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10.12.08

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

EXPERIENCING THE HOLY

ISAIAH 6:1-8; LUKE 24:13-35

• In the Presence of God
• An Other Worldly God
• What would it be like to suddenly find yourself standing in the presence of God?
• Think about that for a moment
• What probably came to mind was one of two things
• You might have thought about the moment of your death—that point in time when your soul departs this world for the world to come
• Or you thought about the moment when Christ returns and the world ends when each of us will stand before the judgment seat of God
• Those images come to mind because we think of God as other worldly
• God is off in heaven somewhere—wherever heaven may happen to be—looking down on us and observing all that’s going on from a distance
• We don’t see God as being part of the sphere of this world, as being actively involved in the affairs of life
• That conception of God influences the way we live
• It allows us to compartmentalize our life, separating the spiritual from the physical, separating what we do in church on Sunday morning from the way we live the rest of the week
• Too often, we leave our faith at the door when we leave this place
• An Ever Present God
• The Good News of the gospel is that God isn’t confined to heaven, way out there in space somewhere, but that God is present and living and active in this world and in each of our lives
• What that means is that each day we live, we stand in the presence of our Holy God, everywhere we go we are standing on holy ground, and everything we do is holy work since God is present and living and active in all of God’s creation
• If we truly understood that, it would dramatically change the way we live
• We have difficulty believing in God because we have confined God to the realm of heaven
• We have difficulty experiencing God because we refuse to look for God and fail to see God as a living and active Presence in all the affairs of life
• That’s why what we do here on Sunday mornings, or any time we gather, is important
• Worship is about experiencing the Holy
• It’s about encountering God in this place and training us to see and experience God in all of the other things we do in this life
• One of the primary responsibilities of the church is to intentionally try “to awaken people to God’s presence and grace” in our midst so we “can connect with Christ more powerfully” in our daily lives (Becoming a Blessed Church, by N. Graham Standish, p. 71)
• We do this through the boisterous and joyful singing of hymns, through moments of silent reflection, through prayers of confession and the receiving of God’s grace, through the reading and hearing of God’s Word, through intercessory prayers for others, through the embodiment of God’s Presence through the Sacraments
• As we truly experience the Presence of God through these actions, we are moved to respond to God’s gracious and loving Presence by offering the best of what we have for God to use, by committing ourselves to the work of Jesus Christ in the world, and by going back into the world joyfully to experience God in our daily living and to help others have an experience with the Holy

