a sermon preached in Duke ~niversity by Chapel ~----

Transcription

1 ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD GOD ALMI GHTY a sermon preached in Duke ~niversity by Chapel The Reverend Robert T. Young Minister to th~ University February 10, 1900 Scripture Lessons: Old Testament--Isaiah 6:1-8 Ep i s t 1 e- -I Cor i nth i an s 1 :; : Gospel--Luke j:l ~---- Rudolf Otto in his book, The Idea of the Holt, in a chapter entitled, Mysteriurn Tremendum 1. 1, writes of what want to tajk abo.~. t this morning.... :. ''Let us consider the deepest and most fundamental element in all strong and sincerely felt religious emotion. Faith unto salva:tion, trust, love -. all these are true. But over and above these is an element which may also on occasion, quite apart from them, profoundly affe~t us and occupy the mind with a well-nigh bewil~ering strength. Let us follow this element with every effort of sympathy and imaginative intui.tion wherever it is to be found in the lives of those around us, in sudden, strong.ebullitions of personal piety in the fixed and ordered solemnities of rites and liturgies, and again in the atmosphere that clings to old religious momments and buildings, to temple and to churches. If we do so we shall find we are dealin~ with something fo~ w~ich there is only one appropriate express.ion rriysterium tremendum. The feeling of it may at tfmes come sweeping like a gentle tide, It may pass over into a more set and lasting attitu~e of the soul continuing, as it were, thrillingly vi~rant and resonant, unti 1 at last i.t;.. dies away and the soul resumes its mood of everyday experience. It may burst in sudden eruption up from the depths of the soul with spasms and conv~lsions, or lead to the strangest excitements, to intoxicated frenzy, to transport, and to ecstasy It may become the hushed, trembling, and speechless humility of the creature in the presence of -whom or what? In the presence of that which is a mystery inexpressible aboveall creatures.... " :.

2 -2-..-! ~ ' This God- of Isaiah's in the temple- really is wholly other- the penumbra of mystery, numinous- awe-fillingoverpowering, God really is mysterium tremendum- really is "high and lifted up, with a train that fills the temple This God really is Holy, holy, holy the whole earth is full of thi s God 1 s glof-'y No wonder the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of this God. No wonder the house was fi ed with smoke". No wonder Isaiah cried, Woe is me?., For I am lost; for,1 am a man of unclean 1 ips, and I dwefl 'in the midst of a 'people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! Th en f 1 ew one of the s e rap h i m to me, h a v i n g i n his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. 1 And 1 heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.''' Often, we talk of this experience as God's call to Isaiah or as Isaiah's call from God. It seems to me that this thinking sees this experience upside down. If we think of this as God's call to Isaiah. or Isaiah's call fr6m God, then we can become very passive and wait and wait and wait ' ahd fiel quite comfortable that we are wa i t i ng on God to ca:ll us and wheri God does ca, we wi respond. No, this is not the way I r~ad this expe~ience - nor do believe this 'is the way we enco~hter the lbrd God Almighty. I read this not as God's call to Isaiah- but as Isaiah's. response to G6d! This means, I' believe, ' that there is an always present presentness about the pre~ence of God. There is no special time or place or ~ay or voice in which God calls. For, God always is! That means God is always calling! There is no time when God is not calling! Nothing changed in the tem~le. I 1 bet you it was on this day, just as it was the day before and the day after. Al 1 the outward appearances and effects of the temple were just like they had been! The chan3e was in lsaiah' s sen~itivities and sensibilities! The change was in Isaiah's inner and outer self- not in God or God's presence or God's appearing or calling!.. ' This means, then, that the resporisibill t~ for encounter with the Lord God Almighty rests - not on God - but on us! What happens between God and us really doei depend on you and me! That is why Dr. George Butterick once tbld his Memorial church, Harvard University congregation, "You had oetter be careful. You may be apprehended by that for which you are ready to be apprehended. How and when and where we s ee God rea y does depend on our readiness, on what we are looking for, on what we hope to see, on what we are ready to see.

