Awesome!
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
In the passage from the Hebrew scriptures appointed by the lectionary for this week, Isaiah comes face-to-face with the power of the Lord -- and his reaction is one of awe and humility. He hears the words that have been a part of Christian worship for centuries -- "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" -- and immediately grasps that this holiness is far beyond anything in his ordinary experience. Indeed, he calls out: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah recognizes that he is in the presence of holiness -- but in the cacophonous modern world we live in, it's becoming increasingly difficult to have a sense of holiness. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member George Reed notes that what we've really lost in the last few decades is our sense of awe. People once reacted to amazing scientific and technological achievements such as space flight with awe -- but as a dizzying pace of innovation has become the norm, we've begun to assume as a culture that everything can be explained and/or controlled by man. George points out that the result of such thinking is that it becomes more difficult than ever to approach the mystery of God, which surpasses human understanding. (In a way, even the doctrine of the Trinity that we lift up on this Sunday speaks to this human conceit -- it's our way of trying to explain the different facets of our interaction with God and holiness that are beyond our limited intellectual tools.) George reminds us that when we lose our sense of awe, we also lose our ability to let ourselves be in communion with the holy. When we take things for granted -- whether it's our ability to control our environment or the sacrifices of others -- we are unable to grasp what is truly marvelous. And that leads us to consider if perhaps the same paradigm is at work in our churches too. When we repeat the words of the Lord's Prayer or take communion, how many of our people are really communing with the holy as opposed to just going through the motions? Do we really take time to be with the holy?
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on the epistle lesson and Paul's comments about believers as "children of God" who cry out to their Father. Dean contrasts people who are "child-like" with those who are merely "child-ish," and notes that while child-like people are capable of experiencing awe, those who are child-ish are so focused on themselves that they are completely unaware when awesome things and events pass by them.
Awesome!
by George Reed
Isaiah 6:1-8; John 3:1-17
Have we lost our sense of awe? It seems like it at times. My grandfather remembered that his third grade teacher said, "Man will never fly." Yet my grandfather lived to see humans fly in powered machines heavier than air and to visit Cape Canaveral as astronauts were rocketing up into space. He also lived long enough to know that a public school teacher should not use the word "man" to mean "humanity."
My grandfather -- who passed away in 1988 at the age of 102 -- was part of the last generation that went from relatively slow progress in science and technology to the fast pace we have today. One needs to check the news daily, if not hourly, to keep up on what is happening. If we haven't invented something today, we probably will by tomorrow -- and even if it takes a while, we are confident we will come up with it... no matter what "it" is.
I don't want to beat up on science for stealing our awe. Awe is not about what we have not yet come to understand or been able to explain. Awe is about that which is beyond us, beyond our ever understanding it. Awe is to stand in the face of a reality that is so far beyond ours that we cannot ever comprehend it -- and yet we can experience it. That's what Isaiah experienced. And it's what we need to experience as well.
THE WORLD
Where once we were in awe and wonder, we now are in complacent expectation. A good part of this is because we often felt awe about things that we could not explain. We often assigned a divine aura to things that we could not figure out. As we began to figure out more and more things, we lost that sense of awe about nature -- and for many folks, about God.
We shouldn't blame science for destroying our awe. If there is any blame, it goes to us religious folks who took the easy way out of pointing to the unexplained and claiming it as part of the mystery of God. We forgot that God is not unexplained but is rather unexplainable. Mystery in the church means something that cannot, ever, be explained. It is beyond our human understanding. We can only point in awe and wonder.
THE WORD
In our Old Testament reading the prophet Isaiah felt awe. He had a vision of God that made his heart race. In the gospel passage, Nicodemus was so focused on what was around him that he could no longer get his mind around things from a different dimension. We have in these two lessons two very different visions of God and life.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
One may begin by asking what, if anything, people are in awe of. What is it that grabs us with a sense of wonder and mystery that makes us speechless? For some it is nothing. For others it is beauty or maybe vastness. Perhaps it's the wonders of the natural world or maybe amazing human achievements in technology, athletic performance, or artistic expression.
What about the ultimate human sacrifice, which Jesus spoke to when he said: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). On Memorial Day, we commemorate the sacrifice made by soldiers who laid down their lives in wartime -- but do our activities on that day (and every day) really demonstrate that we have a sense of awe about the meaning of that sacrifice? While we routinely repeat platitudes about "honoring those who allow us to have our freedoms," for most people today Memorial Day is more of a celebration of the beginning of summer than a time to remember our soldiers. If we truly had a sense of awe about those who risk life and limb, would we keep images of soldiers returning home with horrific injuries or in coffins buried from our consciousness? Would we shrug our soldiers at the latest casualty reports or news of the latest terrorist bombing as, news-wise, just another day at the office?
In our often jaded existence, what is it that stuns us... that jolts us out of the mundane activities of our daily lives? Do we feel that way about God? Or are we, like Nicodemus, so focused on the earthly that we cannot comprehend the heavenly?
