The Wilderness Between

So I am grateful for you and the gifts of God that you bring with you into this space. As a church we want to do some things. We want to learn how to live in God's unfolding story. We want to be transformed by Jesus, learning to truly belong to each other across our differences, as God invites us into freedom, into joy, and into boundless generosity. We pray whether this is your first time with us or you've been a part of our community for a while that you would feel the invitation of the Holy Spirit to join in with us in this vision. And if you happen to be new this morning and you're looking for a church home, you're in the right place because we would love for you to be a part of our fellowship. Pastor Hannah and I would love to become some of your pastors.

Alright, so this morning I want to do something a little different. I don't want to rush into a new idea. I actually want to pause, and I want to try to name something. I want to try to put words to what I think God has been doing among us over these last several weeks. Because for six weeks now we have been walking through our vision as a church, and I've noticed something. I've noticed that every week, whether it was me or Hannah, there has been this thread running underneath all of it. And I want to pull on that thread this morning because I think it's important for where we're going.

But first, let's hear from the prophet Isaiah. We're in Isaiah chapter forty-three, verses sixteen through twenty-one.

I love this passage. I love it because Isaiah is doing something here that is so helpful for us. He's speaking to a people who are stuck between two realities. They know what was. They have this memory of God's power, God parted the sea, God drowned the army, God made a way when there was no way. That's the story they've been telling themselves. That's what they hold on to. And God says to them through the prophet, and this is surprising, God says forget it. Don't dwell on it. Because I'm doing something new. And God says I'm doing this new thing where? Not in the temple. Not in the palace. Not in the places you'd expect. God says I am making a way in the wilderness.

Now saints, I need you to sit with that for a moment. Because the wilderness is not the place where you expect God to build a road. The wilderness is the place you're trying to get out of. The wilderness is the place that makes you anxious. It's the in-between. It's the place where the old thing has ended but the new thing hasn't fully arrived yet. And God says that's exactly where I'm working.

Where We've Been

Let me take you back six weeks. On Epiphany Sunday we started with the Magi. Remember? These outsiders who noticed a light in the sky and decided to follow it. They didn't have a map. They didn't have a plan. They didn't even know where the road would lead. All they had was a light and a willingness to move. And I said to you that morning, if you take nothing else away, take this: live in God's world with curiosity and expectation. That was week one.

Then we turned to John's gospel. Jesus says, "When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself." Not sort. Not filter. Not force. Draw. And we started to talk about what it means to be a centered-set community — a community where faith isn't about how close you are to the boundary but about what direction your life is moving in. Hannah came back the following week and deepened that, she walked us through Luke and showed us how Jesus actually formed community. He sat at table with tax collectors and Pharisees, with insiders and outsiders, with people who had no business being in the same room. And she said the entry point is desire. If you want to be with Jesus, you're welcome.

Then I came back and we wrestled with the hard part. Because belonging across our differences, real differences, not just preferences, that's difficult theological work. We talked about human dignity. We talked about the difference between disagreements that can be held in tension around a shared table and positions that deny someone's right to be at the table at all. And I said curiosity over judgment. That's what I asked of you. Curiosity over judgment.

And then last week Hannah took us to Galatians and she talked about freedom. Real freedom. Not freedom as doing whatever you want — that's tyranny. Freedom as being unstuck. Freedom as operating the way you were designed to operate. And Sarah stood up here and told us about buying a dumb phone and reading the Bible every day and how those simple acts of surrender opened up joy and generosity she didn't expect.

Six weeks. God's unfolding story. Centered-set faith. Belonging across difference. Freedom, joy, generosity. Do you see the thread? I'm going to name it for you.

Where We Are: The Wilderness

Here's what I've come to understand, and Hannah and I have talked about this a lot, as a church, we are in a wilderness season.

Now when I say wilderness I don't mean we're lost. I don't mean God has abandoned us. I don't mean something has gone wrong. I mean something very specific. A few years ago I preached on this and I've returned to it many times since. Change, real change, deep change, doesn't come all at once. It comes in three phases.

The first phase is endings. Transition starts with an ending. Something that was familiar comes to a close. Maybe it's a way of doing things. Maybe it's a season of life. Maybe it's an assumption about how the world works. And you have to grieve it. You have to say goodbye to it before you can move forward. Some of you walked in here today carrying endings. Some of you are still processing endings from years ago.

The second phase is what I call the wilderness zone. It's the neutral zone. It's the in-between. The old thing has ended but the new thing isn't fully operational. This is the hard part. This is the place where you're tempted to go back. Things aren't working the way you expected. You don't have all the answers yet. You can't see the whole road. And if I'm being honest, this is where our church is right now.

We've been through some things. We've had transitions in leadership. We've had seasons where the ground under us felt like it was shifting. We've had to let go of some things that were familiar and comfortable. And we haven't fully arrived at the new thing yet. We're in the middle. We're in the wilderness.

And here's what I want you to hear because this is the most important thing I'm going to say this morning, the third phase is new beginnings. Beginnings involve the activating of new habits, new values, and a change in how we see ourselves and the world. New beginnings are coming. But, and here's the thing about new beginnings, you can't rush them. You can't manufacture them. They emerge as we trust God in the wilderness.

