Pentecost 7B (Lectionary 15) Sermon: "Come and Be Fed ... with Purpose"

Pentecost 7B (Lect. 15)

“Come and Be Fed … with Purpose”

July 15, 2012

Ephesians 1.3-14

Think for a moment: what is the first question a child learns to ask? It’s simple, one-word, three-letter question. Furthermore, once this first question is learned, it is asked more and more. That’s right, it’s “Why?” If you think some more, you will realize that we never grow out of that question, do we? Some philosophers might call this the great existential question, having to do with the meaning of our existence. The fact that we can even ask this question separates us from all other living creatures. In fact, this question is so important that scientists, who claim their realm is “what” and not “why,” can’t help but let sneak in to their work, too.

This question, “Why?” is at the heart of the passage from Ephesians. We are in a new letter for our second reading, one we are taking a closer look at today and next Sunday as we finish the first half of our “Come and Be Fed” sermon series this summer. The consensus is that, although it is titled “Ephesians,” this letter was actually a circular letter, directed not at any particular church but rather circulated around to various churches. It’s kind of the chain letter or “repost this” communication of the day. So, unlike other letters, such as Corinthians, the letter doesn’t address issues to specific churches. However, Ephesians still has its points to make, and today’s text introduces us to some of them.

Using the grand, exalted, and poetic language of worship, Ephesians asserts God’s providence in and through all things. It invites us to step back and see that all things, in heaven and earth, are a part of God’s plan. From the very foundations of the universe, God has imbued all creation with a purpose. God did not just slap this together and set it going; creation is heading somewhere. What is even more remarkable is that God has created us for a special role, having chosen “us in Christ before the foundation of the world,” being “destined us for adoption as his children.”

The importance of meaning and purpose in our lives cannot be understated; it literally keeps us going. Having a purpose in life, the sense that we are a part of something larger than ourselves is huge. It’s what gets us out of bed in the morning, our feet hitting the floor, and ready for the day. During WWII, the USS Indianapolis was sunk and because of a number of snafus, the Navy didn’t know about it. Sailors were in the water for days in shark-infested waters. Occasionally, a sailor would give himself up to sharks. When asked to comment about this phenomenon, one person observed, “Those guys that gave themselves up, they didn’t have a future.” Having a sense of purpose means believing that we have a future. It’s what kept people alive in Nazi camps during that same time.

This need for meaning and purpose is so important it is recognized outside of Christianity, too. I subscribe via email to some leadership blogs and just this week, on the same day, were two having to do with purpose. The first was a quote by Samuel Goldwyn: “If I were in this business only for the business, I wouldn’t be in this business.” Then this by Dan Rockwell: “If you don’t know why you are here, how will you know what to do? Life without purpose has no dignity, no direction, and no enduring passion.” More to the point for us as religious people, there’s the quote from the Dalai Lama that appears on our bulletin: “Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” Jesus has said much the same thing.

What makes the church different, however, is that we believe God has a purpose. That purpose is for all of creation to be gathered into God’s self, to know that God loves everything. For that purpose, God has called you and me to participate in the mission to love and bless the world. That calling is not just here, but extends also well outside the walls of this church. Just this last week, I visited with several members of Grace who were packing meals at Kids Against Hunger. I saw Joyce Nelson’s picture on the wall at Pathstone Living, immortalized forever, but representing all who give their time and love there. I had the privilege of hanging out with some folk who had just come from volunteering at the Echo Food Shelf. I could go on.

God not only has a purpose and a plan, but also makes that known to us. This past year and a half we’ve been discerning that will and we have determined that God is calling us to serve families of all ages in ways that we haven’t up until now. So, we are putting together Wednesday evening programming to serve people. We’ll start with an evening meal; have a short worship service with an interactive message and Holy Communion; and close with Christian education/faith formation for all ages. Furthermore, we will be asking all of our teams to adjust their programming to this sense of purpose and to seek ways to foster intergenerational experiences.

There’s a lot of excitement being generated in this renewed sense of purpose. Why? Not just “because,” but also because that is what God is calling us to do, and that is where true life is to be found. What purpose or purposes has God given for you? Come and be fed, Amen.

