I wonder what this new year will bring.  It's already 1/12 over, and one gets the feeling something major is going to happen, something bigger than a presidential election.  Whatever it is, I pray it will be good.  Last week we had 220 people in our two services and it looks like our worship numbers will continue to be high.  Whatever will happen to us as a church or as individuals will make 2004 very important.  Will it be something good or something bad?  Will this be the year of the Lord's favor, or will it be the year we get a wakeup call?  God gives us a wake up call now and then, and we usually need it.  I had one recently.

          Some of you know my driving record the past two years has not been stellar.  Two years ago a "my fault" accident and a really stupid speeding incident resulted in three citations in 6 months, with a lot of car repair and some serious fines.  After months of paranoia, I finally began feeling good behind the wheel again until last November when I backed into someone at a stoplight!  I had come to a complete stop and realized I was at the King Sooper and wanted to get something.  I noticed the lane next to me was open, and my side mirror showed no one was coming, so I slowly backed up to turn into that open lane, and backed squarely into a pickup behind me!

          My heart sank as this great big cowboy got out and we looked at our bumpers.  "What'd you do that for?" he asked.  "I wanted to get into the other lane," I said.  "I'm really sorry I hit you."  "Better watch out," he said, and got into his truck and drove off.  No police, no damage, no ticket.  Thank You, Lord, for big-hearted cowboys driving 30 year old pickups with chrome bumpers!  Of course, maybe he saw my clergy sticker, but whatever the case, that incident was for me a real wakeup call!

          A wakeup call is a gift from God to remind us who's in charge.  They're never pleasant, but they can be very helpful if they help us stop thinking about ourselves and listen to the Lord.  It's like a flash before our eyes at what could have happened but doesn't.  It's like almost being caught, but we're not.  But wakeup calls are only good when we learn from them.  In the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah is saying something good is about to happen.  The Spirit of God has come upon Isaiah with good news.  In the coming days, the downtrodden people will be lifted up and captives will be set free.  Prisoners would be released, and debts will be forgiven, because it was time for the "Year of the Lord's Favor."

          The "Year of the Lord's Favor" is the same as another Old Testament term, the "Day of Salvation."  This special year didn't happen by accident, but according to divine plan.  God had put this plan into motion a thousand years before, when the Israelites were just settling into the Promised Land.  At that time the Lord directed Moses and the people to observe Sabbath Days, one day of rest each week during which the people were to worship God and be renewed.

          In addition to a weekly Sabbath, every seventh year they were to stop working the land and let it lay fallow with no crop.  In the Sabbath Year all slaves were to be released and minor debts forgiven.  "Sabbath" means "rest" and it's the root word for our term, sabbatical.  A sabbatical is when a person takes an extended time off from work to get rejuvenated and renewed in our faith.  It's more than a vacation - it's a time to be revitalized.  What a great concept!

          Then after seven periods of seven years - 49 years - came the big one, the fiftieth, the Year of Jubilee.  In this special year all debts were cancelled and any land you had purchased, reverted back to its original owner.  This was to be done so that people wouldn't become wealthy land barons.  The fields in the Promised Land belonged to the Lord, and no one was to take advantage of another.  It was a divine command that, sadly, was never observed.

          The command of the Sabbath changed over time.  Instead of just rest, it became identified with jewishness.  It was supposed to be a good way to rest and be refreshed, but Sabbath observance became a law unto itself.  How different things might be if people actually follow what the Lord says, instead of twisting God's Word!  Imagine what life might be like if you and I would actually let the Lord completely guide us instead of being driven by our own selfish interests!  What different a life we might have.

          Well, maybe it's not too late.  The church is one place where something like this can happen.  As Christians, we should be led by God.  Here in this congregation, we can have a theocracy.  Here in the church we can let the Lord guide us.  A church is more than a business.  It's God leading His people, showing us a better way, giving us a new start each day.

