Life in a Construction Zone

Even though they are professionals and quite accomplished, things still took far longer than they planned, and there were a number of unexpected problems encountered, such as foundations in the wrong places, buried utilities not on any map, work done out of order which caused problems with the next steps in the process, cost overruns, government red tape, a section of the house out of square for which they had to compensate, and on and on went the headaches and delays.

The result was beautiful, way over the top extravagant, but very costly.

Life in a construction zone is chaotic.

We have tried to forget what it was like when the bridge was under construction just outside this building.

There was one week when we had trenches on all four sides of the property at the same time; the one on the south side was 20' deep and was open for weeks.

It is bad enough for those of us with sight; Lou had a terrible time because the barriers were in a different place each time he tried to get here, and there was no friendly way for him to get around and discern what went where.

It takes time, a lot of time to put together something that is worthwhile.

The Lord is working on us in the midst of this world, and he is taking his good sweet time about it.

And we cannot see the whole plan; and every week the barriers and the walkways are in different places for us.

Our lives are often quite chaotic.

The old Gospel song has it right:

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care.

We should never be discouraged-- take it to the Lord in prayer.

Jesus knows our every weakness – take it to the Lord in prayer.

[LBW #439]

And God's schedule for dealing with our prayer may surprise us, but more often with its deliberateness than with its speed.

Usually, it takes time, a lot of time.

But there the occasions, such as when a young pastor was visiting a senior lady in the hospital.

She was gasping, in distress, and so the pastor made it a very short visit.

Should he offer a prayer for her before he left?

Yes, please pray for health.

“Lord God, if it is your will, restore this woman to health.

However, show us how to accept your will, so that whether she receives good health or not, she will know that you are close to her.”

All of a sudden, the woman opened her eyes, sat up, put her legs out of bed, and said, “I feel better, so much better...I think I am healed!”

The nurse peeked around the door at the commotion, and the woman said even more loudly, “I'm healed!”

The young pastor staggers out to his car, and shakily prays, “Lord, don't ever do that to me again.!”

Not often do things move that quickly in our lives.

More often, they are like the US-220 project; years of arguing, botched planning, delays, cost overruns, accidents and injuries...until we wonder if there ever will be an Interstate 99 completed.

Impatience is of course our problem all along the way.

The Israelites sitting in exile in Babylon knew impatience that had long since drifted over into despair.

Psalm 137 sings it mournfully: By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept as we remembered Zion.

They found it very hard to believe that their situation was in the process of being changed, that what looked like a hopeless mess was in fact being reorganized into a new Exodus by God.

Remember in the first Exodus how they were backed up against the sea with Pharaoh’s army pressing them and the chaotic sea behind them.

And God made a way through the chaos and brought them at length safely through.

Now again in this situation 700 years later when they thought that all they could do was cry, God rescued them.

After 40 years of exile, what hope is there of something happening?

The bonds that tie them to the Babylonian empire seem so strong.

Yet even as they despair, God is readying a new thing, a second rescue, a second Exodus.

The bondage that seemed so tight was over thrown.

Isaiah is the one who saw it coming.

In the wilderness, prepare the way, he exclaims.

As they look west from Babylon they see the bleak wilderness of deserts and mountains, as dreadful to them as the chaos of the Red Sea had been to their ancestors.

And as they looked within themselves, they saw the same trackless chaos.

In the wilderness, both that outside as well as inside yourselves, prepare the Lord's way.

His will be straight paths!

God has studied and drawn and planned.

Now he has committed himself to Project Rescue.

You can count on it.

God's commitment signals a new and sure outcome.

Construction is underway.

And because God's construction is guaranteed, this time of building is already part of the time of joy and celebration.

“Be comforted even now in the middle of the mess,” Isaiah seems to be telling the people.

“Even now is the beginning of God's new thing.”

The wilderness shall not endure.

And now to the mess in the aisle.

Just as in any highway construction project, we've been muttering: “What's going on now!? Will things be any different because of it?”

Its placement just exactly there was quite deliberate, for it places us in the middle of a construction zone.

That is the message that Isaiah and Mark want to get across to us.

Mark's Gospel begins with The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” and the first story that is related is about John the Baptist with his message In the wilderness, prepare the Lord's way.

We are that construction zone; both the wilderness of 21^st century life around us, and our inner wildernesses are places where God is at work.

He will yet do new things with us.

His commitment to the project began at Holy Baptism.

His aim of gathering us all at the great and final Banquet is sure.

In between, though, things are messy.

But with the origin and goal secure, we live in the assurance that no matter how difficult our situation, God will somehow make use of it and transform it so that we are the praising and serving persons we are supposed to be.

No one is a throw-away; no one is forgotten.

Your life and mine are parts of God's Project Rescue.

It takes time, a lot of time, in fact, a whole life-time for us to live in this construction zone.

Today we join Isaiah and Mark in proclaiming that it is time which is well and productively spent!

What new thing do you discern that God might do with and through each of us this week?

Come Lord, Jesus, quickly come. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.