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? I’m not so sure that Isaiah would have had the same response to this majestic encounter with the divine. As they say, “you just had to be there.”
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 high quality screens, 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!
This whole thought about the difference between being in-person vs. watching something on TV has me thinking about how important it is to worship in-person rather than watching a service at home. God knows that we are sensory oriented human beings which includes all of our senses including being able to taste, touch, see, smell, and hear.
During the pandemic, the complaint that I heard the most from people who got COVID was losing the sense of taste and smell. Sometimes, this doesn’t return for several months after having been infected. I lost my sense of smell for a couple of months when I got it.
During those two months, the only thing I could taste was if I ate really spicy food. That was it! I missed the taste of a perfectly grilled steak or biting into a honeycrisp apple.
I wonder if we have downplayed how much of our faith is wrapped up in our senses as well. We have a tactile and sensory faith!
For example, here in our Isaiah reading this morning, we have all five senses at work! We have 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. That would wake you up!
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 Isaiah watched this all on TV. 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. This was no dream and he wasn’t seeing a ghost. Paul was actually seeing the Risen Christ.
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. No, 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 receive 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. Even 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 the 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.” Oh no! Now you know my middle name!
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 almost 40 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 or a worship banner or the piano piece during the special music.
A person who is in their 20s was asked about their faith in one of the churches I served. And I’ll never forget the response of this young person when he said, “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.
For the past 39 years, I have attended annual conference. The only year I missed an annual conference was the year my mother passed which was during the week of the West Ohio Annual Conference.
Yes, there are parts of annual conference that can be a little dull like all of the legislation and debating, although sometimes even that can be a little entertaining.
By far, the best part for me is listening to over a thousand United Methodist clergy and lay delegates singing their hearts out during the worship services. And oh my goodness, the preaching! The powerful preaching.
Bishop Gregory Palmer who was my Bishop in West Ohio and is now retired, is one of the most gifted and powerful preachers I have ever heard. I used to refer to Bishop Palmer as a holy freight train because there are times during his sermon where you feel goosebumps as he powerfully proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ.
Whenever he would get up to begin his sermon I would say to the person sitting next to me, “the holy freight train is about to leave the station.”
And listening to all of those United Methodists singing that great hymn of faith, “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” made it feel like like we were definitely in the presence of almighty God, and we were. We were!
Those large conference gatherings are very special no doubt. But it’s also true that whenever we worship in this place together, we too can taste, touch, see, smell, and hear the presence of the living God through the scripture readings, the prayers, the preaching, the hymns, the special music, the liturgy, and the Sacraments.
And this same living God continues to invite us during each and every worship service to respond in humility by saying, “Here am I; send me!”
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