One may talk about the personal nature of God and how God was revealed in Jesus, but there is still that of God which is beyond us. Are we ready to accept a God who is more than a good buddy? Are we able, like Isaiah and Nicodemus, to allow ourselves to recognize when we are in the presence of something beyond our comprehension -- to be in communion with true holiness?
SECOND THOUGHTS
Child-like or Child-ish?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Romans 8:12-17
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God...
-- Romans 8:14-16
To be a Christian, says Paul, is to be a child that has been adopted by God.
As a citizen of Rome, Paul was fully aware of the role of adoption in Roman history and culture. Adoption was not just a way of taking care of orphans, though it certainly was that. It was, perhaps more importantly, a way of conferring status and wealth upon a favored relative or even a servant or slave.
The most famous example of this was when the emperor Julius Caesar adopted his lowborn nephew Octavian and named him his heir. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Octavian joined forces with Mark Anthony to avenge his adoptive father, and later defeated Mark Anthony to claim his rightful inheritance and become the emperor, after which he changed his name to Augustus.
In the 1959 movie Ben Hur, the Roman consul Quintus Arrius is charged by the emperor Tiberius to clear pirates from the Mediterranean Sea, but his ship is sunk in the battle. Nearly unconscious, his armor pulling him down and drowning him, he is saved by Judah Ben Hur, a galley slave. The two men are later rescued, and having become close friends, Quintus Arrius adopts Judah as his son. It is by way of this return to rank and privilege that Judah is able to make his way home to Judea and exact his revenge on the man who framed him.
Paul juxtaposes the story of Julius and Augustus Caesar, emperors of this world, to that of an alternative emperor and his adopted children. In this new, alternative empire, God is the emperor and we are all his adopted children and siblings of Jesus Christ, co-heirs with him to God's entire kingdom. We are princes and princesses in the kingdom of God, but this adoption is not just about rank and privilege -- it is about relationship.
Notice that in Paul's version of this spiritual adoption, we do not address God as "Sir" but as "Abba!" -- the Greek/Aramaic equivalent of "Daddy!" It is the expression of a child who, upon seeing a loving parent, runs with arms outstretched to be picked up and embraced.
In our relationship with God, Paul calls on us to assume a "child-like" posture -- which is not to be confused with a "child-ish" posture.
Child-like people know themselves to be utterly dependent. They rely on their parents to provide them with direction and boundaries and are thankful for parents as gifts that give their lives direction and focus.
Child-ish people rebel against authority. They chafe under direction and boundaries, no matter how lovingly they are given. They resent anything and anyone who limits their freedom with responsibility.
Child-like people are capable of awe and wonder. They appreciate the beauty of even the simplest miracle -- a flower, a smile, a song, a cloud that looks like a dragon, a cut finger that heals. Their entire being is subsumed in awe, fascination, and gratitude for the world around them.
Child-ish people are cynical and jaded. They have no sense of awe and wonder only what benefit they can reap from that which they encounter. That which has no "payoff" is of no value to them.
Child-like people live by trust and faith. They leap, knowing that, as they have been caught before, so they will be caught again. They obey because they have learned and lived authentically as a result of obeying. They love because they are loved.
Child-ish people live in a constant state of suspicion and doubt. Since they do not trust, they do not risk. They do not step onto a bridge without being able to see the other side. They wait for assurances and guarantees.
Paul calls us into a child-like relationship with God. And as it turns out, only mature people can be child-like. Only mature adults can choose to love, trust, stop and appreciate the awe and wonder that life has to offer and to live fully authentic lives of utter dependence on God.
Only mature adults are secure enough to experience life as adopted children of a loving God, a God to whom they run with outstretched arms and call out as they run, "Abba! Father!"
ILLUSTRATIONS
Two professors at Beloit College, Tom McBride and Ron Neif, in 1998 began to reflect upon the worldview of the incoming freshman class. Part of their examination was creating a list of things the students never experienced that their adult counterparts had. The first list they printed was of the freshman class of 2002, who were born in 1980. Each successive year the two professors have published the "Beloit College Mindset List".
The class of 2002 never had a polio shot and did not even know what polio was. They never owned a record player, and they had never seen a black and white television set. The class of 2003 only knew space travel in reusable spacecraft. They have always been able to get their news on CNN, and they never had to dial a telephone. The class of 2008 has always known the Comedy Central channel, and they could not distinguish between network television and cable television channels. Moving ahead to the published list for the class of 2015, they never saw a dial on a television set. Women have always been kissing women on television. Music has always been available on free downloads. Some classes never had to wind up a car window, and for others computers were always able to fit into their backpacks.
Having lost the awe of those who were born in the 1890s, who literally went from the horse and buggy to walking on the moon, these students have replaced wonderment with expectation. The newest and latest is not a marvel to behold, just an expected and anticipated advancement.