"Come and Be Fed ... with Grace," Sermon for Pentecost 6B (Lectionary 14)

“Come and Be Fed … with Grace”

Pentecost 6B (Lect. 14)

July 8, 2012

2 Corinthians 12.2-10

Paul was a wounded man, a deeply wounded man. He had asked God three times to remove the cause of his woundedness. We don’t know what his “thorn in the flesh” was, though it hasn’t prevented much speculation. It could be physical, psychological, or spiritual, but whatever it was, it must have been significant enough that Paul sought relief three times from God, only to receive the same answer. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you …” along with this curious explanation: … “for power is made perfect in weakness.” Somehow, God’s graceful presence is enough for whatever is needed in our lives

Paul saw his “thorn in the flesh” as something God allowed him to have to keep him humble. Some so-called “super apostles,” in order to establish their street cred with the various churches, were not above trotting out their spiritual experiences as proof that they were the real deal. Unfortunately, the Corinthians bought it. With this passage, Paul elegantly kills two birds with one stone. By asserting that he can match the other apostles vision-for-vision, he proves that he is the genuine article. However, by mentioning his thorn, he shows that this spiritual competition is a red herring.

The heart of the good news of Jesus Christ is not found in bragging about spiritual experiences. Nor, Paul would hasten to add, is it to be found in glorying in our afflictions. We are not to have a “holier than thou” attitude, but neither are we to be “humbler than thou,” or, as Garrison Keillor puts it, “militantly modest.” Furthermore, Paul is also not saying we should buck up, carry on, and rise above our circumstances. Rather, Paul is saying that God works in some mysterious, but powerful ways in our lives. God’s power is made perfect in those wounded and broken areas of our lives that we try to run from.

Robert Franklin tells the story about a Renaissance artist who made the world’s most prized vases. A foreign apprentice came to observe his method and the artist, after many weeks of laboring with one piece, placed it on display. It was a thing of unmistakable beauty. Even so, the artist wasn’t done. In dramatic fashion, the artist picked up the vase and smashed it to floor, breaking to pieces. Quietly, he reconnected the pieces by painting them with a paint of pure gold. Each crack reflected the invaluable gold, and this magnificent, but imperfect vase, became the most valued one in the artist’s collection.

Now, I don’t want to give you the impression that I believe God is some great artist that smashes our lives so he can do some fancy mending and look good. The fact is, our lives get smashed up without God’s help; sometimes others do it, sometimes we do it, and sometimes is just happens. However, I do know that, for some reason, those are the very places that God most often works through our lives. I suspect that one reason is that it is in those wounded and broken parts of our lives that we are open to God’s grace. Ernest Hemingway once said, “Life breaks all of us, but some of us are made strong in the broken places.” Theologically, it is God working in those broken places to make us strong. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.

As I think about what this means, I think about Kim who was made a widow way too young but nonetheless through God’s grace was able to help others in their grieving. I think about about Nancy, made a quadriplegic through the actions of a drunk driver, who led a Girl Scout troop helping them to understand disabilities, I think about Pam, Karen, and Angie, cancer survivors who are able to walk with people in their bouts of cancer. I think about couples who have been able to put the pieces of their marriage back together following an affair, stronger than ever. I think about Rick, a pastor who has been able to minister to and with alcoholics because he has gone through the 12-step program. I think about Richard, a sufferer of mental illness who became an advocate of the mentally ill. I could go on.

 “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Today, God invites us to come and be fed with the grace that works in, with, and through the broken and wounded parts of our lives. God also invites us to look for the ways that God is working in the world in unusual places. That’s the message of the cross, isn’t it, that God works through the worst that life throws at us? That’s why the people of Jesus’ hometown couldn’t accept him; they couldn’t see how God could work through a carpenter’s son from Nazareth. Where are those weak and broken places in your life that you tend to dismiss or try to hide? What are the weak or wounded places in our congregation that God is working as well? Come and be fed, for God’s grace is sufficient, more than enough for what we need. Amen.

"Come and Be Fed ... With Generosity" Sermon for Pentecost 5B (Lect. 13)

“Come and Be Fed … with Generosity”

Pentecost 5B   (Lect. 13)

July 1, 2012

2 Corinthians 8.7-15

 “Now as you excel in everything … so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.” The “generous undertaking” that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians is the collection for the church in Jerusalem. When Paul had been given the green light to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to non-Jews by the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, they asked him to do one thing: remember the poor. Responding that he was more than glad to do so, Paul is now reminding of the Corinthians’ promise to do the same, and he is not above a little flattery to accomplish it. There is a famine in Jerusalem and the Jewish Christians are suffering. The Corinthians had expressed an earnest desire to alleviate the suffering, but they hadn’t acted on it.

