Lenten Series #5: Is God Moving?

I have been wanting to share my ordination responses (from June 2009) for some time, and well I thought I would use this week, to share some of the questions and even update some of my responses based on new experience.

What do you see God doing in the contemporary world?

This question has caused me to ponder another question, Is God actually moving in the contemporary world? It is hard sometimes to see, with the high murder rates in our inner cities, the lack of financial stability for families, high unemployment rate, children being malnourished in our own country let alone around the world, the recent plane crash killing over two hundred innocent people, and the more recent Marta train crash from DC, and the destruction caused by natural disaster in Haiti, the corruption in our government and large corporations, and let's not forget the pimping that is happening in our churches. All of this and more makes one ponder where is the Hand of God in this world today? But then I heard the prophet Isaiah say: 

“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” Isaiah 43:16-21

A New Thing!! Is my God- moving? Indeed God is!! But how? Was not Isaiah speaking to the people then? So I still I pondered, what is our God doing now? 

I then heard the voices of the host of my ancestors; you know, the great cloud of witnesses, those who witnessed God’s movement on earth and have crossed over to the other side. I heard them saying, “Michael, our child, open your eyes! Did you not feel the wind as God moved God's arm as God placed the first black President of the free-world into office? And that same wind swept across the cornfields of Iowa to bring the same such experience to Grinnell College, where our prayers continue to guide your path.

Did you not witness God's feet move across the waters that saved many during the hurricane disasters? Did you not see God's hand of love around the young men being saved by mentoring programs such as “Mentoring Male Teens in the Hood”? Do you still not perceive? Did you not hear God's voice of cheer from all the different generations, the different tongues, in churches all across the world this past Sunday that were calling on the name of Jesus? “O for a thousand tongues to sing, my dear Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of God’s grace!” 

Did you try wrapping your mind around the new forms of technology that are hastening the cures for diseases, and those used now for getting the word out about the saving grace of God through Christ Jesus? Did you not smell the abundance of God's grace and mercy as the freshness of the rain has been pouring out so that droughts would no longer be an issue this year in the major farming parts our country? 

Finally, our child,” they said, “on that rainy day, when it was all said and done, did you not see the rainbow... for when it looked like the sun wasn't gonna shine anymore, God, OUR God did a new thing and put a rainbow in the sky!”

So you asked the question: What do you see God doing in the contemporary world? Well, I see God moving and doing a new thing!!


Peace, Love, and Prosperity,
RevMAH