It is no wonder then that the church today has a difficult time conveying the reverence and mystery that Isaiah experienced and expressed.
* * *
Eugene Polley died on May 20th. Who is Eugene Polley and why was his death notable? Well, in 1955 the former Zenith engineer invented the first remote control for turning television channels and changing the volume. It was a ray gun that one would point to one of the four corners of the television screen, to perform one of four specific functions.
Polley's obituary began with these words: "Couch potatoes everywhere can pause and thank Eugene Polley for hours of feet-up channel surfing. His invention, the first wireless TV remote, began as a luxury, but with the introduction of hundreds of channels and viewing technologies it has become a necessity."
In a society of couch potatoes, surrounded by hundreds of television channels and movie options, one could easily surf through with a yawn at the sacredness of Isaiah's vision if it lacked computer-induced special effects. Is Isaiah's vision just one channel among many that we watch with our feet up rather than standing up in admiration?
* * *
Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second Coming that would not be cut down to size by the televised evening news, or a last judgment not subject to pages of holier-than-thou second-guessing in The New York Review of Books.
-- John Updike
* * *
As a young family approached the Grand Canyon for their first view of this spectacular sight, a father held up his two-year-old son and watched his reaction. The child's eyes grew wider and wider. He began trying to describe what he was seeing. After babbling nonsensical sounds for a few moments, he finally said, "Hole!" Then, realizing that wasn't quite sufficient, he added: "B-I-G Hole!"
When Isaiah found himself in the presence of the almighty God, he must have felt like that child. There were no words sufficient to describe what he was seeing. Likewise, as we try to describe the mysterium tremendum, the tremendous mystery which is God, we often find ourselves babbling like children about the Trinity, saying words hardly adequate to express the reality of God, but doing the best we can.
* * *
The state of being child-like people who are able to experience and live out their relationship with God calls to mind Chris Van Allsburg's classic children's book The Polar Express. It tells of a boy who boards a mysterious train late one Christmas Eve that is bound for the North Pole. Upon arrival the boy meets Santa, who offers him any gift he desires. The boy rather modestly asks for a bell from the harness of one of Santa's reindeer. The gift is granted -- but on the return trip home, the distraught youngster discovers that the bell has been lost. But when he wakes up on Christmas morning, the boy discovers the bell under the tree. While he is overjoyed at finding the bell, the boy's mother laments that it is broken because she cannot hear its sound. Rather than being broken, the bell's sound is only audible to those who believe in Santa.
Like those in the book who retain their child-like ability to believe in Santa and still hear the bell, those who have retained their child-like nature as the children of God are still capable of experiencing an awe-filled encounter with true holiness.
* * *
In Isaiah's vision the image of the Lord the young prophet is blessed to see is at once fearsome and powerful. The Hebrew word translated as "holy" is qadosh, which literally means that which is separated or removed from our ordinary lives. We learn that Isaiah's response to this awe-inspiring vision is to confess his sin -- to acknowledge himself as nothing by comparison.... This text is troubling to modern ears. Few of us come to church expecting to hear someone cry out, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips." The truth is, most of us would rather not hear about that sort of thing. Wouldn't we rather practice "the power of positive thinking"? Wouldn't we prefer to surround ourselves with self-affirmation... to build up our self-esteem... to reassure ourselves with the mantra of televangelist Robert Schuller: "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better"?
The problem for Isaiah is that his vision doesn't allow him to do that. The light of God's glory has cast the prophet's shadow onto the wall behind him in sharp relief -- and he doesn't much like the silhouette he sees.... Isaiah is declaring that this God whom he has encountered in the temple is so huge, so awe-inspiring -- so wholly other -- that his life is as nothing by comparison.
What this great text is about, fundamentally, is awe. It's about the feeling the psalmist calls "fear of the Lord." Isaiah's God is a God who cannot be trivialized -- yet don't we try, so often, to do just that? Don't we endeavor to drag God down to our level?
-- Carlos Wilton, Lectionary Preaching Workbook [Series VIII, Cycle B] (CSS Publishing, 2006)
* * *
There are some things treated with awe and considered extremely precious. Once upon a time in our culture, choosing to have sexual relations was typically thought to be something reserved for the sanctity of marriage. But in an age where "hooking up" is looked upon in many quarters as standard dating practice, it gets the media's attention when an attractive celebrity announces that they have retained their virginity well into adulthood and are waiting to have sex until marriage. So it was recently when 29-year-old Lolo Jones, one of the world's best hurdlers, told an interviewer that she was a virgin -- and that it "was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics. Harder than graduating from college." For Lolo Jones, who experienced the heartbreak of losing a gold medal when she crashed into the final hurdle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to declare that keeping her virginity as "a gift I want to give my husband" indicates that she hasn't lost her sense of awe about the depth and magnitude of the sexual bond between married couples.
