“New Uses for Old Things”

Have you ever thought about the difference between planning and preparation?
        We plan for Thanksgiving dinner.
        We plan for Christmas parties.
        But no matter how much we plan, it doesn’t mean we will be prepared.
    Remember Christmas two years ago when it snowed?  All the planning my family did was pointless and we were unprepared.  And yet, we had a wonderful time doing something we hadn’t planned.  And we celebrated Christmas anyway.  Just differently.
    It sort of snowed this past week.  And we on the staff of Westminster were ready.  Patricia in the church office updated the staff phone tree in case we had to call one another.  I had the phone numbers of the day care center director.  But we were unprepared for what happened.  Which was basically nothing.
    I watched a movie this past week that got me thinking about all this in a new way.  The movie is called “Retroactive”.  In the movie a woman is able to go back in time to try to fix a terrible situation.  But the first time she goes back she in fact makes things worse.  So she goes back in time again. And Again. And every time she goes back it gets worse than the time before. The more she tries to fix it the worse it gets. Until the last time.  The last time she goes back in time the furthest, to a time before any of the terrible events happened. And then, when it comes time for them to occur, she just lets them come. She does not try to fix things for others.  They have to fix them for themselves. 
    No matter how much she planned, she could not fix things for others.
    They had to do it for themselves.
    And she simply had to have hope in them, and wait.
    And she was unprepared for that, until she had failed numerous times.
        Finally she was ready.     Finally she was prepared.    To trust.
    On the front of your Order of Worship is a photograph.  You might take a look at it now. Notice the color of the shoes.  And the chess pieces.  And notice these two boys engaged with one another.  It is a remarkable photograph.  It may have been staged, I don’t know.  But think about why it is remarkable.  [ pause ]
It this world. 
In this culture.   
There is a long history that makes this photograph remarkable. 
It evokes that history for me when I see it.
    The photo is from the front cover of a book about reconciliation by a man named Rob Corcoran.  The name of the book is Trustbuilding.  In the book a man from Richmond, Virginia is quoted as saying this about bridging gaps between people in our culture: “build a bridge of trust strong enough to bear the weight of the truth you are trying to deliver.”   (repeat quote)
    To bridge a gap from the events of the past…to the future for which we hope…we need a strong bridge.  We need a strong bridge because we have a strong truth.  The truth we have…to carry us across that bridge into the future is the reality of hope. 
    But hope is not something you plan for.
    Hope is more about how you prepare.
    Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not against planning.  That’s not my point.
        I’m a planner…many of you know that.
        Planning is important in many areas of life.
            But this is about something else.
            This is about hope.
    And hope is not something you plan for.
        Hope is more connected to how you prepare…
    How do we prepare for a future we can’t see?
    How do we do as Matthew writes in the gospel reading for today:
        “be ready”
    Be ready, Matthew says.     /      But how do we be ready?
    Matthew and the prophet Isaiah each have very different pictures of the future for which we are called to prepare. Matthew basically says, “Wake up and smell the coffee, the future will have challenges”!.  The future will not be easy. 
    Isaiah says, the future will be wonderful.  Isaiah paints a picture of a time when things are transformed.  Swords are beaten into plowshares.  Spears into pruning hooks.  And nation will not lift up weapon against nation…this is Isaiah’s hope…
    But if that as the hope…if Isaiah is right about the future…if that is the truth we have to carry across that bridge into the future…then we need a pretty strong bridge I think.  The events this week between North Korea and South Korea surely emphasize that.  Artillery and explosions happen again and again throughout history.  Nuclear arsenals are not being converted into factories to produce plowshares or pruning hooks.   
    But pick up your order of worship again and look at that photo.
    And hear these words from Archbishop Desmond Tutu:
    “I’m not an optimist, I’m a prisoner of hope”
        Tutu calls us all to be prisoners of hope with him.
    What is the difference between an optimist and a prisoner of hope?  Maybe it is similar to the difference between a planner and someone who is prepared. 
    How do we prepare for the future?
    How do we “get ready”?
    Maybe one way is to imprison ourselves…to that hope.
    The word “imprison” suggests that it is not easy to hope.
        But maybe recognizing that is part of the preparation.
    And maybe another way to prepare is to begin building that bridge,
whatever that might mean.
    As I was standing in line at the grocery store a book caught my eye.  It is called, “New Uses for Old Things”.  799 innovative new uses for everyday items.  According to the book: an old wine cork is a good pin cushion; an old mitten is good for keeping your sunglasses from getting scratched in your glove compartment; and a paper towel tube is a good way to tame a tangle of computer cables.  Something not in the book that I once learned at a church bazzar: old plastic communion cups turned upside down and painted gold look like bells for the Christmas tree.  
    The question is, what old things do we want to make new?
    Can swords really be hammered into plowshares?
    Spears into pruning hooks?
    Isaiah suggests that at first it might be a little like getting water to flow uphill.  Isaiah says that the house of God will be established in the highest mountain, and nations will “flow” to it.  People will flow up that mountain. 
    And it will come to pass…
    At an hour that we can’t predict…
    That nation will not lift sword against nation…
    And we will awaken…dreary from sleep…like Jacob from a dream…
    And the earth will be a different place…
    And water will flow uphill…
    And that photo on the Order of Worship won’t be so remarkable…at least not for the reasons it is remarkable now…
    But instead something new that we can’t possibly prepare for will have taken place.
    Look at the photo again:
    Hear the words of Tutu:
    I am not an optimist… I am a prisoner of hope.
    How can we imprison ourselves to hope?
    How can we build a bridge strong enough for that hope?
    What old things… do we want to make new?
    As I think about these questions, I wonder if the two visions of the future from Matthew and Isaiah aren’t closer than I first thought.  Isaiah’s vision of the future is a world transformed.  Old things used for new purposes.  Not destroyed.  But transformed. 
    SO - do you want to be transformed?
        Part of me does - - - and part of me doesn’t. 
    As clear as I am about my imperfections…I’m used to them.
    Transformation is a bit scary to me.  Maybe scary in a good way, but scary. 
        Being transformed feels kind of like what happens on a “Day of Reckoning”
        Which - - is starting to sound more like Matthew.
    Did you know that Milton Bradley company took the “Day of Reckoning” out of the game of “Life”?  How many of you have played the game of Life…I mean the one by Milton Bradley.  Ok so in the game you journey through life decisions..career…family…in little plastic cars.  And on the second to the last square the player is faced with the ultimate decision: decide whether they have enough money to win and live in “Millionaire Acres”…or…whether they will live the rest of their life at the poor farm.  And there is also, always, the long shot: talking the chance of going for everything or loosing it all.  And that final choice WAS called the “Day of Reckoning” - - - until they changed the game.  The more recent versions don’t call it that anymore. 
    Too scary I guess.
    But maybe it’s not as scary as we think.
    Maybe reckoning can be good for us.
    Reckoning as in…measuring the possibilities.
    Preparing…to be prisoners of hope. 
    Preparing to use the old familiar things in our lives - - for some new purpose.
    Living into some future that God - even now – is calling us into.