See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19)
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This past weekend a group of churches in Hamilton hosted their annual Conference.\xa0 Online.\xa0 Because everything is online these days.\xa0 This was the TrueCity Conference.\xa0
Many of you already know it, others of you perhaps not, but TrueCity is a network of 15 or so churches who\u2019ve committed to collaborate \u201cTogether for the Good of the City.\u201d\xa0 And I\u2019ve noticed over the past seven years here in Hamilton (because today is exactly the seven year mark) that everywhere I look and see good collaborative efforts to address homelessness through housing, to aid refugee claimants, to create social enterprise, to stem food insecurity, to address mental health, to support local agencies working for those on the margins, or any number of other things supportive of the common good in Hamilton: I see TrueCity people.\xa0
So, this network of churches \u201ctogether for the good of the city,\u201d including our own, held a 2021 conference with the theme \u201cTogether in the Wilderness.\u201d\xa0 Here\u2019s what the website said:
\u201cInjustice, divisive discourse, instability \u2026 this last year has been a year like no other. Living through a worldwide pandemic, we have all experienced disappointment and loss compounded by isolation. We shifted, and learned that love meant keeping our distance, a counterintuitive gesture that resulted in profound grief for what was before.\xa0
WE HAVE BEEN LIVING A WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE.
And we\u2019ve wondered what God might be up to. What might He want to accomplish, through us, in this wilderness season? What might He be preparing us for? What does it look like for us - together in the wilderness - to trust Him?\u201d
If you\u2019d like to check out some of the wrestling with and answers found to just those questions, you can check out the conference videos, with the link to YouTube here in the notes.
Part of the answer to those questions came through a verse that resonated through the conference and that has stuck with me afterwards.\xa0 It\u2019s this one from Isaiah 43 that I read at the beginning.\xa0 \u201cSee, I am doing a new thing,\u201d God says, \u201cI am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.\u201d\xa0
As God\u2019s people wandering through the wilderness, we are not alone.\xa0 We have sisters and brothers in Christ across this city reminding us of God\u2019s faithfulness.\xa0 But our God Himself is also speaking out: he remains that God who does new things.\xa0 Who brings life out of places of death.\xa0 Who turns wastelands into rivers.\xa0
I\u2019m not sure just when those promises will be realized, but I do know that\u2019s the kind of God I follow.\xa0 A God who brings life and surprising newness in the strangest of places.\xa0 I\u2019m encouraged in that hope again following time spent with God\u2019s people in Hamilton at TrueCity.\xa0 \xa0
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