* * *
There is no less holiness at this time -- as you are reading this -- than there was the day the Red Sea parted.... There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha's bo tree. There is no whit less might in heaven or on earth than there was the day Jesus said "Maid, arise" to the centurion's daughter, or the day Peter walked on water, or the night Mohammed flew to heaven on a horse. In any instant, the sacred may wipe you with its finger. In any instant, the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in a tree. In any instant, you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture.
-- Annie Dillard, For the Time Being (Knopf, 1999)
* * *
The Latin word for hymn, which means "to sing," is unknown in pre-Christian literature. Christians, then, were the first to sing hymns. Christians were not the first to sings songs of adulation to a god, but Christians were the first religious body to sing hymns.
Saint Augustine, commenting on Psalm 148 wrote: "Know ye what a hymn is? It is a song with praise of God. If thou praisest God and singest not, thou utterest no hymn, if thou singest and praisest not God but another thing, thou utterest no hymn. A hymn then containeth these three things, song and praise and that praise of God."
-- Walter J. Burghardt
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Mary Austin
Call to Worship
Leader: Holy, holy, holy is our God. Come and worship the Creator.
People: We come in awe to praise God.
Leader: Loving and merciful is our God. Come and draw close to Jesus.
People: We come in love to praise God.
Leader: Creative and mysterious is our God. Come and seek the Spirit.
People: We come in joy to praise the Spirit.
Leader: Let us worship the God of glory together.
Opening Prayer / Collect for the Day
Spirit of truth, flame, and wind, Redeemer of the world, word before all other words, Creator of all that is, we come in awe before your glory, which is beyond our understanding but calls forth our praise and worship. In wonder, we come to you, grateful to be your people. May we, by your grace, worship you in love and adoration. Amen.
OR
Here we are God, send us. Send us with our fears and our flaws, with our faltering faith and our worries, send us by your power to serve your people. Burn away our certainties and our pettiness, our inadequate words and foolish ideas, and let your glory shine in us that we might serve you in the world. Here we are God, send us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
O God, we are people of faint hearts. Forgive us, we pray. We see the holy and try to reduce it to size. You come to us, and we miss it. O God, we are people of small minds. Forgive us, we pray.
We find mystery, and try to explain it. You speak, and the noise in our lives makes it hard to hear. O God, we are fearful people. Forgive us, we pray. You invite us to be your children, and we hesitate, wondering if it will take too long or cost too much. Forgive our small spirits and quaking hearts and call to us again, for we are listening now. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Words of Assurance / Forgiveness
The God of heaven and earth sees our missteps, our mistakes, our failures of heart, mind, and spirit and still calls us to serve. Know that by the grace of the Spirit, which blows where it will, bringing God's grace, you have been born again into new life. The old is over and done, and you are born anew into life with God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
God, whose wisdom is timeless and whose grace is always timely, silence the chatter of our hearts that we might hear you again today. Still the rushing of our minds that we might understand you anew today. Quiet the striving of our spirits that we might embrace your Spirit afresh today. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Prayer after the Offering / Prayer of Thanksgiving
God whose generosity knows no beginning or end, we feel a little silly giving you what you gave to us, but we have nothing else but your gifts, and we are nothing else, apart from you. Receive these gifts, we pray, and send them, and us, to be your face in the world, and your light in people's lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Hymn Suggestions
"Come, All You People"
"Every Time I Feel the Spirit"
"The God of Abraham Praise"
"God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale"
"God of Many Names"
"The Heavens Are Telling the Glory of God"
"Here I Am, Lord"
"Holy, Holy, Holy"
"Holy Spirit, Come to Us"
"I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me"
"Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee"
"Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth"
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing"
"O How He Loves You and Me"
"Santo, Santo, Santo"
"Send Me"
"Spirit"
"Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart"
"Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me"
"Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones"
Ideas for the Children's Time
No Sunday is as perilous for the preacher as the one where we try to explain the mystery of the Trinity to children who are still in a very literal stage of their thinking. A sensible preacher might well move on to another topic for the day... any other topic!
If one wishes to talk about the Trinity, one place to start might be with the example of a soccer team. The people on the team are different and have different jobs during the game, but they're all members of the same team. They wear the same shirts, so you know they belong together. The team wouldn't be complete without each of the members. The important thing is that they belong together and are all part of the same whole. This runs the risk of the kids imagining God in a sports jersey, but it seeks to address the relationship aspect of the Trinity -- Creator, Redeemer, and Spirit, all connected with one another.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Children of God
Romans 8:12-17
Objects: a birth certificate and a baptismal certificate
I want to show you this document. (show the birth certificate) Do you know what this is? (let them answer) Yes, this is a birth certificate. Throughout your life there will be times when you need your birth certificate. What are some of the things it tells on this birth certificate? (let them answer) It shows where you were born and the date you were born. It also shows the names of your parents. This document proves that you are the child of these parents.