To get them off the dime, or denarius if you will, Paul is also not above a little Grecian rivalry. Earlier in chapter 8, he mentions how the church in Macedonia, the province to the north of their own Achaia, has stepped up to the plate. Though the Macedonians have gone through horrendous afflictions, they’ve been incredibly generous in giving to the collection. Even so, Paul makes it clear that this reminder of the Corinthians’ promise is not a command but an invitation. However, the invitation is delivered with another reminder, that their lives are to be lived as ones for whom the generous love of God has been poured out upon them in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. In other words, Paul tells them that we know God’s grace is real when we participate in generosity.

Interestingly, Paul tells them that he is not asking them to be like Jesus, who gave up everything for us. Rather, Paul uses the story in Exodus of God’s gift of manna to the Israelites in the wilderness, a story we are living with as a congregation this year, that there is a balance between abundance and need. “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” We’ll explore more of this story on July 29.

For today, however, there is more. Beyond the obvious purpose for the collection, to alleviate the hunger of the Jerusalem church, there is the opportunity for the Corinthians to show solidarity with their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters. The Jerusalem church has shared abundantly the message of the gospel with the Corinthians and now the Corinthians have the opportunity to share abundantly of their blessings, to excel in generosity. They were building bridges by excelling in generosity.

What is ironic is that the gentile Corinthians are providing food for the tables of their Jewish friends, tables that those who still follow the Jewish dietary laws prohibit them from sharing. They are giving money for food that they wouldn’t be allowed to eat! Last week, when I told you about my falling out with Bob, I told you he is a generous man. That’s an understatement; Bob is so generous that he sent a campaign contribution to Dale, a member of another political party; Bob and Dale are about as opposite politically as you can get, but Bob respected Dale so much that he sent him a contribution anyway. Talk about building bridges with generosity!

Several years ago in my previous congregation, I was approached by “Frank” who had heard about a church that was giving money away to some of its members and wanted to do the same at ours. There were only three rules to follow: the money belongs to God, not you; the money is be used to further God’s work in the world outside the walls of the church; and those accepting the money had to come back in 90 days and report what God had done in, with, and through them.

Some people who came forward that day knew exactly what they would do with the money; some didn’t know but knew God was calling them to do something; some donated their money to a worthy cause; some invited others to join with them in a project; and some used the money as seed money to grow their funds. We called it the Talents project because it was based on the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. Many wonderful things happened: the money was multiplied; the number of people involved grew; and people were helped all over the world. But one of the coolest happened when some of the money was used to buy material for a quilt project at the local Catholic school. The community was abuzz because Lutherans were giving their money away to Catholics. Bridges were built through excelling in generosity.

God wants us to excel in generosity, not out of guilt but rather out of gratitude for what God has done for us. It is up to us who have been given much to make sure that those who have little don’t have too little. In order to open us up to the excellence of generosity, we are going to do our own Talents Project here at Grace. However, we are going to call this the Generosity Project based on this passage from 2 Corinthians. So, I’d like 10 volunteers to step forward to accept $50 each to invest in God’s world outside the walls of this church, following three simple rules: the money is not yours; use it to further God’s work in the world outside of Grace; and come back in 90 days to share with us how God worked in, with, and through you.

The rest of you aren’t off the hook in this Project. First, pray for those who have accepted the mission and, where led, participate with them in their project. Second, look for ways that God is calling you to be generous, especially to those whom you might not associate with; in other words, build bridges through generosity.

Let us pray: Good and generous God: you have graciously fed us through your Son, Jesus. Guide those who have stepped forward today as they seek to feed those in your world. Help us all to see those places where you are inviting us to build bridges with generosity. Amen.

"Come and Be Fed ... With Affection" Sermon Pentecost 4B June 24, 2012

“Come and Be Fed … with Affection”

Pentecost 4B (Lect. 12)

Grace in the Park Worship

June 24, 2012

2 Corinthians 6.1-13

Take a moment and think about your family growing up. How was love and affection expressed?

Was your family one of those that did a lot of hugging and kissing and saying, “I love you?” Or was your family one of those who didn’t show affection much, but you knew you were loved? Take a couple of minutes to talk to someone near you, telling each other about what life was like in your family. After the break: I’ll bet there was a lot of variety in your conversations. Perhaps there were some cases where there wasn’t much love and affection expressed. I’m sure there were others where “I love you” was said a lot but not lived out. Love and affection are so important that we feel empty without them.

