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Moments of Truth A sermon
preached by Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli at Capitol Hill United Methodist
Church February 4, 2007. Text: Isaiah 6:1-8, Luke 5:1-11 --------------- In my years of ministry with youth, a common way that we would begin our times together was by sharing "highlights and lowlights." That it, good stuff that had happened that day or week and not so good stuff that had happened. Often, we would then share what we called "God sightings." In other words we were invited to share experiences in which we believed we had caught a glimpse of the Holy One in our midst. Inevitably, stories would be told about acts of generosity or about a beautiful sunset or about a kind word that was spoken. I particularly like this way of beginning a gathering. It reminds us that God is all around us, incarnate in so many ways, just waiting for us to pay attention. So often, I think we fail to grasp that part of the Gospel message is about holiness incarnate, about the ordinary being filled and transformed by the extraordinary, the divine. This may be, in part, due to the fact that we refer to God as holy and we figure that if God is holy, then we probably aren't. But what of the Gospel? What of all that holy incarnation?: God in human flesh, water into wine, lunchbox-fare into a feast for thousands, grain and grapes into grace-filled food for the soul, fishermen and housemaids into disciples of the Christ. It's difficult for us to believe that holiness exists in such ordinary and human contexts as our own lives. So it was always particularly gratifying to hear teenagers share their "God sightings." It was a reminder to me that God really is all around us all the time, revealing glimpses of holiness. Today's scriptures give us two extraordinary "God sightings," very different images of encounters with the divine. On the one hand, we see Isaiah in the temple being given a vision of the Lord of hosts. The image is of God high and exalted on a throne, so glorious that all that can be seen is the divine robe filling the temple, the smoke of temple worship and the heavenly attendants, the seraphim. On the other hand, we see an image of the Christ, Jesus, stepping into a smelly fishing boat to teach the crowd of people who have gathered. We see Simon Peter being encountered by Jesus at his workplace, there on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. These two "God sightings" couldn't be more different. And I would guess that if those of us here today were to share our god sightings, they would all look a bit different too. Maybe you're doubting whether you have ever had an encounter with the Holy. Or maybe you're very clear about when and where and how you have experienced God in your life. One thing we learn from Isaiah's experience and Peter's experience is that god comes to us in many ways, in both transcendence and visions and in commonness and human flesh. Part of our faith as United Methodist Christians is that God's grace is active before we even know to think of god. That God's grace, through the Holy Spirit, is the agent whose loving presence gives us the desire to seek God, to seek to know Christ. Therefore, even if you can't name a particular moment in which you consciously remember being encountered by the Holy One, I am here to say that you have-or you wouldn't be here today. Even if you came because of obligation or because someone made you get up and come, you're here. That, I believe, is God's grace at work. And for each of us who come together today, for whatever reason, we have been given these words from Isaiah and the gospel according to Luke. So what? What we see in both of these stories are two human beings who come face to face with God. As I see it these are moments of truth for their lives. For in the presence of the Holy One, the creator of our lives, how can we not grow closer to the truth of our own existence, the truth of our own souls? In each case, in the presence of the Holy, in these moments of truth, these human beings become immediately aware of their own inadequacy, of their sinfulness. "Woe is me! I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips!" "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!" What is this all about? Why these confessions of sin? I mean, so far as we know, Peter and Isaiah were perfectly upstanding human beings. Isaiah was most probably even an ordained priest, one who had given his life to God's service. So why the confessions? In the presence of God-perfect holiness-we human beings cannot help but recognize our own shortcomings. In the light of God's presence, our won faults and weaknesses and inadequacies are so real, even painfully so. And in these moments of truth, we also are reminded of the goal of our living: holiness. When we catch even a glimmer of what that means, we are humbled and fearful and we know we aren't there yet. In the holy presence of God, any pride or certainty about our lives is given a reality check. In these moments of truth, even in the midst of their acknowledgement of their own sin and insufficiency, both Isaiah and Peter recognized a call on their lives. Even though in the accounts we hear today, neither of these guys were called by name-Isaiah overhears God asking "who shall we send" and in Luke's account, Jesus doesn't tell Peter to follow him-even though neither are specifically called by name to do anything, both of them recognize that they ARE called to do something, to BE something new. This was the beginning of a new path, a journey of uncertainty in many ways, but a journey of the most certain thing there is in other ways-that is, in these moments of being encountered by god, Isaiah and Simon Peter recognized who they were and whose they were. The most certain, the most true, the most human response was to be who God called them to be, to follow and to live with and for God, for Jesus Christ. And so when human beings are encountered by the Holy One, there is a pattern of response: recognition of who we are and whose we are, confession, pardon, and acknowledgement of a call on our lives, a call toward holiness, toward growth in love and discipleship and service. And so we gather today in this place, called here by god's grace, in so many different places in our lives of faith and doubt and our struggle to be human. And whether we know it or not, whether we're aware of it or not, God is here. The Holy of Holies is present in our midst. Jesus Christ is among us and the Holy Spirit is pregnant with grace just waiting to be poured out over and into us. Today to catch a glimpse of the Holy, to have a "god sighting" we only have to look as far as this Holy Table of grace. Here, in the common, earthly elements of bread and new wine, we are encountered by the mystery of Christ's presence. So in this moment of truth, what will we do? We will confess our sin and our inadequacy. We will be pardoned and assured of the steadfast love of God. We will turn to those around us and offer signs of peace and reconciliation. Because we know that we are called to live holy lives, lives of love and forgiveness. That's what we do. There may be days when we come together as a family of faith and we move through these motions and actions and prayers by rote. Days when they may not feel very alive or urgent or necessary. I feel fairly certain that we have all had days like that-I know I have. But, and pardon me for saying this, we shouldn't. Because what we do today is the most necessary, the most alive, the most urgent thing we do. Namely, we come into the Holy Presence of the Living God, acknowledging the deepest truth of our lives-our utter dependence upon god to be truly human, our absolute need of Jesus Christ to be forgiven and freed to grow in holiness. We are fed from the table of God's grace, receiving the spiritual food of Christ's body and blood. And we are given the opportunity, through our prayers and through our acts of peace and reconciliation to respond to God's gracious presence with us, to begin again to be the human beings God has created us to be. That's what it is. A new beginning. Just as we see Isaiah and Simon Peter on the verge of a whole new life, so we look at all those around us and at our own selves and recognize that TODAY we are given a whole new life, a new beginning. And it may be hard for those of us who are old and feel broken down to grasp that today is anew beginning. And it may be hard for those of us who are young and feel broken down to believe that today is a new beginning. But today
we are in the presence of the risen Christ, the Holy One. We are forgiven.
We are made new. We are shown afresh who we are and who we are called
to be. This is the moment of truth. Now.
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Sermons from other years:
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Capitol Hill United Methodist
Church is a Reconciling Congregation. |
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