Is 43:19 says ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?’ So often, like the disciples, we don’t perceive what God is doing. To perceive means ‘to see, to observe, to discern, to discover, to have knowledge of, to understand’ and so often, we find it hard to understand what God is saying and doing, usually because we can’t see beyond our own circumstances.

God tells us to see (behold, look out, notice) what He is doing and to take heed (listen up!) to what He is saying. When I watch Thumper the rabbit, his ears are able to swivel independently; he’s always listening out, always alert to sounds. We need to have that same attentiveness to God so that we can hear what He is saying to us.

Paul urges us to fix our attention on God (Col 3:1-4) so that we are not deceived or distracted by what we see (or don’t see.) When Elijah was prophesying that rain would come after three years of drought, this seemed unlikely. He kept sending his servant to look for rain, and six times the same answer came back: ‘There is nothing there.’ (1 Kings 18:43) It would have been easy to give up at that point, but Elijah persevered in prayer and the seventh time the answer was ‘a cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea’ (1 Kings 18:44)

It’s easy for us to be like the servant:  ‘There is nothing there. God’s not doing anything. He may have promised to save people and move in power in this valley, but we can’t see anything. There is nothing there.’ If Elijah had listened to the servant, he could have given up, but Elijah was a prophet. He was accustomed to listening for God’s voice. He was not distracted by what the natural eye could or could not see. We have to be able to perceive and listen for what God is doing and we have to hold on in believing prayer and faith until what is invisible finally becomes visible.

This morning’s sermon looked at Is 43:18-21. September in England is traditionally associated with the start of the new academic year, and in Goldthorpe, this is especially poignant since the new primary school will be opening this week. At this time of fresh starts and new beginnings, it’s worth realising that God also has new things for us. (Is 43:19, Is 42:9)

If we are to hear and see what God wants to do in the future, we have to be prepared to let go of the past. It’s important to remember what God has done, but we are not to dwell in the past, becoming ‘set in our ways.’ Often, we expect God to move in the same ways He has previously, but we need to be flexible and embrace the new things He does. We don’t want to become petrified (literally: ‘turned to stone’; figuratively: ‘paralysed by fear’) like the creatures in C. S. Lewis’s tale ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe‘:

So often, we are resistant to new things because these take us out of our comfort zone, but God wants us to be wholly dependent on Him, not on our skills and past experiences (see 1 Cor 2:3-5, 2 Cor 1:8-9). God is able to make a way in the wilderness (after all, He provided for the Israelites for 40 years while they were in the wilderness, giving miraculous provision of water, food and clothing) and streams in the wasteland; as we see new buildings emerging in Goldthorpe, we need to continue to believe not only for the economic regeneration of the area, but its spiritual regeneration also. God is on the move – are we ready?

Steve and Katuska Davies ask for ongoing prayer for the Bible college in Maputo, Mozambique. There is a small team there, with a new missionary (Michelle Heffer) about to join that team. There has been a lot of change in Mozambique recently, with much political instability, so please pray for peace in that country.

Steve and Katuska have made the decision to stay in the UK for the foreseeable future, mainly because of the educational needs of their three sons. Steve has recently been offered the pastorate of a church near the Mull of Kintyre and so they are looking to find accommodation in that small town. Please pray they will be able to find the right house for rent and that the boys, who are currently in school in Scotland, will make the transition to another school smoothly. Steve writes ‘pray that their varied experiences so far will be an asset rather than an obstacle.’ It can be very difficult to settle down, so pray for good friends and a smooth transition into a new area, new schools and new church.

Last night’s prayer walk in Goldthorpe saw a beautiful sunset near the new primary school building:

Pray for the new primary school as term re-starts shortly and for all schools in our local area. Pupils will be starting new classes and new schools; there will be new members of staff in most schools as well. Pray for all to settle quickly and for this to be a productive year in terms of learning and achievement.

In Goldthorpe, we have Goldthorpe Primary School and Sacred Heart Catholica Primary School as well as The Dearne ALC. In our local area, we also have Highgate Primary School, Gooseacre Primary and the Hill Primary in Thurnscoe (along with the Robert Ogden School for children on the ASD spectrum) and Carrfield and Heather Garth Primary Schools in Bolton-on-Dearne. Pray for all pupils, parents and staff at these schools, along with all those attending other secondary schools (including Netherwood in Wombwell and Wath Comprehensive and Saint Pius in Wath.)

Augustine is reputed to have said, ‘Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.’

There is a mystery in this inter-connection between prayer and work which again must be embraced rather than fathomed. We must not pray and simply sit back doing nothing (see 2 Thess 3.) Nor must we work tirelessly without praying (see Ps 127:1-2). We have to do our best, understanding that only God can save.

After the summer break, our mid-week meetings re-start this week, with a prayer meeting on Thursday 1st September at 7.30 p.m. We will meet at church initially, but will also be out prayer-walking in the community that evening. Do come along to pray with us if you are able. After that, prayer meetings will alternate with Bible studies, where we will be looking at 1 Cor 15 on 8th September.

On Friday afternoon at 2.30 p.m., we’ll be doing some very practical work of cleaning and tidying, ready for the Youth Club to re-start on Monday 5th September at 6.30 p.m. and the Parent & Toddler group on Friday 9th September at 9.30 a.m.

There is much in life that is a mystery to me. How electricity works. How a computer works. How pretty much anything mechanical works. How I put two socks into a washing machine and only one seems to come out. How no matter how many lists I write, I still manage to forget the one thing I really went into the supermarket for!

And that’s only the things which are not, in reality, that mysterious. I have absolutely no idea how the earth turns on its axis (I’m not awfully sure I even know what those words mean) or how a rabbit knows by instinct how to hop and burrow. (Thumper is all set for the great escape from his outdoor cage, showing more ingenuity than I possess, despite ‘only’ being a rabbit.) Even the things which some people can understand and explain are a mystery to me.

To be honest, I’ve learned to live with mystery. I’ve had to. There is simply so much about this world that I don’t understand. I’ve had to learn to accept that some things simply are, whether I understand them or not. In Maxine Kumin’s words, ‘I put down roots and I put up leaf.‘ I don’t understand how growth comes even in the natural world, but perhaps it’s not as complicated as I think. Perhaps it is a mystery, but not one I’m meant to fathom, simply one I’m meant to embrace. Perhaps life is not so much a mystery to be solved in the way I like to work out ‘whodunnit’ in the crime mysteries I love, but a mystery to be embraced.

‘When the Father longed to show
The love He wanted us to know
He sent His only Son and so
Became a holy embryo

That is the Mystery
More than you can see
Give up on your pondering
And fall down on your knees

A fiction that’s fantastic and wild –
A mother made by her own child!
A hopeless babe who cried
Was God Incarnate and man deified.

Because the fall did devastate,
Creator must now recreate,
So to take our sin
Was made like us so we could be like him.’ (‘To The Mystery’, Michael Card)

I can never fathom how God did this, but I can certainly embrace the reality of salvation.