 65:17-25, Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6))

There seems to be a tension between the messages in our two readings from Isaiah today. In the first reading, from Isaiah 65, the prophet brings us this word from God:

“I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.”

But then, right after that, we read Canticle 9, which is from Isaiah chapter 12, which encouraged us to remember the things of the past and the “great things” that God has done:

“Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples;
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things,
and this is known in all the world.”

So which is it that we’re supposed to do as people who want to be faithful to God – remember the things of the past, or forget the things of the past? Recall and retell the history of our relationship with God, or look for God to do a “new thing” in our midst? Should we look to the past or to the future for our sense of inspiration and connection with God?

The authors of these two passages from Isaiah had different opinions on this question. Even though both passages appear in the book of Isaiah, biblical scholars believe that they were written in two different times in Israel’s history, by different authors.

Isaiah 12, which exhorts the people to remember the “great things” that the Lord has done, was written during a period of Israel’s history when the recent past looked much better than the future. King Uzziah, who had recently died, had led Israel to be a prominent political and military force in the region. But now, the armies of the neighboring Assyrian Empire were gathering on the horizon, and the political future did not look so promising for the nation of Israel. In this context, the prophet calls the people to remember the great things of the past. The “new thing” that seemed immanent – attack by a hostile neighboring country – did not look like it would be a cause for rejoicing.

The writer of Isaiah 65, by contrast, is writing over 150 years later, after the nation of Israel has been defeated by the Babylonian Empire and the Israelites have spent 50 years in exile, away from Jerusalem and the land that was so sacred to them. When the Babylonians were then defeated by the Persians, all the peoples who had been displaced from their homelands under the Babylonians were allowed to return home. Some Israelites returned to Jerusalem, but when they arrived, they found their beloved city in ruins, with their temple, the most holy place in the city, destroyed. All those “great things” that God had done for them in the past that the author of Isaiah 12 had encouraged them to remember seemed a glimmer in the very distant past. Things had gotten so bad that no amount of turning to the past would be a comfort. It is in this context that the writer of Isaiah 65 brings this word from God to the people:

“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 Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.”

In this context – after having been to the depths of despair, to a place so low that it seemed they couldn’t go anywhere but up, the future looked brighter than the recent past for the people of Israel. Even though Jerusalem was in ruins, at least they had been allowed to return, and there was hope for the possibility of rebuilding. Dwelling on the loss and destruction of the past, or nurturing nostalgic memories of the way things used to be back in the “glory days” of the kingdom of Israel would only distract them from the necessary task of moving forward. And so the prophet encourages the people to forget the things of old and rejoice in the new thing God is about to do in their midst.

Though these two messages – the call to remember the past and the call to forget the past – can seem contradictory at first glance, the early church saw fit to include them both in our sacred scriptures, and it wasn’t because they were unaware of the tension. No, this tension between celebrating the past and looking to the future lies at the heart of the Christian faith, which, by definition, lives in a tension between the “already” and the “not yet.” We proclaim the truth that in Jesus, “the kingdom of God has come near,” and yet we acknowledge that the fullness of that kingdom will not be realized until the next world. In our Eucharistic proclamation, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,” we both look to the past for inspiration – in the life, death, and resurrection of the historical Jesus of Nazareth – and find inspiration in the future, through the promise that Christ’s “kingdom” – a new age of justice and peace – will indeed one day come “on earth as it is in heaven,” and it “will have no end.”

And what a blessing it is that both messages are included in our scriptures. There are times when one message seems more comforting or helpful than the other, just as it was for the ancient Israelites.

When we feel grateful and thankful for the many blessings we see and feel all around us, when we are in periods of our lives where we feel safe, happy, and fulfilled, we may find ourselves focusing on the sentiments in Isaiah 12 – “sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things.”

But when we go through those dark periods where, like the Israelites returning from exile in Babylon, we feel that our lives have turned into a series of one calamity after another, of trials and challenges that seem to have no end, when it seems that we have fallen so low that there is nowhere to go but up, we might find comfort in the words of Isaiah 65 – “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” No doubt many in the Phillippines right now, still reeling from the effects of the recent typhoon, would find themselves in this category. When the former things are not things we want to remember, such a message can come as a blessed relief, a source of true joy – that the former things that have caused us such pain and suffering will not be remembered or come to mind, but instead there will be this new creation of a world of peace, where even the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Which message do you most need to hear in this season of your life? Are you in a place where you feel grateful for the wonderful things God has done in your past, or are you looking ahead, waiting and hoping for an entirely new creation? Are you singing the praises of the Lord because he has done great things, or are you longing for the days when the former things will not be remembered or come to mind?

I invite you to reflect on that question as we move into the season of Advent in a few weeks. This tension between looking backward and looking forward for inspiration and connection with God is particularly relevant during the season of Advent, since Advent both invites us to prepare for the celebration of an event from the past – the birth of Jesus in the first century – and calls us to prepare for an event in the future – the Second Coming of Christ. During Advent, we both “sing the praises of the Lord” for the great thing he has done in the birth of Jesus, and look forward to that new creation promised when Jesus will “return to judge the living and the dead.” As you prepare for Advent this year, think about where the emphasis is in your own life this season – looking back to remember the things God has done in the past, or looking forward to a new creation. Perhaps whichever one of these passages from Isaiah most resonates with you might become a meditation piece for you this Advent.

Of course, it is also important to remember that Scripture does not force us to choose only one way of thinking – EITHER remember and celebrate the past OR forget the past and look to the future. Both motifs are scriptural, and we are given the space to do both. So, if it feels like a false choice between the two, sit with both of them. You can both “sing the praises of the Lord for the great things he has done” AND “rejoice forever in what God is creating anew” in your life.

Because, of course, God has ALWAYS done “new things” in the midst of God’s people, and they never did completely forget the past as they moved into their new ways of being – otherwise they would not have preserved the stories of our faith that have been passed down through the ages. So we too do not have to completely forget the past in order to open ourselves to the new things God will do in our future – we only have to be willing to live with that Advent-flavored tension between the “already” and the “not yet.”