3 -3- I believe life really is.like Elizabeth Barrett Browning described it in her lines in Book VI I of Aurora Leigh, Earth 1 s crammed with heaven, And ev~ry common bush afire with God; And onl y he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.. Most of us sit around plucking blackberries and waiting for God. And yet, every common experience is afire with God... If only This particul~r day, Isaiah went again into th~ temple. He went as he regularly did. He went, this time, ready! Sensitive. Aware. Receptive. Responsive. He went, this time, ready. To express himself. To acknowledge who he was. To speak out. To accept. To hear. Ready to make a comm i tmen t. Let's look closely at Isaiah's experience for a moment. Unamuno once said the Temple is where we go to weep in common. It is. The Temple is also where we go to encounter the Lord God Almighty. In these verses, we have an authentic pattern, a genuine paradigm for worship - individual worship -and corporate worship: Acknowledge and praise God. Acknowledge one's humanness and confess one's sin. Acknowledge and receive God's grace- hear and experience the Word personally. Acknowled~e and accept God's claim upon one!s life. Respond With a personal commitment to surrender and serve. ''Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. I don't often become fully aware of who God is- of. God's power and majesty and awesomeness. But, when I do become aware, I must acknowledge that God is truly God. God really is high and lifted up. That God surely is the one so omnipotent and omniscient that the. early Hebrews would not even name God's name. God is not only holy. God is holy, holy, holy! That helps remind me who the Lord God Almighty is! Once Isaiah saw and admitted who God was, once we see and admit who God is, the next step is inevitable: we admit our humanness, our sin, our lostness, our uncleanness. Seeing God high and lifted up, we know that not only are we lost and unclean, but we dwell in the midst.of a people of unclean lips. We are all of unclean 1 ips. Dolly Arroyo, writing!n So~ourners magazine recently confessed, To come before God empty is di ficult And it is! To come before the Lord God Almighty, empty or full, is difficult. It is hard to admit who we are- I am a sinner! that? To yourself? Out loud? To someone else? Ever say

4 -4- Let's try this, to say these words out loud. the words of Isaiah Let's use Woe is me. I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Woe is me... I am lost... I am a man of unclean 1 ips. Or, to use Peter's words, 'IJ am a sinful man, 0 Lord.'' Or. to use Paul's words, 1 am the least of the apostles " I don't like to use those words. I don't like to speak theriy abou~ myself. But, when I pause and become aware and see, truly see, the Lord of Hosts who is "Holy, holy, holy", I have no choice! I am a sinner! Then, comes the word of grace, then flew one the seraphim to me and touched my mouth, and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven. 1 Here, my friends, is the true miracle of the Christian faith that the Spirit of God can and wi visit a human soul. Indeed, the whole of Judaism and of Christianity rests on the cla. im that God's spirit can, does, and will come to us, touch us, forgiue us, heal us, restore us. In a magnificent little short story, The Dream of A Ridiculous Man, Dostoevsky writes of just such a moment when we 5ehold the glory of God and experience God 1 s g race W h a t g race i t i s I He w r i t e s, F o r I have beheld the truth I wi not and I cannot believe that evil is the normal condition among men. And yet they all laugh at this faith of mine. But how can I help believ.ing it? ~ I have beheld it, and the living image of it has filled my soul forever." See God. See one's self. Feel the touch of God's g~ace. And then what? God's call and claim come to us. Is it not that God's call is also God's grace- and that as God calls, God gives to' us also. Is it not as Archbishop William Temple said, "Every revelation of God is a demand " Or, as Martin Buberwrites in his classic theological treatise, I and Thou,. "Every revelation (of Got!) is a call and a commission " This revelation of God, this demand, this call, this commission is a unique act of God's grace. For, as John Ba.ill.i e tells us, "It is a demand that we should accept a gift. What God asks of us is not that we should do anything for ourselves but that we should allow all to be done for us by Him. "Whom shall I send, and who wi l r go for us?' 1 ' "Then I said, 1 Here am I Send me. 1

5 ..... ~ -5- This weekend has been a very special weekend at Duke. For almost a year now, at the initiative and suggestion and prodding of students, many students, administrators, faculty and alumni have been plann i ng for a Conference on Career Choi ces. Students have been eager and excited. Faculty and staff have helped and supported. Alumni have cooperated - to come back home, to share their experiences, to gi ve advice and counsel and guidance, and to listen while students try to weigh, evaluate, understand, and determine what they will do career-wise with their lives. In spite of the weather, it has been a most productive weekend. We are grateful to the alumni who have been most responsive and helpful. I commend the students who have worked and planned and carried out a most important program. Most important, for after all, what could be more important than the decision or decisions that determine what we do with our lives! Your life. My life. All the rest of our lives! What will we do with our lives- with the rest of our lives? The question put to Isaiah in the Temple is not a oncefor-all, a once-in-a-lifetime question. The question comes to us over and over and over- as long as we live. Whom shal 1 I send, and who will go for us? God is not just asking, "Who will give his or her life to me to be prophet, priest, pastor, minister, chaplain, or religious?" No! God is asking, "Who is there who will go and live for mewherever you go and whatever you do - whom sha I send, who wi go for us- who will give life for me, to me, to others, to obey, to serve, to love- in my name? Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" Will you? Will you? Will I? Will we? Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher-mathematician, had an experience that changed the course of his life. Pascal wrote out the experience and sewed it into his clothes. It was found on his body when he died nine years later. It reads: The year of the Lord Monday, 23 November, from about half past ten in the evening until about half past twelve at night: fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob Certainty. Joy. Peace. God of Jesus Christ. He is found along the ways that are taught in the Gospel. Tears of joy. I had parted from him. Let me never be separated from him. Surrender to Jesus Christ." Surrender Is the word, my friends. Lord God Almighty. "Here am I, Lord! Surrender to the Send me. Amen.