Now, let me show you another document. (show the baptismal certificate) Do you know what this is? (let them answer) Yes, this is a baptismal certificate. It shows when and where you were baptized. Like the birth certificate, it also shows the names of your parents; but unlike the birth certificate, this document shows that you are a child of God! This shows that we have a divine Father in heaven. When we were baptized, we became God's children.
Because you are a child of your mother and father, you have a home with them here on earth. They take care of you and give you the things that you need. In the same way, our heavenly Father cares for his children. He loves us and cares for us. He makes sure that we have the things that we need, and God has a permanent home for all of his children in heaven.
Aren't you glad that you are God's children? (let them answer)
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, thank you so much for making us your children and for providing a home for us in heaven. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, June 3, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on the epistle lesson and Paul's comments about believers as "children of God" who cry out to their Father. Dean contrasts people who are "child-like" with those who are merely "child-ish," and notes that while child-like people are capable of experiencing awe, those who are child-ish are so focused on themselves that they are completely unaware when awesome things and events pass by them.
Awesome!
by George Reed
Isaiah 6:1-8; John 3:1-17
Have we lost our sense of awe? It seems like it at times. My grandfather remembered that his third grade teacher said, "Man will never fly." Yet my grandfather lived to see humans fly in powered machines heavier than air and to visit Cape Canaveral as astronauts were rocketing up into space. He also lived long enough to know that a public school teacher should not use the word "man" to mean "humanity."
My grandfather -- who passed away in 1988 at the age of 102 -- was part of the last generation that went from relatively slow progress in science and technology to the fast pace we have today. One needs to check the news daily, if not hourly, to keep up on what is happening. If we haven't invented something today, we probably will by tomorrow -- and even if it takes a while, we are confident we will come up with it... no matter what "it" is.
I don't want to beat up on science for stealing our awe. Awe is not about what we have not yet come to understand or been able to explain. Awe is about that which is beyond us, beyond our ever understanding it. Awe is to stand in the face of a reality that is so far beyond ours that we cannot ever comprehend it -- and yet we can experience it. That's what Isaiah experienced. And it's what we need to experience as well.
THE WORLD
Where once we were in awe and wonder, we now are in complacent expectation. A good part of this is because we often felt awe about things that we could not explain. We often assigned a divine aura to things that we could not figure out. As we began to figure out more and more things, we lost that sense of awe about nature -- and for many folks, about God.
We shouldn't blame science for destroying our awe. If there is any blame, it goes to us religious folks who took the easy way out of pointing to the unexplained and claiming it as part of the mystery of God. We forgot that God is not unexplained but is rather unexplainable. Mystery in the church means something that cannot, ever, be explained. It is beyond our human understanding. We can only point in awe and wonder.
THE WORD
In our Old Testament reading the prophet Isaiah felt awe. He had a vision of God that made his heart race. In the gospel passage, Nicodemus was so focused on what was around him that he could no longer get his mind around things from a different dimension. We have in these two lessons two very different visions of God and life.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
One may begin by asking what, if anything, people are in awe of. What is it that grabs us with a sense of wonder and mystery that makes us speechless? For some it is nothing. For others it is beauty or maybe vastness. Perhaps it's the wonders of the natural world or maybe amazing human achievements in technology, athletic performance, or artistic expression.
What about the ultimate human sacrifice, which Jesus spoke to when he said: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). On Memorial Day, we commemorate the sacrifice made by soldiers who laid down their lives in wartime -- but do our activities on that day (and every day) really demonstrate that we have a sense of awe about the meaning of that sacrifice? While we routinely repeat platitudes about "honoring those who allow us to have our freedoms," for most people today Memorial Day is more of a celebration of the beginning of summer than a time to remember our soldiers. If we truly had a sense of awe about those who risk life and limb, would we keep images of soldiers returning home with horrific injuries or in coffins buried from our consciousness? Would we shrug our soldiers at the latest casualty reports or news of the latest terrorist bombing as, news-wise, just another day at the office?
In our often jaded existence, what is it that stuns us... that jolts us out of the mundane activities of our daily lives? Do we feel that way about God? Or are we, like Nicodemus, so focused on the earthly that we cannot comprehend the heavenly?
One may talk about the personal nature of God and how God was revealed in Jesus, but there is still that of God which is beyond us. Are we ready to accept a God who is more than a good buddy? Are we able, like Isaiah and Nicodemus, to allow ourselves to recognize when we are in the presence of something beyond our comprehension -- to be in communion with true holiness?
SECOND THOUGHTS
Child-like or Child-ish?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Romans 8:12-17
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God...
-- Romans 8:14-16
To be a Christian, says Paul, is to be a child that has been adopted by God.
As a citizen of Rome, Paul was fully aware of the role of adoption in Roman history and culture. Adoption was not just a way of taking care of orphans, though it certainly was that. It was, perhaps more importantly, a way of conferring status and wealth upon a favored relative or even a servant or slave.