Many years ago, I heard a story about an orphanage. It was in Russia I think, but it could have been anywhere. There were so many babies in the orphanage that only a few of them could get any attention. Those babies who were handled and cuddled regularly did fine; those babies who weren’t didn’t do well at all. In fact, they were very sickly. Affection, even a little, is so important.

When I work with couples preparing for marriage, we read Jesus’ words in Mark 10 about divorce being caused by “hardness of heart.” We talk about the fact that hearts just don’t get hard overnight, and that the work of marriage is largely about paying attention to your hearts and keeping them soft. I think you could say it is also about making sure your heart is not closing, and that our work is about keeping it open.

 “Our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. … open wide your hearts also.” The Apostle Paul writes these difficult, yet affectionate words to the Corinthians. The Corinthian church was a church that Paul founded and to which he was strongly attached. However, somewhere along the way there was a break in the relationship causing the shedding of many tears, on both sides. Much of the responsibility was on the Corinthians’ part because of their misunderstanding about what it meant to be an apostle sent by God. To many of them, because of all the suffering that Paul endured and because he didn’t act like the other “super apostles,” they thought he was deficient.

In the ancient world, it wasn’t up to the injured party to make things right, but Paul knows how important it is to bring healing and reconciliation to bear on their relationship. We who have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, who have had our broken relationships fixed though we certainly didn’t deserve it, must work at repairing our relationships, even when it isn’t our fault. God opens God’s heart to us, has no restriction in affection for us, so we can do the same for others.

A number of years ago I became good friends with a member of my congregation I’ll call Bob. We regularly conversed by email and occasionally had lunch together. Bob is a good and faithful man who had not only supported the congregation generously, but supported my ministry, too. Somewhere along the way, something happened, I’m not sure exactly what, but Bob and I had a falling out that has permanently ruptured our relationship. I’ve tried everything I can think of to repair the relationship, but I have not been able to do so. I don’t tell you this to show what a great Christian I am and what a schmuck Bob is; it’s most likely the other way around. Rather, I tell you this because of the pain caused by closed hearts.

There are too many closed hearts in this world, and we in the church are not immune to them. That’s why it’s so important to come and be fed with the reconciling affection of God. God through Jesus Christ’s presence in, with, and under the bread and wine reconcile us to him. At the same time, God works in us to open our hearts to one another, risking being rejected. We cannot not be agents of affection and open hearts, no matter who or why. This is not because of who we are, but because of who God is, the One who has opened himself so that we may live. May you know God’s affectionate open heart, now and always. Amen.

"Come and Be Fed ... With Faith" Pentecost 3B Sermon

“Come and Be Fed … with Faith”

Pentecost 3B

June 17, 2012

2 Corinthians 5.6-17

 “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

There’s a scene in the movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” where Indiana (Harrison Ford) is forced to follow a path where others have died in order to reach the Holy Grail, the chalice Jesus was supposed to have used at the Last Supper. His father (Sean Connery) and the bad guys have both been searching for it. The bad guys shoot Indy’s father to convince him to go after the grail because only the healing powers of the grail can save him. After getting through the initial trials with the help of a coded guidebook, Indy encounters a chasm in which there appears no way across. The book indicates the one is to step out in faith. Driven by his father’s need, Indy closes his eyes and steps out, and finds there to be an invisible bridge that allows him to walk across, retrieve the chalice, and save his father.

“We walk by faith, not by sight.”

Paul is again helping the congregation at Corinth to see that appearances aren’t everything. Or, to say it another way, that we who follow Jesus Christ look at life and circumstances differently. Yet, we who are following Jesus 2,000 years later have an additional challenge: when we hear the word “faith,” we tend to think of it as something we possess. Faith is stuff that we believe. We believe in God the Father, we believe that Jesus is God’s Son, we believe in the Holy Spirit. But that’s only one part of faith and frankly, it’s not the most important part. There’s the heart part. The heart part of faith is relational. It means a relationship of trust, knowing that God is with us. It means being faithful and loyal, based on God’s faithfulness. It means seeing life differently.[1]

Several years ago, in my first call as a pastor, I took a group of high school students from a small rural town to a servant camp in NE Ohio. We did servant work in Youngstown and team building at the camp. One of the exercises involved having a person fall backward off an elevated platform into the arms of the rest of the crew, who were lined up in a double row with their arms outstretched and locked together underneath. When it came to my turn, with my eyes closed I was to count up to 10, during which time the students were to scatter into the woods. Then, I was to count slowly backwards and, when I hit zero, fall backwards, trusting that the students were reassembled and ready to catch me. I had to trust them, that they would be faithful to the promise they made to catch me. It was not just my head that helped me trust, but my heart as well.

