But also to think small.

Researchers today are thinking smaller all the time. In fact, one of the most exciting developments in science and engineering is the growth of nanotechnology – a field devoted to the design and manufacture of microscopic machines. These machines could be as tiny as a few molecules, says an article in Foreign Policy magazine, and the promise of these nanomachines is truly mind-boggling: Injected into our bodies, they have potential to fix malfunctioning organs and fight disease. Launched into outer space or into bodies of water, they could mine precious resources or fight pollution. Installed in consumer electronics, they could give our mobile phones and wristwatches the problem-solving power of supercomputers. (G. Pascal Zachary, “Ethics for a Very Small World,” Foreign Policy, July-August 2003, 108).

I was visiting with a church member who had surgery this week, and I was reminded that there is always a danger, after an operation, that an infection will develop. Well, the day may come when an infection will be fought with an injection of nanorobots. These microscopic machines, no more than three microns in size, will be small enough to pass through the smallest capillaries in your bloodstream. Under a doctor’s control, the nanorobots will locate and attack their target by releasing chemical agents, restoring you quickly to health. The hope is that these very, very tiny medical machines will be able to conquer diseases that have eluded the best efforts of much larger equipment.

Bigger isn’t better, despite what they say in Texas. Sometimes small is best of all.

Perhaps God had the very same idea when he spoke through the prophet Isaiah. “I am about to do a new thing,” he proclaims; “now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19). The people of Israel have been suffering in exile in Babylon, and now God sends them word that they will soon be able to return to their home in Palestine. “I will make a way in the wilderness,” promises the Lord, “and rivers in the desert” (v. 19). This will become, for them, a second exodus – a second chance to escape captivity and travel across the desert to the Promised Land.

God is doing a new thing, a surprising thing, a thing that no one sees coming. It’s the way that God chooses to act in our lives, although so often we miss his activity because we are too busy focusing on the way things have always been done in the past.

“ I am about to do a new thing,” promises God; “now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” The challenge for us is perceive what God is doing … right now, right here.

The beauty of God’s activity is that it is fresh and new, but also consistent with his saving work in history. In this passage from Isaiah, God reaffirms his commitment to a tiny tribe of Israelites. He could have abandoned them when they were conquered and carted off to Babylon, but he didn’t. He could have switched his support to some of the bigger boys on the block – Egypt, or Assyria, or Babylonia – but he didn’t. Instead, he recommits himself to the tribe of Israel, his chosen people.

I will “give drink to my chosen people,” says the Lord, “the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise” (vv. 20-21). The microscopic, nano-tribe of Israel holds on to its identity as the chosen people of God, and remains a people formed for God’s own self so that they might declare his praise.

In the eyes of God, small is never insignificant. Small is how God prefers to work in the world. You might say that our Lord is committed to nanotheology.

Take a look at that word: Nanotheology. It’s a brand new term in Christian theology, one I just made up for my sermon today. “Theology” deals with the nature of God and religious truth, and “nano” means extremely small. Put the two together, and you get the idea that our awesome and infinite God likes to work through rather small people and communities.

God started with Abraham, a solitary soul who was called by God to follow him in faith. Later, the descendents of Abraham were slaves in Egypt, and God observed the misery and the suffering of his people. He called another seemingly insignificant individual, a man named Moses, to bring his people out of Egypt (Exodus 3:7-12). Moses followed God’s guidance, and the Israelites escaped.

When God chose to enter human life, he made a small entrance – not a large one. He reached out to an unknown girl named Mary, and then came into the world in a backyard barn in the little town of Bethlehem. Jesus could have been as big as God, if he wanted to be, but he chose to remain small – emptying himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. His ministry covered only a tiny piece of territory, and his death and resurrection were witnessed by only a handful of people.

Small, small, small, small. All of these people and events were behind the scenes, off the front page, under the radar, altogether easy to miss. But small is precisely what changes the world – it’s part of “the new thing” that God is always doing, the new thing that we are challenged to perceive and to be part of. This is exactly why it is so important for us to practice nanotheology.

The world today needs individuals and small groups that have a passion for doing God’s work in the world. Like nanorobots injected into the bloodstream of an ailing patient, we Christians are sent to impact the world on a micro level, bringing hope to the discouraged, guidance to the lost, comfort to the grieving, and assistance to the needy. Our mission, as defined in the Gospel of Matthew, is to welcome strangers, visit prisoners, and share our food, drink, and clothing with others. When we serve others in these simple but significant ways, Jesus promises us that we are really serving him (Matthew 25:40).

Small may be hard for us to perceive, but it is never insignificant in the eyes of God. Small actions are enormously important, especially when they are focused on serving others and seeing Jesus Christ. Our Lord is clearly committed to nanotheology, and so our job is to figure out how to do big things on a very small scale.

One evening, a pastor named Stanley Ott was walking through the fellowship hall of his church when he noticed four women sitting at a table, looking at their Bibles. They spotted him and called him over. It turned out that they had all been on life-changing short-term mission trips, and they were trying to come up with ways to raise money to send more people on mission trips. They asked him if it would be okay for them to sell T-shirts to raise money for mission.

The pastor’s first impulse was to say, “No!” After all, he believed that mission funding should come from voluntary giving, not T-shirt sales. But he resisted this impulse to shoot them down and thought for a minute about how short-term mission trips had transformed his congregation. Only a few years before, mission had been a low priority for the church. But then, groups began going out on mission trips to Appalachia and Costa Rica and Malawi. Through the efforts of these small groups, more and more people in the congregation had begun to care about mission.

So who was he to say “no” to these passionate, mission-minded women? He encouraged them to run their idea past the mission committee, and the T-shirt sales proved to be a great success. The approach was new and it was different, but it worked! Best of all, it came from the initiative of a small group of committed Christians.

I see the same types of initiatives popping up here at FPC. We have our Midlife Men on a Mission, our Gals in Guatemala, and our youth mission trips planned for Puerto Rico and Michigan. In addition, there is a great deal of energy be devoted to the development of small groups for families and youth adults, in addition to our ongoing Companions in Christ spiritual growth group. Small groups are helping our church to look outwardly and to grow inwardly, which is the goal of any vital community of faith. They are helping us to practice nanotheology here at FPC in a very exciting way.

“ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,” said anthropologist Margaret Mead; “indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Small is beautiful and small is effective, according to anthropology and according to the Lord God Almighty. Small is what enables us to serve God well in a world that is desperately in need of healing and new life.

As a church, we can grow larger by thinking smaller. We can change the world by taking tiny mission trips. We can transform our lives by following one single man, Jesus Christ.

That’s the promise of nanotheology. Amen

 

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