As I’ve been reading and meditating on our Old Testament reading from Isaiah, this thought keeps jumping out at me:
What would Isaiah’s response have been to this powerful display of God’s glory in the Temple if he would have watched this online instead of in-person? Even though our online worship services and ministries have served as an incredible blessing for many of us during this long pandemic, I think in this particular case, I’m not so sure that Isaiah would have had the same response to this majestic encounter with the divine.
We are told that the pivots on the thresholds of the Temple shook at the voices who called out and that place of worship was filled with smoke. I know that our TVs have a surround sound option with state of the art audio and that we have several different camera angles to use when recording our worship services, but I don’t think anything other than in-person worship would come even remotely close to what Isaiah was experiencing in that holy moment!
You’ve heard of the phrase, “you had to be there.” This definitely applies to this scripture reading today. Isaiah probably ended up telling people after trying to describe this experience with others, “You just had to be there.”
This whole thought about in-person vs. online worship raises the question, “How does God get our attention especially when face to face ministry has been few and far between for the past several months?” We are sensory oriented human beings!
Taste, touch, see, smell, and hear.
For those who have been infected with COVID19 and have been fortunate enough to only have minor symptoms vs. anything life-threatening, the complaint we hear the most is losing the sense of taste and smell. Sometimes, this doesn’t return for several months after having been infected.
As I reflect on this long global pandemic, this whole topic of how important our senses are to us has taken on a new meaning. Our faith is wrapped up in our senses in many ways. We have a tactile and sensory faith!
Here in Isaiah, we have all five senses at work! The face to face sight of the Lord sitting on the throne with the heavenly beings flying around the Temple. The smell of smoke filling the room. Listening to the powerful voices of praise and worship. The touch and taste when one of those heavenly beings places a live coal on Isaiah’s lips. Ouch!
It’s interesting that the hot coal did not injure Isaiah’s tongue because he was able to continue to experience this incredible scene of the Lord’s presence. Again, I just don’t know that any of this would have had the same impact if it was online. There is just something about face to face encounters with God’s holy presence!
Our other two scripture readings for today also emphasize the tactile dimension of our faith. In our Luke scripture passage, we have Jesus meeting some fisherman by the lake. Jesus offers them a fishing tip which leads to those fishermen catching so many fish that the nets end up being stretched so much that they almost broke!
I know that we heard this scripture read for us earlier, but based on Peter’s response to all this, he was so moved by it that not only Peter, but two other fishermen, James and John, left everything and followed Jesus.
This is a great story to imagine the sight of the lake, the smell of the fish, the touch of those fishing nets, and the sound of the gentle waves.
In our reading from I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul emphasizes how in the days and weeks following the resurrection of Jesus, the Risen Christ physically appeared face to face with Peter, and then he did the same with the other disciples, and later he appeared face to face to more than 500 other followers.
And Paul is also careful to note, that even though Jesus had already ascended into heaven, several years later, the Risen Christ also appeared to him when he was on his way to persecute Christians.
Our scripture readings today are all emphasizing the importance of these face to face encounters with the divine. And it’s because the Christian faith isn’t about following a philosophy. We follow a living God who is holy, relational, and who has been made known to us through Jesus and is present with us today through the Holy Spirit.
Every time that we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we experience our faith through our senses. God is present through the bread and juice that have been consecrated and blessed. I have a friend who when receiving Holy Communion likes to tear a large piece of bread from the loaf because he wants to taste that extra reminder of God’s grace and unconditional love.
The sacrament of Holy Baptism is another way that we engage our senses whenever we baptize someone in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When I sprinkle the water upon the head of the person being baptized whether it be a baby or whatever age, I like to splash my hand around in the baptism font before lifting up the water. I want all who are present in worship to see and hear the splashing water of baptism. If I do this correctly, my right arm is soaked for the rest of the service!
When I was ordained as an Elder, one of the most powerful moments in my life was when Bishop Edsel Amons of our West Ohio Conference placed the weight of his hand upon the top of my head and said in his deep and bellowing voice, “Robert Vincent McDowell, take thou authority to preach the Word of God and to administer the holy Sacraments.”
Whenever I prepare a sermon that I believe to be inspired by the Holy Spirit but might be controversial or make people feel uncomfortable, I will often remember the weight of that bishop’s hand upon me and his reassuring words, “take thou authority.” There are many a sermon I probably wouldn’t have preached if it wasn’t for that tangible reminder from my ordination service over 30 years ago.