The most famous example of this was when the emperor Julius Caesar adopted his lowborn nephew Octavian and named him his heir. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Octavian joined forces with Mark Anthony to avenge his adoptive father, and later defeated Mark Anthony to claim his rightful inheritance and become the emperor, after which he changed his name to Augustus.
In the 1959 movie Ben Hur, the Roman consul Quintus Arrius is charged by the emperor Tiberius to clear pirates from the Mediterranean Sea, but his ship is sunk in the battle. Nearly unconscious, his armor pulling him down and drowning him, he is saved by Judah Ben Hur, a galley slave. The two men are later rescued, and having become close friends, Quintus Arrius adopts Judah as his son. It is by way of this return to rank and privilege that Judah is able to make his way home to Judea and exact his revenge on the man who framed him.
Paul juxtaposes the story of Julius and Augustus Caesar, emperors of this world, to that of an alternative emperor and his adopted children. In this new, alternative empire, God is the emperor and we are all his adopted children and siblings of Jesus Christ, co-heirs with him to God's entire kingdom. We are princes and princesses in the kingdom of God, but this adoption is not just about rank and privilege -- it is about relationship.
Notice that in Paul's version of this spiritual adoption, we do not address God as "Sir" but as "Abba!" -- the Greek/Aramaic equivalent of "Daddy!" It is the expression of a child who, upon seeing a loving parent, runs with arms outstretched to be picked up and embraced.
In our relationship with God, Paul calls on us to assume a "child-like" posture -- which is not to be confused with a "child-ish" posture.
Child-like people know themselves to be utterly dependent. They rely on their parents to provide them with direction and boundaries and are thankful for parents as gifts that give their lives direction and focus.
Child-ish people rebel against authority. They chafe under direction and boundaries, no matter how lovingly they are given. They resent anything and anyone who limits their freedom with responsibility.
Child-like people are capable of awe and wonder. They appreciate the beauty of even the simplest miracle -- a flower, a smile, a song, a cloud that looks like a dragon, a cut finger that heals. Their entire being is subsumed in awe, fascination, and gratitude for the world around them.
Child-ish people are cynical and jaded. They have no sense of awe and wonder only what benefit they can reap from that which they encounter. That which has no "payoff" is of no value to them.
Child-like people live by trust and faith. They leap, knowing that, as they have been caught before, so they will be caught again. They obey because they have learned and lived authentically as a result of obeying. They love because they are loved.
Child-ish people live in a constant state of suspicion and doubt. Since they do not trust, they do not risk. They do not step onto a bridge without being able to see the other side. They wait for assurances and guarantees.
Paul calls us into a child-like relationship with God. And as it turns out, only mature people can be child-like. Only mature adults can choose to love, trust, stop and appreciate the awe and wonder that life has to offer and to live fully authentic lives of utter dependence on God.
Only mature adults are secure enough to experience life as adopted children of a loving God, a God to whom they run with outstretched arms and call out as they run, "Abba! Father!"
ILLUSTRATIONS
Two professors at Beloit College, Tom McBride and Ron Neif, in 1998 began to reflect upon the worldview of the incoming freshman class. Part of their examination was creating a list of things the students never experienced that their adult counterparts had. The first list they printed was of the freshman class of 2002, who were born in 1980. Each successive year the two professors have published the "Beloit College Mindset List".
The class of 2002 never had a polio shot and did not even know what polio was. They never owned a record player, and they had never seen a black and white television set. The class of 2003 only knew space travel in reusable spacecraft. They have always been able to get their news on CNN, and they never had to dial a telephone. The class of 2008 has always known the Comedy Central channel, and they could not distinguish between network television and cable television channels. Moving ahead to the published list for the class of 2015, they never saw a dial on a television set. Women have always been kissing women on television. Music has always been available on free downloads. Some classes never had to wind up a car window, and for others computers were always able to fit into their backpacks.
Having lost the awe of those who were born in the 1890s, who literally went from the horse and buggy to walking on the moon, these students have replaced wonderment with expectation. The newest and latest is not a marvel to behold, just an expected and anticipated advancement.
It is no wonder then that the church today has a difficult time conveying the reverence and mystery that Isaiah experienced and expressed.
* * *
Eugene Polley died on May 20th. Who is Eugene Polley and why was his death notable? Well, in 1955 the former Zenith engineer invented the first remote control for turning television channels and changing the volume. It was a ray gun that one would point to one of the four corners of the television screen, to perform one of four specific functions.
Polley's obituary began with these words: "Couch potatoes everywhere can pause and thank Eugene Polley for hours of feet-up channel surfing. His invention, the first wireless TV remote, began as a luxury, but with the introduction of hundreds of channels and viewing technologies it has become a necessity."
