Sermon: “God of Wonder” for Sundays with the Lord's Supper

Sermon: “God of Wonder” Reverend “Edgar” S, Welty

            Today let’s look at the, “God of Wonder”. We will start with a wonderful vision of God, seen during worship in Jerusalem’s temple. We heard about it in our passage from Isaiah. Our Gospel lesson, by contrast, is set outdoors. On the lake shore Jesus inspired a sense of wonder. But we should not been a huge catch of fish to see the wonder of God in creation, Let’s talk about recovering that sense of wonder that children encounter in our “Father’s World”. We will also try to recover a childlike sense of wonder about what happens as we celebrate today’s sacrament of the “Lord Supper”.

            Isaiah looks with wonder at God’s heavenly court. In today’s reading he says, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.”

            This is Jerusalem’s temple. The words of the angels’ song, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts”, recall worship. Our “Sanctus” is sung during the Lord’s Supper. Its words are, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

            Both songs have roots in ancient Hebrew. Hebrew has no adjective forms describe degree. In English our adjectives do describe degree. Let’s start with the descriptive word, “Holy”. The Comparative adjective is “Holier”. The superlative term is, “Holiest”.

Hebrew creates the same meaning by repetition. Thus, “Holy. holy, holy means, “Holiest”.

            “The pivots on the thresholds” are the hinges of the doors, which lead to the “Holy of Holies”, or the inner most room in the temple. “The house (Temple) would be “Filled with (the) smoke” of incense during rituals.

            The temple used fire from the altar to purify. So do the angels. “Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding alive coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips your guilt has departed and your sin id blotted out.”

            But even if we can identify the earthly setting of Isaiah’s vision, it is clear he sees beyond the temple into heaven. He describes angelic beings. “Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces.” This the basis for these lyrics for today opening hymn, “Thy angels adore thee, all veiling their sight.” The basis behind both phases in the concept that god is so holy that to see the divine face is deadly even for angels. Isaiah’s expression of fear, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips”, is based on this idea. The purification by fire permits Isaiah to see God and live.

            Isaiah description continues, “And with two (Wings, the angels) covered their feet” thus the angles covered their nakedness. Judging from the Hebrew root of their names, the angelic bodies may have been snake-like.

Finally we read of the Seraphs”,”And with two (wings) they flew.” Clearly Isaiah had an otherworldly encounter He saw a vision of God of which we sang. “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible his from our eyes.” And, ‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.”

But we find God in this world as well. And the living is founded out side the houses we build for divine worship. The disciples found Jesus, who define as, “ Very God of very God,” “Beside the lake of Gennesarst,”

Today’s Children’s Song speaks of finding the work of God in the outdoors. “This is my Father’s world and to my listening eyes all nature sings and around me rings the music of the spheres, This is my Father’s world; I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas his the wonders wrought.” Children find god in hard stones and soft sponges. If we work at maintaining our sense of wonder we too will find God all around us.

One meaning of the Lord’s Supper is we will find God in things of this world. Two of the ingredients, which make the wine and bread of communion, are wheat and grapes, ordinary produce from the time of Jesus. These form the substance of today’s Lord’s Supper.

But Let’s look at the Lord’s Supper as a sacrament. A sacrament is sign of God’s presence. There is an old Austrian tale about the sacrament. A man in a village found a cave full of treasure, enough to set up his entire fellow villager for life. But a wicked witch, who wanted to keep the villagers’ way the treasure, made the man invisible. It was necessary for the entire village to go the cave to retrieve the treasure before winter covered the cave. But how were they to follow the invisible man? The answer? He wore a hat, which was visible.

Sacraments, like that hat, make God visible. They lead the way to the treasures of heaven. They out-smart the “Evil-one”, who would deny the eternal life God wants us to enjoy.

There are many things to be seen in the Lord’s Supper. But to see them we may have to refresh our vision. First is the idea of finding God in everyday life. We say, “Jesus’ disciples recognized him as he sat at table and broke bread.” In other words the living God is found at each ordinary meal.

But the Lord’s Supper is a special sign. As the words of our, “Hymn of Preparation –before communion”, say “Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face’ Here I would touch and handle things unseen; here grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace.” The direct encounter with god is no longer veiled/ God seen in the Lord’s Supper means life ant fear of death.

It is a special meal as the hymn says we, “Drink with (God) the royal wine of heaven. The sense of regal wine is why the, “Cup used is often an elaborately crafted chalice

Another idea is of everyone, of al ages. Gathering from all corners of the world. Thus we say, “This is … for men and women, youth and children. Come from the east, the west, the north and the south and gather around Christ’s table.”

Next is the idea of feast of thanksgiving. We say this the joyful feast of the people of God … it is right to give thanks”. And what do we give thanks to God for?

We give thanks for God’s saving acts in history. These we recount starting with the creation and continue the selection of the chosen people and recount the rescue of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The “Word” of God comes to prophets. Israel goes into exile and returns. Jesus came as God incarnate, dies for our sins and returns from the dead. The church is established and sustained through the Holy Spirit.

We then praise God’s name, as did Isaiah’s angels. We sing to God with the ancient Hebrew words Holy, holy, holy”

The core part of the Lord’s Supper are the “Words of Institution”. We give the setting. “On the night of his arrest. We hear Jesus say, “Take eat: this is my body broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. The same way also after supper, Jesus took the cup and after giving thanks to God, gave to them and said, “ Drink this, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant, which id poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.

Here is when: We proclaim Jesus’ “Body is broken for (us) He has died that we might have eternal life. We also are bold to say, “Jesus’ ‘blood” the essence of his life. Is poured out for the forgiveness of sin”.  We are thus “Atoned” for or back to be “At One” with God.

Then we uphold a wonderful idea. It is called the “Mystery” of our faith. And is stated, “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!”

We ask for the Holy Spirit’s presence, we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

We finish the Lord’s Supper with three acts: We declare Christ present in the bread and wine. We partake of the bread and wine. We pray to seek God’s purpose for us, for all people and for all of creation.

At the beginning of this sermon we recounted the wonderful vision of God Isaiah saw in the temple.  We then recalled the many wonderful meanings found in the Lord’s Supper.

May God, our Creator, continue to bless us.

May God, made real in our Lord Jesus, save us.

May God, though the Holy Spirit, sustain us/                 Amen.