          If success is measured only in numbers, we will miss doing God's real work.  The reason we're here is to minister to people, feed the hungry and encourage the less fortunate.  Jesus never praised people for big numbers, but for their faith.  As today's Gospel says, He came to, "bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and to release prisoners from darkness."  He came to proclaim the Year of the Lord's Favor.  The Year of the Lord's Favor is a gift.  It's not something we achieve, but something He gives.

          How will we know it's upon us?  Maybe one way is just to count.  On March 7, a little over a month from now, our congregation will be five years old.  March 7, 1999, we held our first worship service.  A year from then our first six years will be complete and the seventh year will start, the Sabbath Year.  And we have a busy year of work ahead before the Sabbath Year begins.  True, we aren't farmers who can let the land lie fallow, and we can't take a break from sharing our faith or from holding worship services.  And few of us could afford to take a year off from work.

          But we can still celebrate the Year of the Lord's Favor.  We can celebrate it by following some of the principles of the Sabbath Year in our personal lives.  We can take one day off for worship and rest every week.  We can spend more time studying God's Word.  We can celebrate the Sabbath Year by forgiving someone who's harmed us or maybe even forgiving someone a debt.

          We won't have slaves to release, but we can set someone free from the slavery of our resentment or anger.  Meanwhile, there's plenty of work to be done until that year of the Lord's favor comes.  We can continue to help feed the hungry and clothe the needy.  We can encourage the struggling and love others as we have been loved by God.

          Our Liberty Bell in Philadelphia has on it this verse from Isaiah:  "Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants."  You and I are set free from sin by God.  We are forgiven and restored by Jesus, brought back into a loving relationship with God through His death on the cross.  As the song says, we are "redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, saved and sanctified I am, all my sins are washed away - I've been redeemed!"

          One very important thing we can do is to pray.  Our Prayer Chain is going and I thank those who pray each week for troubles or situations brought to them.  But a Prayer Chain can't do it all.  You and I must also pray.  We must daily bring to the Lord our needs and cares and concerns for His help.  And prayer also strengthens our faith.  When we see how God answers us, it brings us closer to Him and each other.  It brings us God's blessings and strengthens our faith, all in one.  Never underestimate the power of prayer!

          There's a true story about a pastor who had just gotten a kitten for his family and it climbed up a tree in his backyard and was afraid to come down.  The pastor coaxed it several ways, but that kitten just would not come down.  The tree was small and not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided to throw a rope over the upper branches, tie it to his car bumper and carefully bend the tree down so he could then reach up and grab the kitten.  Well, it was working until he drove a bit too far and the rope broke.  The tree went "boing!" and the kitten shot through the air like a slingshot clear across the block.  That pastor felt terrible!  He walked all over the neighborhood trying to find it but couldn't, so he finally prayed, "Lord, I commit that cat to your care."

          A few days later he was at the grocery store and met one of his members.  "Pastor," she said, "the strangest thing happened.  My little girl has been begging me for a cat, but I kept saying no.  She begged and begged and one day asked me that if God gave her a cat, could she keep it.  I said 'yes" to that, thinking I was safe.  Then I watched her go out in the back yard, get down on her knees to pray, and Pastor, a kitten came flying out of the sky and landed right in front of her!  Only thing is whenever it sees a tree, it runs and hides."  Never underestimate the power of prayer, nor of God's great sense of humor!

          Next spring maybe we'll see the beginning of the "Year of the Lord's Favor," March, 2005.  Maybe so.  I pray we do!  But whenever God's people gather for worship and organize for service, the Lord's favor is upon them.  When we have faith in Jesus Christ, every day is new, a day of the Lord's favor, a new start in life.  I pray the things we learned in Bible Class this morning will begin a new movement among us.  Throughout this coming year, let's keep watching for special blessings from the Lord.  God will always be there for us.  We are the "Apple of His Eye" (Psalm 17:8).   We're the "Sheep of His Pasture" (Psalm 79:13), the "Flock Under His Care" (Psalm 95:7).   We can always "...enter His gates with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise."  We can always "be thankful unto Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures unto all generations." (Psalms 100:5)   God grant us this, for Jesus' sake, amen!

Copyright © 2004 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.