Seeing Beyond the Water...
Isaiah 49:1-7
Listen to me, O coast lands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. God called me from the womb,from the body of my mother God named my name. God made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of God's had I was hidden; God made me a polished arrow, in the quiver I was hidden away. And God said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Sovereign One, and my recompense with my God." And now God says, who formed me in the womb to be God's servant, to bring Jacob back to the Sovereign One, and that Israel might be gathered to God, for I am honored in the eyes of the Sovereign One, and my God has become my strength- God says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth." Thus says the Sovereign One, the Redeemer of Israel and Israel's Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant of rulers: "Monarchs shall see and arise; rulers and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Sovereign One, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel , who has chosen you." |
"If we do not pray, it is because we sometimes hold superstitions, one form being this: if I give myself up too much to God, God will give me something too hard which I cannot do. This is not Christian maturity. It presupposes that our Lord is playing tricks with us all the time. We have to get rid of the thoughts that God is a powerful deceiver, that God is ready to catch us in some moment of weakness and impose some terrible punishment. This is a dreadful concept of God. The first thing necessary is to root out every vestige of this thought of God. Don't think God is trying to catch you... Open yourself up to God. God will never, never fail us. We have to really believe that we are totally forgiven. Don't set limits to the mercy of God. Don't believe that because you are not pleasing to yourself you are not pleasing to God. God does not ask for results. God asks for love." - Thomas Merton |
John 1:29-42
John saw Jesus approaching, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! This is the one of whom I said, 'After me comes a person who ranks before me.' I my self did not know who it was; but for this I came baptizing with water, that the one who was to come might be revealed to Israel." And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know who it was; but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "The person on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit..' And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Child of God."
The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
John saw Jesus approaching, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! This is the one of whom I said, 'After me comes a person who ranks before me.' I my self did not know who it was; but for this I came baptizing with water, that the one who was to come might be revealed to Israel." And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know who it was; but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "The person on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit..' And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Child of God."
The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
I have an affinity for Isaiah 49. Years ago we lived in a home with a large deck off the back that overlooked a small river. I was working an odd shift as a home fashion designer while simultaneously homeschooling two of my four children. The lifestyle was near perfect to me. In addition to the gift of spending large chunks of time with my boys, I had ample time each day for Bible reading, prayer and meditation that was nearly unobstructed by the clock.
Since the deck was in direct sun almost all day, it attracted countless butterflies to the rails of that deck, to my chair, to the pages of the bible i was reading. They landed everywhere. John would jokingly refer to me as Snow White, and start whistling Disney tunes when he would find me out there with a butterfly on my coffee mug or highlighter. At those moments though, I felt at one with nature, with creation, with God- like something inside me was directly communicating with the divine.
One of the passages I read almost daily, was Isaiah 49:1-7. I had highlighted it so many times in that little leather bound bible that the page was ripped I knew it meant that I was to do something more with my life than I was doing right then, butI didn't know what- so I just kept reading it, especially focused on the words "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth." Those words scared me to death. "Light to the nations? No thanks! I'm happy right now- I love my local church. That call is too big- I don't want to be a light to the nations, or be in the spotlight at all," I thought to myself.
Just a few years before I had been baptized as an adult. I was raised Presbyterian, so I was baptized as a baby, but when we moved to Central Jersey, we started attending a small Southern Baptist Church which we loved, and one of the requirements for membership was baptism by immersion. As the pastor explained it, being baptized as an adult didn't negate my infant baptism, or discount it in any way. It simply meant that I was making a decision for myself to follow the ways and teachings of Christ; that I was making a public statement in front of the congregation in the same way Jesus went to be baptized by John.
But shortly thereafter, I found myself in a quandary. I never understood WHY Jesus had to be baptized in the first place, because John the Baptist was calling the "brood of vipers" to "repent!" And while I could easily see myself as one of the brood of vipers, (that''s no stretch) surely Jesus wasn't among those John was speaking to- what on earth did the one who was 'without sin' need to repent from?
