Made New; Kickoff Sunday; Sept. 13, 2026

Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Um, yeah, not everything's gone according to plan today exactly, but it's still uh, I think been a pretty good day so far.

Um, there was another day in my life where things didn't go exactly according to plan.

Um, it was the summer of 2003, and me and all my my best friends had just graduated from Hermiston High School.

And uh, my really good friends Bennett and Nate and I were trying to make the most of like the limited time we had together before we all headed off to college in different directions.

And so um, on one occasion, we were spending the night at Nate's house, and some of you have heard this story a little bit ago, um, but around midnight that night, um, we happened to see in a newspaper ad.

For those of you who weren't around in 2003, newspapers were like these papers that had news in them and like other big announcements.

Um, and the big announcement that we noticed was that the grand opening of a brand new grocery outlet store was happening the next morning.

Now, maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal to you, but 23 years ago in Hermeson, Oregon, this qualified as a big event.

But even more exciting, the ad said that the first 100 people to show up would get a free TV.

A free TV, I know, for high school graduates, you know, fresh out of school.

This sounded amazing.

And so though it was really, really late, we resolved that we were gonna wake up bright and early and we were gonna get down there in time to claim our prize.

The next morning arrived far too quickly for us.

But true to our word, Bennett and I uh forced ourselves to get up and get going.

Uh my friend Nate, not so much.

He was in no particular rush, and so uh Bennett and I headed out without him.

When we got to the grocery outlet, though, we were we were dismayed.

This long line began at the door and snaked around the side of the store.

We we rushed to get to the end of the line.

And then a man showed up a minute or two after that, got behind us in line.

Then a few minutes after that, a woman came, got behind him, and and a few minutes after that, Nate.

And right about then, an employee began walking down the line with vouchers for the free TVs, counting aloud as he went.

And I promise I'm not making this up, and some of you already know where this is going.

He got to me and Bennett.

97, 98, to the man behind us, 99, to the woman, 100.

And Nate was 101.

No.

No voucher, no TV, and no sympathy whatsoever from his two friends.

Um, I did end up giving him that little black and white TV for Christmas that year, uh, which he appreciated.

But from that point on, my grandmother always called him by his new nickname 101, uh, which he did not appreciate so much.

Well, as we begin a new year here today, uh, we find ourselves in year 101 of Trinity's history.

Uh last year was our centennial year, and we spent all sorts of time looking back, and appropriately so.

We thanked God for a century of his faithfulness.

We honored the legacy that's been handed down to us.

We celebrated in all sorts of different ways the opening of our new building and various events throughout the year, the special centennial service and festival, and so much more.

And after all of these festivities, 101, just like it was for my friend Nate, can maybe feel a bit disappointing, a bit of a letdown.

The balloons and the banners and the bunting have come down from that celebration, and suddenly it kind of feels like back to business as usual.

But then again, 101 is also a number that can signify new beginnings.

When you get to college, like Bennett and Nate and I did shortly after that story, you take 101-level classes.

It means you're just getting started in the field, that there's so much excitement ahead of you.

And so today, we rejoice that our centennial was far from the conclusion of the story.

Instead, it was a milestone in the story that God is right in the middle of writing for us.

God's faithfulness is this living and active reality, and the God who has been faithful to Trinity for the first 100 years will continue to be so as we kick off our second 100 years.

And so today we shift our gaze forward, and we do so with the words of our theme verse for this year, Isaiah 43, verse 19, where God speaks to us.

Isaiah 43:19

Would you say these words with me?

Behold, I am doing 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.

It's a powerful verse, one that some of us might be familiar with already.

But of course, it's easy to take powerful verses out of the Bible and take them out of their context.

So let's take a look at where these words are coming from.

In chapter 43 of his book, the prophet Isaiah is writing to a people in exile, and they're in a place where they can't really help but look back.

On the one hand, there was much that was worth celebrating at one point in their history.

God had delivered them from slavery, he had guided them through the Red Sea, He'd settled them in the promised land, and He had shown them mercy after mercy after mercy for hundreds and hundreds of years.

But recently for these people, there had been much that they would love to forget.

Their idolatry and the injustice into which they had sunk, their unfaithfulness and persistent sin that had brought them to the point of no return.

They had been conquered, their cities had been destroyed, and the survivors had been carried off to a faraway land.

Everything had gone wrong for them.

Everything.

For God's people, the future was scary because the past had been scarring.

But in the verse right before our theme verse, God tells them to leave it all behind.

He says, Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.

God's commanding his people to wipe their troubled memories, because he is going to wipe their slate clean.

He is telling them to leave their past in the past and to look to him as he overcomes their sin and restores their fortunes.

They saw exile and wilderness and hopelessness all around them.

And suddenly God says to them, Behold, behold, I am doing a new thing, he announces.

What new thing?

Because God spends over a dozen chapters providing all the details of what he's going to do.

This new thing will bring peace and forgiveness.

This new thing is going to bring life.

God is going to give his people rejuvenation and renewal and restoration.

He's going to bring them back home.

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

God promises.

Judah is going to be made brand new.

But as with all prophetic texts of Scripture, the original context was just the beginning.

Along with all that God was doing for Judah, there's something even deeper going on here, something that makes this news infinitely better than it even seems.

And to see it, we have to back up just one chapter to chapter 42, where Isaiah brings to center stage the main character of his book.