In a society of couch potatoes, surrounded by hundreds of television channels and movie options, one could easily surf through with a yawn at the sacredness of Isaiah's vision if it lacked computer-induced special effects. Is Isaiah's vision just one channel among many that we watch with our feet up rather than standing up in admiration?
* * *
Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second Coming that would not be cut down to size by the televised evening news, or a last judgment not subject to pages of holier-than-thou second-guessing in The New York Review of Books.
-- John Updike
* * *
As a young family approached the Grand Canyon for their first view of this spectacular sight, a father held up his two-year-old son and watched his reaction. The child's eyes grew wider and wider. He began trying to describe what he was seeing. After babbling nonsensical sounds for a few moments, he finally said, "Hole!" Then, realizing that wasn't quite sufficient, he added: "B-I-G Hole!"
When Isaiah found himself in the presence of the almighty God, he must have felt like that child. There were no words sufficient to describe what he was seeing. Likewise, as we try to describe the mysterium tremendum, the tremendous mystery which is God, we often find ourselves babbling like children about the Trinity, saying words hardly adequate to express the reality of God, but doing the best we can.
* * *
The state of being child-like people who are able to experience and live out their relationship with God calls to mind Chris Van Allsburg's classic children's book The Polar Express. It tells of a boy who boards a mysterious train late one Christmas Eve that is bound for the North Pole. Upon arrival the boy meets Santa, who offers him any gift he desires. The boy rather modestly asks for a bell from the harness of one of Santa's reindeer. The gift is granted -- but on the return trip home, the distraught youngster discovers that the bell has been lost. But when he wakes up on Christmas morning, the boy discovers the bell under the tree. While he is overjoyed at finding the bell, the boy's mother laments that it is broken because she cannot hear its sound. Rather than being broken, the bell's sound is only audible to those who believe in Santa.
Like those in the book who retain their child-like ability to believe in Santa and still hear the bell, those who have retained their child-like nature as the children of God are still capable of experiencing an awe-filled encounter with true holiness.
* * *
In Isaiah's vision the image of the Lord the young prophet is blessed to see is at once fearsome and powerful. The Hebrew word translated as "holy" is qadosh, which literally means that which is separated or removed from our ordinary lives. We learn that Isaiah's response to this awe-inspiring vision is to confess his sin -- to acknowledge himself as nothing by comparison.... This text is troubling to modern ears. Few of us come to church expecting to hear someone cry out, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips." The truth is, most of us would rather not hear about that sort of thing. Wouldn't we rather practice "the power of positive thinking"? Wouldn't we prefer to surround ourselves with self-affirmation... to build up our self-esteem... to reassure ourselves with the mantra of televangelist Robert Schuller: "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better"?
The problem for Isaiah is that his vision doesn't allow him to do that. The light of God's glory has cast the prophet's shadow onto the wall behind him in sharp relief -- and he doesn't much like the silhouette he sees.... Isaiah is declaring that this God whom he has encountered in the temple is so huge, so awe-inspiring -- so wholly other -- that his life is as nothing by comparison.
What this great text is about, fundamentally, is awe. It's about the feeling the psalmist calls "fear of the Lord." Isaiah's God is a God who cannot be trivialized -- yet don't we try, so often, to do just that? Don't we endeavor to drag God down to our level?
-- Carlos Wilton, Lectionary Preaching Workbook [Series VIII, Cycle B] (CSS Publishing, 2006)
* * *
There are some things treated with awe and considered extremely precious. Once upon a time in our culture, choosing to have sexual relations was typically thought to be something reserved for the sanctity of marriage. But in an age where "hooking up" is looked upon in many quarters as standard dating practice, it gets the media's attention when an attractive celebrity announces that they have retained their virginity well into adulthood and are waiting to have sex until marriage. So it was recently when 29-year-old Lolo Jones, one of the world's best hurdlers, told an interviewer that she was a virgin -- and that it "was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics. Harder than graduating from college." For Lolo Jones, who experienced the heartbreak of losing a gold medal when she crashed into the final hurdle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to declare that keeping her virginity as "a gift I want to give my husband" indicates that she hasn't lost her sense of awe about the depth and magnitude of the sexual bond between married couples.
* * *
There is no less holiness at this time -- as you are reading this -- than there was the day the Red Sea parted.... There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha's bo tree. There is no whit less might in heaven or on earth than there was the day Jesus said "Maid, arise" to the centurion's daughter, or the day Peter walked on water, or the night Mohammed flew to heaven on a horse. In any instant, the sacred may wipe you with its finger. In any instant, the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in a tree. In any instant, you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture.
-- Annie Dillard, For the Time Being (Knopf, 1999)
* * *
The Latin word for hymn, which means "to sing," is unknown in pre-Christian literature. Christians, then, were the first to sing hymns. Christians were not the first to sings songs of adulation to a god, but Christians were the first religious body to sing hymns.