"This leads us to the word repent – metanoia in the Greek – we often say, 'turn around' or 'turn from' when we define repent. But ...rather than meaning “feeling sorry for doing bad things,” or regret, or confession, metanoia means “go beyond the mind” or “go into the larger mind.” Scholar Cynthia Bourgeault writes that this “‘high teaching’ was Jesus’ central message: the Kingdom of Heaven means reaching beyond black-and-white dualities, into the larger heart and mind of God." (1)
That definition puts a new light on everything. It meant my baptism would mean I wanted to go deeper (no pun intended), to immerse myself in not just in the water, but in the word, and I would allow my mind to be open to seeing things differently. This was not just something I wanted, but something I desperately needed; for my mind to grasp the things of God- to see others the way God sees them- to see situations as opportunities to grow in my faith.
Let's stop here for a second. Because if you notice, there have been a lot of "I" in this sermon. It sounds like faith is a very individualistic thing. We usually focus on community, and how God calls us to do things together, and that is still true. It's important that we recognize that we are never, "just me and Jesus" in our faith, that our faith indeed plays out with others. Jesus talked about that all the time! We are called to work together, to encourage and shape each other, to love and care for each other, to prompt each other to good works, to stand with one another in acts of equality and justice. In the words of Martin Luther King: "An individual has not started living until they can rise above the narrow confines of their individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
But as much as our faith plays out in community, and as much as we are called as a community to service and peace-making, each of us must individually take a step of faith and say, "yes, I'm in!" And while we may imagine that "yes" as a very small step, if we mean it, and if we truly open our minds to seeing things differently, we will never be able to just sit on the sidelines or in my case, on the deck, as God's servant. That's too 'light a thing.' God calls us to something bigger than ourselves- to do more than reading and meditation and feeling content that butterflies are landing on us in the sunlight. God calls us to be a light to the nations, and no one, I don't care who they are, can do that by themselves. It's why one of the first things Jesus does after his baptism is to start gathering people- he calls disciples, he organizes a movement!
In that same way, we are to join with others and take our place in the community of saints and together, and then build what King calls, the Beloved Community. But we can only do that if we have taken that step in our own lives, repented or opened ourselves to seeing things differently, and in essence said, I'm in. Or in the worlds of Martin Luther King, Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.
Qualitative change in our souls, meaning, changing how we think and see and interpret; and quantitative change in our lives meaning, changing what we value, how we spend our time, what we do with our money, where we expend our energy.
For some of us, that may mean big changes. That sentence in itself is scary. I don't know if I want to see things differently- what will that look like in my personal life? I don't know if I'm ready to give up scrolling on FB for 2 hours a day to go and sit with someone face to face. I like my TV time- why would I want to go work in the food pantry? I'm quite happy thinking and talking trash about that person I love to hate- I don't want to go reconcile- see things from their perspective- I don't want to start trusting people, or investing in people , or building people up- that's a lot of work!
Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.
And I'm not beating us up today... or trying to make anyone feel like they aren't doing enough, or that somehow God is displeased with us because we may be reluctant to leave the deck. On the contrary, study and meditation and basking in the Holy Spirit are necessary and life giving. Jesus did it daily. It's where we learn to accept that we are God's beloved, It's where we begin to realize that we are loved unconditionally, (just as we are, no matter what). It's where we learn that we have God's forgiveness, and mercy, and that we live by God's grace and in God's grace. It's where we come to understand that we will never be forsaken or abandoned by God, and that we are valued and cherished so much that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
And no matter how far we've come, all of us need to return to that deck on a regular basis- to be alone with God, to let the Spirit teach us and minister to us and strengthen us so we can continue to work in community. Returning to that place of prayer and peace helps us to affirm our yes, to remember why and how desperately we needed to see things differently, and to give us the opportunity to repent, to open, every single day. And also, if we listen, to give us direction as to what God would have us do.
"A light to the nations?" Yes, a light to the nations- and yes the call is big, but you begin with what God has put right in front of you. For me, it meant starting the process to become a pastor, which lead me to meet and minister and serve more people than I ever thought possible. For you it may mean something different, it probably will mean something different as we are not all called the same ministry. But this is the way God will bring about the Beloved Community' by each of us recognizing that we play a vital part in changing the world.
(1) Seasons of the Spirit Fusion Resource, Copyright © Wood Lake Publishing Inc. 2016
Photos from Wendelin Jacober, S@ndrine Néel