Ultimately, any hope we have to walk by faith and not by sight depends not on us, how much we believe or how much trust we have, but in the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God. Because God has shown himself to be trustworthy in his relationship with us, we are able to trust God. When our oldest daughter, Angela, was very young she fell off a cushiony chair and hit her head on the sharp corner of the coffee table, opening up a large gash just above her eye. We rushed her down to the local clinic to be treated. They needed wrap her in a sheet in to keep her still so they could give her a shot into the wound and then stitch her up. It was my job to convince her that the doctor and nurse were there to help her, even though it looked otherwise. I told she needed to hold still and I held her, too. She trusted me, because I was her father. When we were finished, after telling her how well she did, I asked her to thank the doctor, which she did. The doctor melted into a puddle on the floor.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

In a few minutes, we will come forward and gather around the Communion rail to be fed. We come to the table by faith, for faith, trusting in the presence of Jesus’ body and blood. Because of God’s faithfulness we will be strengthened in our lives of faith, not only individually but also as God’s gathered community, a people called to see God working in our world. The cross is not only a sign of hope, as we discovered last week; it is our assurance of God’s presence and working in, with, and through even the most dire circumstances of our lives.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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[1] For a fuller discussion on the different facets of faith, see Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004) 25-41.

"Come and Be Fed ... With Hope" Sermon Pentecost 2B

“Come and Be Fed … with Hope”

June 10, 2012

Pentecost 2B

2 Corinthians 4.13-5.1           

 “So, we do not lose heart,” the apostle Paul writes to the congregation at Corinth. Corinth was the capital city of the Roman province of Achaia, which was the southernmost part on what we now call Greece. It was a large, prospering urban center with an ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse population. The congregation was largely gentile and mirrored that of the city. There were some people of prominence, but mostly were probably working class, both slave and free. The Corinthians had a special place in Paul’s heart because he founded the church, but had something of a love-exasperation relationship with them. Paul spoke to many issues in his letters, mostly correcting misconceptions about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, including what it means to be an apostle, one sent by God to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Corinthians looked at Paul’s apostleship and his experiences as such and started to distrust his message. Why? Because Paul wasn’t “successful” like some the other so-called super apostles of the day. He wasn’t tall, good-looking, and a great orator like the others, the Joel Osteens of the day. Paul refused to leach off of the Corinthians, insisting on paying his own way. Furthermore, Paul was regularly beaten, whipped, and thrown in jail. In their eyes, Paul wasn’t representing the faith very well. Fortunately, Paul is fluent in both Greek philosophy and Jewish thought and is able to translate the ideas surrounding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in ways that they can understand.

Prior to our reading today, Paul tells the Corinthians that the punishment he has endured was not only for their sake, to spread the grace and good news of God. It also showed the life of Jesus Christ. In other words, we as Christians look at life differently than those who don’t see through the eyes of faith. We value those things that we cannot see more than those things that we can see. Put another way, we who follow Christ focus on different values, which in turn affects how we live. “So we don’t lose heart,” Paul says, because God is working in way that we trust but cannot see.

Although he doesn’t use the word, Paul says that we have hope. It is a hope born from the assurance that the same God who resurrected Jesus is the same God who is working in, with, and through our lives and us. Henry David Thoreau said that the “mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Yet, we who are Christians see the world differently, not being overwhelmed by all the things that can go wrong. Why? Because we have hope. As Thomas Fuller says, “If it were not for hopes, hearts would break.” Samuel Johnson, testifying indirectly to hope’s power, observed that an acquaintance’s hasty remarriage after the death of his first wife, not a good one, was the “triumph of hope over experience.”