Now I preached a sermon a few years back at a leadership conference about Moses. Some of you have heard me tell parts of this story. Moses had to process that his time in Egypt had come to an end. He had to sit in the wilderness — and the text says he was there for a long time. We don't know exactly how long. Some scholars say forty years. But here's what I said then and I'll say it again: it was long enough for Moses to develop the internal world he needed in order to become aware of God's active presence.

And when Moses finally encounters God in the burning bush, he's in his wilderness zone. There's continuity from the past, the ending. He's in the middle, the neutral zone. And he's about to transition into the new beginning. And what does God say? God doesn't hand him a strategic plan. God doesn't give him a five-year forecast. God says, "I will be with you."

Saints, that's the same thing God is saying to us. I will be with you.

The presence of God covers all of the phases of transition. All of them. Endings, wilderness, and new beginnings. God doesn't just show up when things are clear. God doesn't only work when we have it figured out. God is present in the confusion. God is present in the uncertainty. God is present in the in-between.

And here's what Isaiah adds to that because Isaiah is writing to people in their own wilderness, people in exile, people who are between what was and what will be, God says, "See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?"

Do you not perceive it?

That's a real question. It's not rhetorical. God is asking, are you paying attention? Remember what we said in week one? Attentiveness. Curiosity. Are you looking for what God is doing? Because God isn't waiting for everything to be settled before God starts working. God is making a way in the wilderness right now.

Where We're Going

So where are we going? I want to be careful here. I want to be careful because I've seen what happens when pastors stand up and cast vision as though they've received a divine download of exactly what God is going to do. I don't have that. And I'm suspicious of anyone who says they do.

But here's what I do have. I have a conviction. And my conviction is this: God has called this church to be a place where the wilderness isn't something to escape from but something to walk through together.

Think about what we've been building over these six weeks. We've said we want to live in God's unfolding story, not our own manufactured story, but the story God is telling. We've said that faith is about direction, about orientation toward Jesus, not about having arrived. We've said that we want to belong to each other across our differences, real belonging, not just tolerance, not just politeness, but the kind of belonging that costs you something. And we've said that God invites us into freedom and joy and generosity, not as a reward for getting it right, but as the birthright of anyone who is willing to be unstuck by Jesus.

That's the church I want to be a part of. That's the church I believe God is forming us into. And here's the thing, we don't have to be finished to be faithful. We don't have to have it all figured out. We just have to be willing to walk.

Now in ten days we enter Lent. And Lent is a wilderness season. It's forty days. It mirrors Jesus' forty days in the wilderness after his baptism. And I don't think that's a coincidence, that we've spent these weeks naming who we are as a church and now we're about to enter the church's wilderness season together. Because Lent isn't punishment. Lent isn't about feeling bad about yourself. Lent is about paying attention. It's about stripping away the noise so that you can perceive what God is doing.

And I want to invite you into Lent this year not with dread but with trust. Trust that the God who made a way through the sea can make a way in the wilderness. Trust that the same God who said to Moses, "I will be with you," is saying it to you right now.

The Invitation

So here's what I want to ask of you this morning. Two things.

First, and I don't say this lightly, I want to invite you to membership. Now I know that word carries weight. For some of you, membership sounds institutional. It sounds like paperwork and obligations. That's not what I mean. What I mean is this: if you've been walking with us, if you've been drawn to what God is doing here, if you've been sitting in these seats week after week and something in you says I want to be a part of this, then I'm asking you to say it out loud. Membership at our church isn't about checking a box. It's about saying I'm in. I'm in this wilderness with you. I'm willing to walk this road. I want to belong, not just attend, but belong. Pastor Hannah and I would love to talk with you about that. Come to the Meet and Eat. Grab one of us after the service. Send us an email. However you want to do it. But don't let another week go by where you're sitting on the edges of something God is inviting you into the center of.

Second, we've put together a church survey. It's going to come up on the screen. You can scan the QR code. And I want you to fill it out today. Not because we need data, although we do, but because this is your chance to tell us what you're seeing. Remember what we said? God often speaks through the community. The Magi noticed the star. The outsiders often perceive what the insiders miss. So we want to hear from you. What are you experiencing? What do you need? What do you see God doing? This survey is an act of participation. It's you saying I'm paying attention too.

What's Next

Saints, I want to close with this. We are in the wilderness. And the wilderness can feel disorienting. It can feel uncertain. But Isaiah tells us that even the wild animals in the wilderness honor God — the jackals and the owls — because God provides water in the wasteland. Streams in the desert.

If God can make streams in the wasteland, God can sustain this church. If God can make a way in the wilderness, God can make a way for you. If God can say to a people in exile, "I am doing a new thing," then God can say it to us.

And here's the part that gets me every time. God says, "Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?"

It's already happening. The new thing is already emerging. It's in the way you showed up this morning. It's in the way Sarah stood up last week and told us about her dumb phone and her daily Bible reading. It's in the conversations you're having over donuts. It's in the risks you're taking to get to know someone who's different from you. It's in the fact that you keep coming back, week after week, to a church that asks you to hold tension, to practice curiosity, and to trust that God is at work even when you can't see the whole picture.

The new thing is springing up. Do you not perceive it?

As we come to the table this morning, I want you to come with open hands. Come with whatever endings you're carrying. Come with the uncertainty of your wilderness. Come with whatever new thing is just beginning to stir inside of you. And trust that the God who sets the table is the same God who makes a way in the wilderness.

You are not alone. We are walking this road together. And the presence of God covers all of it.

Amen.