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.