There are so many other ways that we encounter the living God through our senses. It might even be through a stained glass window.
A person who is in their 20s was asked about their faith in one of the churches I served. And their answer has remained with me because this young person responded by saying, “From my early childhood years, I have always felt God’s presence by just staring at one of our beautiful stained glass windows in the sanctuary.”
He was referring to a window which had Jesus holding a lamb. And he went on to say that whenever he feels afraid and is in need of reassurance and renewed hope, he always remembers that stained glass window and the powerful visual of that little lamb in the arms of Jesus.
These face to face and powerful sensory connections with the living God have an impact on us.
I notice that Isaiah and the disciple Peter have very similar responses to their face to face encounters with God. Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
The disciple Peter falls at Jesus’ feet and says, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
These face to face encounters with the living God lead to a deeper awareness of our brokenness and sinfulness and they also serve as a reminder of the larger context of who God is and who we are.
But also notice another way that they both respond to their face to face encounters. After Isaiah confesses his unworthiness, the Lord calls upon him to be sent out to share a message with the people. And Isaiah says, “Here am I; send me!”
And after the disciple, Peter confesses his unworthiness, Jesus tells him and the other fishermen, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be fishers of men.” When those fishermen brought their boats to the shore, we are told that they left everything and followed Jesus.
When we come face to face with the living presence of God, it will always lead to some kind of response on our part. Whatever that response may be, it will most certainly include a willingness to step out in faith and go to whomever God is calling us to serve.
For Isaiah, it would be offering a prophetic and challenging word to the people of Israel. For the disciple Peter and those other fishermen, it would be inviting people to join them in following Jesus, the long awaited Savior of the world.
This Wednesday will mark the 64th anniversary of the first worship service in this church building. Our previous building was completely destroyed from a fire almost three years earlier in 1955. In 1958 when the new building was completed, the new sanctuary could seat 850 people.
On that first Sunday of worship, not only was this sanctuary packed with 850 people, they also had overflowing seating below us in Fellowship Hall. There were so many people in worship that day, that they needed 40 ushers! 40 ushers!
I’m just trying to imagine how loud it was in here when the standing room only crowd sang the opening hymn that Sunday morning! Even without heavenly seraphs flying around the sanctuary as Isaiah experienced in our Old Testament reading, I’m sure it was an unforgettable worship service for the people who were here that day.
And now, 64 years later, we are worshipping in the very same sanctuary, now remodeled, with not as many pews, some new carpet, and at the tail end of a long global pandemic.
We might not need overflow seating today or 40 ushers to take up the offering, but what hasn’t changed in these 64 years is that we continue to taste, touch, see, smell, and hear the presence of the living God in this place through the scripture readings, the prayers, the preaching, the hymns, the anthems, the liturgy, and the Sacraments.
And this same living God continues to invite us during each and every worship service to respond by saying, “Here am I; send me!”
Face to Face
For the first several months of the pandemic, our church did not have in-person worship, only online worship as an option.
What do you see as the pros and cons of online/live-stream worship?
Our scripture readings all remind us that we have a very sensory oriented faith. In our Old Testament scripture reading, Isaiah attends a worship service in which all five senses are engaged!
Read over Isaiah’s experience (Isaiah 6:1-8) as he worshipped in the Temple and name the ways that he was able to taste, touch, see, smell, and hear God’s presence.
Our New Testament and Gospel readings also offer a very sensory description of how people encounter the living God. In In our I Corinthians reading, the Apostle Paul writes how the Risen Christ appeared physically to over 500 people! In Luke, we have the story of Jesus helping some fishermen to catch more fish than they could fit in their nets.
In what ways do we encounter the living God (the Risen Christ) through our senses when we worship together?
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are specific ways that we encounter the Risen Christ through our senses. The water that splashes in the bowl and is then sprinkled upon the person being baptized and the taste of the bread and juice during communion are ways that we experience God’s presence.
Why do you think it is important to feel the water and taste the elements of communion and how can this help us to experience the presence of the living God.
Both the prophet Isaiah from our Old Testament reading and the disciple Peter from our Gospel reading offer similar responses as a result of their face to face sensory encounters with the living God. Isaiah responds by saying, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.” Peter responds by saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Why do you think they responded in this way? Share a time when you felt humbled by being in the presence of God.
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