“We Will Never Forget.” Like never before that phrase has a chilling significance. Perhaps that phrase crystallizes the events of the year 2001. While it is a year that we’ve vowed never to forget, strangely it’s also the one we wish we had never experienced. So we look forward to a new year leaving the horrors of the past behind us.
As Americans we celebrate the beginning of a New Year because deep down Americans and American culture have an incurable belief in the future. America is built on the promise of a brighter future and a better tomorrow because it is envisioned to be a land of endless opportunity. So for Americans a new year is a psychological representation of all that our culture strives after: a fresh start, a new outlook, new beginnings, new hopes, and new dreams. It’s a time to leave the past behind and press forward into the excitement of what lies ahead. In our exuberance, though, we forget one very critical detail. Whether we realize it or not our past was once our future. All that we wish we could forget about the year gone by is oddly also that which was included in the promise of the future at our last New Year’s celebration.
How should we as God’s people view the passing of 2001, especially in light of all that has happened? For help we turn to the 63rd chapter of the prophet Isaiah. As we listen to the striking words of verse 7 we will be led to begin our new year with a prayer of praise to our heavenly Father for his many blessings of the past.
In order to understand the significance of this verse we need to understand something about the setting in which it was first spoken. Isaiah was actively prophesying during the tumultuous period when the 10 northern tribes of Israel were facing annihilation or deportation at the hands of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. While they along with their heathen countrymen were facing a grim national future, and they too along with their unbelieving neighbors were feeling the effects of social and political upheaval, the prophet Isaiah gives us a striking picture of the attitude of God’s faithful people living in Israel. With one mind and heart Isaiah portrays these believers beginning their prayer with these words: “I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us-- yes, the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses” (Isaiah 63:7). In the midst of turmoil, God’s people are joined in giving him thanks and praise as they reflect on his past blessings!
What a remarkable reminder for us as well! Yes we too can’t help but feel the effects of 2001 together with the unbelieving segment of America. Yes, we too are feeling the effects of earthly uncertainty together with every heathen American at this point in our national history. Yet, what joy and gladness are ours because we know that we are counted among God’s faithful people, his spiritual nation of Israel!
Yet even with that piece of comfort is it easy for us to recount all the blessings our God has poured out on us this past year? Will we only remember 2001 as the year the Twin Towers came tumbling down? What will we, as God’s people, remember as we recount 2001? Blessings or disasters? Do we recognize all of the evidences of God’s loving-kindnesses and his acts of grace flowing from his compassionate love for us? Do we treasure all that God’s greatest gift to us in Jesus Christ our Savior means for us now and forever? Do we see the incredible blessings God lines up for our lives as he moves us to seek him and his kingdom first? Do we recognize that all we have is a gift from him hand: our bodies, our lives, our health, our food, our clothing, our homes, our families, the ability to work, and work to do? Do we identify his angels guarding and protecting us from all sorts of dangers and disasters every single day? Do we appreciate the incredible miracle he performed on our lives when he broke down our resistant hearts and brought us to faith in his Son? Are we aware that it’s his hand of blessing that still strengthens us and protects us in the Christian faith through the gifts of His Word and Sacraments right now? Do we count this congregation where we rejoice in the sure hope of heaven as we partake of those perfect gifts as one of his great blessings to us? Do we recognize each person associated with this congregation as a special blessing in our lives of faith as another person to grow with, another person to encourage and support us and another person for us to encourage and support? The list of blessings is just getting started! Could we possibly list all of the compassionate and gracious things that our God does for us this past year?
In the verse from Isaiah the Holy Spirit shows us that we would do well to try! Why? The hearts, lips, and lives of the faithful in Israel were filled with praise for God as they recounted all of God’s blessings to them even though they were facing earthly trouble and distress. Nothing has changed. Our praise is a response to God’s kindness and compassion for us. In fact it’s because God has been so generous in showering his acts of undeserved love and kindness on us that we have reason to praise him our whole lives through!
While God has given us more blessings than we could ever thank him for – we are constantly plagued by the sin that lives in our lives that blinds us to the true source of all of our blessings. The problem isn’t that God hasn’t blessed us enough. The problem is that we don’t appreciate his blessings enough, and when that’s the case our response to his blessings is half-hearted, insincere, uncommitted, and insignificant. It’s when we fail to recognize and appreciate all that God has done for us that the volume of our songs of praise to God begin to fade, that the joy of Christian faith in our hearts begins turning into depression, and that the life of Christian service which brings us fulfillment and satisfaction starts grinding to a halt. That’s sin because sin is taking God’s blessings for granted. Sin is demanding more from him without stopping to appreciate the abundance he has poured out on us and thanking him accordingly. Who of us has never been guilty of that sin?
That struggle is our struggle. That struggle is a constant reminder of what life is really like here, in this world. Life in this sinful world and in this sinful flesh will always be an inner struggle against our own thanklessness, discontent, and greed. Had God left us to our own schemes we would have no legitimate reason to celebrate the future – just as we would have every reason to try and erase our past.
Thankfully our God has secured a brighter future for us through the past sacrifice of his Son. As Christians we gain a better vision of our future as we meditate upon the great things our God has done for us in the past – culminating in the work of Jesus Christ, crucified, died, and raised again. As Christians our future is intimately tied to the past. On Good Friday afternoon our massive debt of guilt was paid when Jesus solemnly declared, “It is finished,” gave up his spirit and died. The door to heaven was opened wide to us when on Easter Sunday morning our Savior showed himself alive, proof positive that God the Father accepted the payment for sin offered by his Son. The day we were baptized Jesus’ receipt of forgiveness was delivered into our hearts. Each day that we come into contact with his Gospel our vision of our heavenly future gets clearer and brighter.
So what will we as God’s people never forget about 2001? Let us never forget that in 2001 our gracious God continued to assure us that he really did come to live in human flesh and blood upon our sin-filled planet. May we never forget that in 2001 our gracious Savior reminded us at so many times and in so many different ways that there actually was a real cross, just outside of Jerusalem, that had his blood spattered all over it. May we never forget that in 2001 Jesus filled us with joy to know that his grave still stands empty, and one day so will ours! May those blessed truths be our source of warm memories of the past and our blessed hope for our future yet to come! Amen.