Saint Augustine, commenting on Psalm 148 wrote: "Know ye what a hymn is? It is a song with praise of God. If thou praisest God and singest not, thou utterest no hymn, if thou singest and praisest not God but another thing, thou utterest no hymn. A hymn then containeth these three things, song and praise and that praise of God."
-- Walter J. Burghardt
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Mary Austin
Call to Worship
Leader: Holy, holy, holy is our God. Come and worship the Creator.
People: We come in awe to praise God.
Leader: Loving and merciful is our God. Come and draw close to Jesus.
People: We come in love to praise God.
Leader: Creative and mysterious is our God. Come and seek the Spirit.
People: We come in joy to praise the Spirit.
Leader: Let us worship the God of glory together.
Opening Prayer / Collect for the Day
Spirit of truth, flame, and wind, Redeemer of the world, word before all other words, Creator of all that is, we come in awe before your glory, which is beyond our understanding but calls forth our praise and worship. In wonder, we come to you, grateful to be your people. May we, by your grace, worship you in love and adoration. Amen.
OR
Here we are God, send us. Send us with our fears and our flaws, with our faltering faith and our worries, send us by your power to serve your people. Burn away our certainties and our pettiness, our inadequate words and foolish ideas, and let your glory shine in us that we might serve you in the world. Here we are God, send us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
O God, we are people of faint hearts. Forgive us, we pray. We see the holy and try to reduce it to size. You come to us, and we miss it. O God, we are people of small minds. Forgive us, we pray.
We find mystery, and try to explain it. You speak, and the noise in our lives makes it hard to hear. O God, we are fearful people. Forgive us, we pray. You invite us to be your children, and we hesitate, wondering if it will take too long or cost too much. Forgive our small spirits and quaking hearts and call to us again, for we are listening now. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Words of Assurance / Forgiveness
The God of heaven and earth sees our missteps, our mistakes, our failures of heart, mind, and spirit and still calls us to serve. Know that by the grace of the Spirit, which blows where it will, bringing God's grace, you have been born again into new life. The old is over and done, and you are born anew into life with God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
God, whose wisdom is timeless and whose grace is always timely, silence the chatter of our hearts that we might hear you again today. Still the rushing of our minds that we might understand you anew today. Quiet the striving of our spirits that we might embrace your Spirit afresh today. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Prayer after the Offering / Prayer of Thanksgiving
God whose generosity knows no beginning or end, we feel a little silly giving you what you gave to us, but we have nothing else but your gifts, and we are nothing else, apart from you. Receive these gifts, we pray, and send them, and us, to be your face in the world, and your light in people's lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Hymn Suggestions
"Come, All You People"
"Every Time I Feel the Spirit"
"The God of Abraham Praise"
"God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale"
"God of Many Names"
"The Heavens Are Telling the Glory of God"
"Here I Am, Lord"
"Holy, Holy, Holy"
"Holy Spirit, Come to Us"
"I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me"
"Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee"
"Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth"
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing"
"O How He Loves You and Me"
"Santo, Santo, Santo"
"Send Me"
"Spirit"
"Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart"
"Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me"
"Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones"
Ideas for the Children's Time
No Sunday is as perilous for the preacher as the one where we try to explain the mystery of the Trinity to children who are still in a very literal stage of their thinking. A sensible preacher might well move on to another topic for the day... any other topic!
If one wishes to talk about the Trinity, one place to start might be with the example of a soccer team. The people on the team are different and have different jobs during the game, but they're all members of the same team. They wear the same shirts, so you know they belong together. The team wouldn't be complete without each of the members. The important thing is that they belong together and are all part of the same whole. This runs the risk of the kids imagining God in a sports jersey, but it seeks to address the relationship aspect of the Trinity -- Creator, Redeemer, and Spirit, all connected with one another.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Children of God
Romans 8:12-17
Objects: a birth certificate and a baptismal certificate
I want to show you this document. (show the birth certificate) Do you know what this is? (let them answer) Yes, this is a birth certificate. Throughout your life there will be times when you need your birth certificate. What are some of the things it tells on this birth certificate? (let them answer) It shows where you were born and the date you were born. It also shows the names of your parents. This document proves that you are the child of these parents.
Now, let me show you another document. (show the baptismal certificate) Do you know what this is? (let them answer) Yes, this is a baptismal certificate. It shows when and where you were baptized. Like the birth certificate, it also shows the names of your parents; but unlike the birth certificate, this document shows that you are a child of God! This shows that we have a divine Father in heaven. When we were baptized, we became God's children.
Because you are a child of your mother and father, you have a home with them here on earth. They take care of you and give you the things that you need. In the same way, our heavenly Father cares for his children. He loves us and cares for us. He makes sure that we have the things that we need, and God has a permanent home for all of his children in heaven.
Aren't you glad that you are God's children? (let them answer)
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, thank you so much for making us your children and for providing a home for us in heaven. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, June 3, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