Not everyone is a fan of hope and many are rather cynical about it, but there are testimonies to hope and its power all over the place. As I told the children, every seed planted is a sign of hope. In James Michener’s novel, Poland, Eastern Poles rebuilt their homes and towns countless times through the centuries after assaults from the likes the Russian Tatars and Cossacks, the German Prussians, and the Austrians, to name a few. Closer to home, when the community of Rushford in southeastern Minnesota was ravaged by floods, they quickly started to rebuild around the slogan, “Never, ever give up.” Martin Luther himself, when asked what he would do if he knew the world was going to end tomorrow replied, “Plant a tree.” In a more personal way, those of us who have past “baggage” (which is all of us) are testaments of hope and the power of God to transform our pasts in a way to make new meanings and possibilities. You, my sisters and brothers, by your presence here each week, are signs of hope.

This summer, we’re inviting you to “Come and Be Fed” in worship. To that end, we have designed two sermon series with supporting worship experiences to help you grow in Christ. Today, we are inviting you to be fed with hope so that, no matter what you have gone through, no matter what you are going through, and no matter what you will go through, you will know God’s presence. There are many signs of hope around us, but none is more powerful than the cross, God’s sign that things aren’t always what they seem and that God continually works to make new life. As you come the table of Holy Communion to be fed, may God’s grace feed you with hope, for hope. Thanks be to God! Amen.

"Our Lips Are Seared" - Holy Trinity B Sermon

“Our Lips Are Seared”

Holy Trinity B

June 3, 2012

Isaiah 6.1-8

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, a day that throws both preachers and pew-dwellers into a panic. Pew-dwellers, understandably, fear a mind-numbing dose of systematic theology, like a dollop of castor oil, delivered regularly whether needed or not. Preachers, for their part, are always looking for a way to make theological concepts palatable, but they fear simplistic and often heretical metaphors used to describe the Trinity. Add on top of this trinitarian angst is oft-repeated—and therefore it must be true—observation that Holy Trinity Sunday is the only church festival that doesn’t honor a person or a churchly event and you have a perfect storm brewing. However, what preachers and pew-dwellers often lose sight of is that the Trinity, as both doctrine and “person,” is an attempt to make sense out of our encounters with God, both in Scripture and in our daily lives.

All three of our lessons, in one way or another, are reflections on encountering God. I want to focus on Isaiah’s close encounter of stupendous kind, with a barely perceptible nod to Romans and John. Isaiah is in the temple and all of a sudden, it seems as if the temple walls expand and fade away. Imagine the walls of this sanctuary growing and God’s presence filling the space. God is at the same time fantastically huge and distant, but close enough to touch and talk to. God is so Holy Other that the earth shakes and smoke appears, but God so present that Isaiah lives to tell about his encounter.

I’ve just finished a book by James Rubart called Rooms, described by one reviewer as part CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and part Wm. Paul Young’s The Shack; it could also be part Frank Peretti. The main character, Micah, has mystical encounters with God and other spiritual beings designed to help him choose the world that would give him life. Now, I find descriptions of these encounters fascinating: the overwhelming sense of the otherness of God, being bathed in intense light and God’s overpowering peace and love. Even so, I also find them puzzling because I cannot recall ever having that kind of encounter with God. Even when I had my own conversion experience as young adult returning to God, there wasn’t any kind of earth shaking experience. By the way, these kinds of experiences have been around at least as long as Moses, and they are well documented in mystics such as Julian of Norwich and Hildegard of Bingen.

The point is that sometimes we mistake our experience with God for who God actually is. What Isaiah reminds us is that we don’t encounter God as much as God encounters us. In that encounter that God always initiates, God is both totally unknowable and intimately known; thoroughly invisible and yet as accessible as the waters of baptism and the bread and wine of Holy Communion; and enormously distant and yet intensely present to every moment of our lives. When asked about youth ministry during my call interview I responded that it is all about relationships, which means being present with young people, building trust, and respecting them. The reason this is true, not only for youth ministry but for all ministry, is that God is a God of relationships. God, within God’s very being, is relational.

The real bottom line is not how God encounters us, but rather what happens because of the encounter. Like Isaiah, when God meets us there is a question of how we respond, because God gets us moving. All of Scripture invites us into a relationship with God and invites us to see where God meets us. In that meeting, God transforms us, moves us, and invites us into a living faith. That’s what John’s Jesus means by being born anew and it’s what Paul in Romans means about being adopted as sons and daughters of God. When that happens, like Isaiah, our lips are seared, and we set aside to join God in life giving work. Look for those places where God is expanding your lives and be ready to say, “Here am I, send me.” Amen.