• Experiences of God & Lessons for Worship
• Isaiah
• The focus of our Scripture lessons is on experiencing of the Holy; they’re about having a life-changing encounter with God
• Contained in these stories of Isaiah’s vision and call and the encounter with Jesus by two disciples on the Emmaus Road are important elements for what we do in worship
• While worshipping in the temple, Isaiah had an awareness of being in the presence of God
• In that act of worship, Isaiah “saw” God high and exalted and seated on a throne
• He saw angels attending God, giving God praise and adoration
• He heard the angels singing, “Holy, holy,  holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory”
• And Isaiah felt the temple shake with the exuberance of their worship
• For us, so often, worship is anything but exuberant, so is it any wonder that many of us have difficulty experiencing God in this place?
• In his book, Becoming a Blessed Church, the Rev. Dr. N. Graham Standish writes: “Forming a church that enlivens people to Christ’s presence means offering a church experience that invites and incarnates God as Presence, God as Christ.  And make no mistake, many churches do not invite or incarnate Christ.  They are more focused on maintaining denominational and congregational traditions than they are with letting Christ in—and Christ will not enter our churches uninvited.” (p. 73)
• After finding himself in the presence of the Holy God and experiencing the exuberance of the angelic worship, the only response Isaiah could offer was one of confession and repentance
• He recognized how unworthy he was to be in God’s presence and publicly confessed his sinfulness
• Yet, God still welcomed him there and God responded to Isaiah’s confession by offering forgiveness
• That forgiveness is symbolized by the burning coal the angel used to touch his mouth
• But that hot ember symbolizes something else as well
• That hot ember represents the imparting of the Holy Spirit to Isaiah
• Not only were his sins purged by the fire of that ember, that fire also imparted to him the ability and power to speak on God’s behalf
• That Spirit, then, upon hearing God’s call for someone to go, enabled Isaiah to respond, “Here am I, send me!” offering his life for God to use
• The Emmaus Disciples
• On the evening of the first Easter, two disciples travelled from Jerusalem to Emmaus, trying to figure out what to do with their life now that Jesus was gone
• As they traveled and talked, a stranger joined them who appeared to know nothing about what had transpired over the last couple of days
• Yet, that stranger was able to open up the Scriptures for them so they could understand
• Reaching their destination, they compelled this stranger to stay with them
• Around the dinner table, the stranger blessed and broke the bread, and suddenly the disciples’ eyes were opened and they recognized him as Jesus
• How foolish they must have felt to realize that they were in the presence of the risen Christ—and they didn’t know it!
• This passage has much to say to us about the Presence of the Holy in our life—that Jesus walks with us even when we don’t recognize his presence; that even when we are lost in grief, Jesus is there to help us understand and find new direction
• But there are also elements in this story that relate to what we do in worship
• There is the element of teaching that we might better understand God’s word
• In worship, God speaks to us through the Scriptures and the sermon that we might better understand God’s will and way
• There is the breaking of bread reminiscent of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, giving us the opportunity to see Jesus in the breaking of bread
• And there is testimony in the immediate response of the disciples to go quickly to share their good news with others
• Experiencing God in Our Worship
• At the transformation conference with Dr. Standish that the Transformation Visioning Team and I attended a few weeks ago, Dr. Standish challenged us with the question, “What about our worship helps people experience God?”
• I shared that question with our Worship Committee and as we reflected on that, the necessity for change became clear
• It appeared to us that there were distractions in our order of worship
• Rather than having continuity, our worship felt disjointed
• The result of our reflection and discussion is the new order of worship we are using today
• Our heartfelt desire is that all who worship here might experience God in our worship
• Recognizing that people experience God in different ways, the order of worship gives us the flexibility to try different things and still be faithful to our Reformed tradition
• Without going through each item in our worship, let me highlight some of the significant changes
• You will notice that the Announcements and the Passing of the Peace have been moved to the very beginning
• We recognize the importance of keeping everyone informed and giving you the opportunity to greet each other, so we have included these at the beginning of worship so that the rest of worship might flow with greater continuity
• This segment concludes with the playing of the chimes
• When the chimes begin to play, please take your seat and allow the music of the prelude to help you begin to focus on God
• Another major change is the Call to Worship
• The Centering Chorus is brief and reflective and it’s designed to help calm our hearts and minds so we might listen for the voice of God
• The Silent  Prayer & Reflection provides us with a time of silence, something that is so often lacking in the hectic pace of our lives, so that we can be more reflective and attune to the Spirit of God
• Please use this time not only to pray but to listen to what God might be saying to you
• So often we are too busy talking to God that we never take the time to listen to what God has to say to us
• The Call to Worship concludes with the Centering Prayer offered by the liturgist
• During the Prayer of Confession, we are offering another opportunity for silence
• While it’s important that we publicly confess our sins, as we do in our unison prayer, it’s also important that we have the opportunity to quietly examine our own life, to search our own souls and allow God’s grace to touch us deeply
• So we have added to our time of confession another moment for silent prayer so that you might listen for the voice of God
• Occasionally in our worship, we will include a Moment for Mission or a Moment for Witness
• These will appear following the Sermon before we respond to God with our offerings
• The Moment for Mission will allow opportunity for specific missions of the church to be lifted up and celebrated or to make us aware of other mission causes that need our support and prayers
• The Moment for Witness will give one of you the opportunity to share a portion of your story of faith so that we might be encouraged in our walk of faith as we hear how our Lord has helped you in a particular situation
• The final significant change is the Sharing of the Bread at the conclusion of the service
• It is important for us to know that we are one in the Body of Christ and that each of our gifts is important
• We will be continuing this practice, but on a more limited basis as there is a need to recognize people for their contribution and gifts in the work of Jesus Christ or to encourage people at times of difficulty
• Truly, we do stand in the Presence of God each and every day that we live, although we’re not always aware of God’s Presence with us
• Our worship together ought to be a tool to help us experience the Holy, to develop a meaningful and personal relationship with God
• It should help us recognize signs of God’s Presence at every moment in life, no matter where we are or what we do
• Experiencing the Holy in this place will make us more attune to God in the world and will equip us to share an experience of the Holy with others