Beginning with that same attention-grabbing word as our theme verse, God says through Isaiah, Behold my servant.

He says that this servant is going to come and bring forth justice for Israel and be a light to the nations, that this servant will open the eyes of the blind and bring out prisoners from the dungeon.

And God closes this marvelous section about him by saying, Behold, the former things have come to pass.

And new things I now declare, before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

So that new thing in our theme verse this year, it's Jesus.

Jesus is the new thing.

You see, God's not just going to rescue his people from exile in Babylon and bring them home.

He's going to do so much more.

He's going to forgive their sins.

He's going to give them his son.

He is going to make them brand new.

Jesus is the new exodus, God is promising his people.

Jesus is the one who's going to make his people new.

And in the fullness of time, Jesus came to do just that.

When God took on flesh for us, he was doing a brand new thing.

And that was just the beginning.

In our gospel reading today from Luke, Jesus showed us that now that his kingdom was breaking in like this, old ways of thinking and acting and doing just they don't fit anymore.

Jesus was bringing with him a whole new life for us.

One that came about not as a result of institutional innovation or the discarding of old traditions, but through the arrival of the kingdom in Jesus Himself.

And then he went to the cross for us.

And there he died.

The scriptures tell us that Jesus was laid in a new tomb in which no one else had ever been laid before.

Because he was there to do the newest new thing ever.

Because there he broke death.

He rose from the grave.

He became what Paul would call the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

It's a brand new thing.

And from the empty tomb echoes the booming voice of God.

Behold, I am doing a new thing.

Jesus crucified and risen for you is the new thing.

And through Jesus, God has made you brand new.

In your baptism you were washed and renewed, Paul says to Titus.

There God drowned the old and brought the new to life.

There he made a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, rivers in the desert.

There he made you a new creation, and he granted you newness of life.

We heard that famous verse earlier from 2 Corinthians 5.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

A new creation.

And God wants us to behold it, right?

That word shows up again and again.

Because being made new in Jesus, it's not a recipe for self-improvement.

It's not about trying harder or becoming a better version of yourself or finally getting your act together.

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old, God says.

Baptism is about being raised from death to life.

It's being made into a new creation.

It's a gift that we receive.

It's forgiveness and restoration and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

And it is a daily reality.

Last year in Lamentations, we got to proclaim alongside the prophet Jeremiah that God's mercies never come to an end, but are new every morning.

They're new in our daily return to our baptismal identity.

They're new in his word.

They're new in his supper.

They're new in his forgiveness day after day.

And it's a reality that we carry into everything that we do and see and experience.

And so as we begin year 101 at Trinity, maybe you're excited about your year to come.

Maybe you're looking forward to new job opportunities or budding friendships or renewed health.

Or maybe you're a bit apprehensive and fearful about the year ahead because of looming health challenges or tensions at work or financial troubles your family's going through.

But I know this that no matter what comes, God is going to keep doing that new thing in you this year.

The question is, will you notice it?

Will you see it?

God says in our theme verse, Behold, I'm doing a new thing.

Now it springs forth.

Do you not perceive it?

Be on the lookout this year for what God will be doing in you.

Maybe pushing out an old habitual sin out of your life.

Maybe sending you someone who needs you to tell them about him.

Maybe it's sending you off on some exciting new adventures.

This year will feature new and exciting experiences, along with hard things that you don't know are coming, but that he's going to see you through and use to teach you to rely more fully on him and shape you into more of who he's created you to be.

There will be blessings and adversities this year that you can't predict today.

There will be friends with needs and hurts that you can't anticipate, but that you will be able to help them through when they come.

There will be conversations you don't know you're going to have, struggles you just can't plan for, and opportunities you can't yet imagine.

And as they come, behold, be on the lookout, perceive the new thing that God is doing in you through Christ as it springs forth day by day.

And for us at Trinity in our 101st year, the temptation could be for us to focus on all the stuff we need to do next: the next program, the next building project, the next thing that we need to fix or accomplish or do better.

But notice who the subject is in our theme verse.

God says, I am doing a new thing.

This year and the years that follow are not about us or really about what we're doing.

They're about God and what he is doing.

As for the details, some of it we know.

We know we're going to be gathering around Word and Sacrament, where God speaks to us and grants us his peace and makes us new.

We know that he'll continue to be giving us Jesus, to forgive our sins, to renew us.

We are hopeful, very hopeful, God willing, that we'll be worshiping back in our Trinity Center in a couple of months.

We are excited for the full and lively daily life of this vibrant and exciting ministry that we call Trinity.

But like Judah in the days of Isaiah, there's so much we don't yet know.

Just think about how much God has surprised us in these last five years, to say nothing of the 95 that went before them.

We don't know all the details of what God's going to do in this next year, much less in our next 100 years.

But we know that they'll be all about Jesus.

Jesus is the new thing God is doing.

And through Jesus, God is making you brand new.

He is the author of Trinity's story.

And with you, I'm excited to experience this next chapter he's now writing.

Year 101 is shaping up to be one of the best yet.

So as we move into it, let's not just look back at what God has done.

Let's not try to predict everything he will do.

Let's just look to Jesus.

Let's behold him.

Because the God who's been faithful for a hundred years is faithful today.

And the Jesus who has made us new is not finished with us yet.

In his name.

Amen.