I. Introduction

As we approach Thanksgiving and the Christmas period, we look forward to being together with those close to us. Coming together is about sharing, listening to each other's stories, and offering support to the ones who need it. This is a period of renewal, inner joy, and peace. For some, it is revisiting the places that feed our souls. For others, it is about finding comfort with new friends and loved ones. This is what God's purpose is with us and our world, renewal and healing, love and care, as we see in our passages. That renewal happens also when we as God's disciples reach out, invite and bring in those who need love, compassion and a place to share in the healing presence of God.

II. Here I am Lord... Send me

In Isaiah Chapter 65 we see the transformation of Jerusalem from a city in ruins and the people of Israel in pain and sorrow, to a new creation, free from weeping... crying will be heard no more. The dying of young babies too soon after their birth will not happen anymore. Growing old will be common, and prosperity will return to their lives. There will be no more fear of an invasion. They will hear the voice of God again, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth, after they, the rebellious nation will return from exile, with the promise from God to forgive their sins, and rebuild them into a new creation. This Chapter is also speaking about the hope of God for the nations of the future. God is a God of forgiveness who will redeem the world into a new creation after the passing of the earth as we know it. God will bring peace and the pain from the past will be forgotten.

The Son of God played a central role in God's plan for salvation and in the ongoing new creation that God seeks to bring about. God continually seeks to forgive and restore both God's people and all of creation, in accordance with divine will—a vision of unity and peace rather than conflict and division. When Jesus walked around in the villages and towns around Galilee, His purpose was to bring the good news to a wider area of Galilee. At the same time Jesus was preparing His disciples for their mission in those villages. He brought them along to see what they needed to do and how they had to go about it. He was their teacher, and He was the embodiment of God's will for the people of the Holy Land. Jesus displayed the same compassion that God had for the Israelites. Matthew describes how He was filled with compassion when He saw the crowds who were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, without a leader. The Greek word for compassion, splanscnizomai translates into "His heart that went out to them", and He followed it up with caring and effective action, says R.T. France in his commentary on Matthew. Jesus' compassion and action led to the transformation and renewal of their lives, in the same way God transformed and renewed the lives of the Israelites upon their return from exile. Then in verse 37 He explains to His disciples that these people have become their harvest, waiting to be reaped. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And in verse 38 He instructs them to pray to God of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest field. He describes the process in a very systematic way. They must look around in these villages, see the suffering of those in the crowds, then they must have compassion with them and help them change their circumstances, heal them and bring the good news of salvation. The crowds needed renewal of hearts and minds, and in their difficult circumstances, and they, the disciples were being commissioned to go and do this and pray to God for more workers in God's harvest fields.

III. Conclusion

Dear new members of Barre Congregational Church, and all of us this morning. God has called us all to hear from God what our purpose is, to look within and recognize the gifts we have and bring to the Body of Christ. We have been called by God to be filled with compassion, and for our hearts to go out to the crowds around us. We have been sent by God to love, care, and to bring the Good News from God to those who need it and invite them to worship with us, or where they find a place of worship, comfortable to them. We are called to be partners with God in the renewal of our creation through our love and service and reaching out to those in need here in Barre and surrounding towns and beyond. When we hear the call, may we all respond, saying here I am, Lord... send me. Amen!