The Sermon
is preceded by a litany from Spill the Beans which ends with the question how
would explain what no one yet has been able to …? - see http://spillbeans.org.uk/
Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8
Notes: Guess What Happened in Worship
Notes: Guess What Happened in Worship
Here
we read of Isaiah’s experience of worship; Isaiah had a significant encounter
with God. Which tells us something about worship.
Firstly,
Isaiah was aware of God ‘he saw the Lord’ Genuine worship starts with God, and
recognising the holiness of God.
Then
when Isaiah is awed by God’s presence, he sees himself realistically, and he
becomes aware of his sin; "Woe is me! I am lost” .
God wants us to recognise our frailties and
failings, but God also has a way of
dealing with those things. God’s forgiveness not only removes our sin, but also
the guilt that so often accompanies our awareness of our sin.
Isaiah’s
encounter with God does not end with recognising God and being overawed by the
scene; nor does it end with his guilt and sins being removed. The encounter win
the temple finishes with Isaiah going to serve in God’s world. To meet human
needs, God uses people.[i]
[i] Ideas from http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/2823/sermon-options-june-3-2012
Gospel : John 3:1-17 Proclamation
Turning
now to the gospel reading, Nicodemus comes and speaks to Jesus. Nicodemus is a
Pharisee, which means he was well versed in the Jewish religion. It also means
he was one of the guardians of the Jewish faith. We hear of him coming to Jesus,
and discussing the kingdom of God. It seems that in many encounters with people
who think they know the truth, or the set answers, Jesus doesn't make it easy
for Nicodemus.
Reading of
Nicodemus’s encounter with Jesus, reminds me of how hard it is sometimes to
understand faith, to be articulate and put into clear words what our faith
means, or even what faith is. Nicodemus is correct, in a functional sense, you
can't be born a second time, so what else might this mean.
Back to
the Trinity for a few moments, something I read this week[i]
talked about Trinity by starting with the creation story, in the first chapter
of Genesis verse 26 it says :
‘then God
said ‘let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness’ ”. The
Genesis story begins with a sense of God who is plural, while the Jewish faith
is monotheistic, the creation story has a sense of God being part of community.
If God was a single creator God, we could worship, we could pray, we could bow
down, but it would be about paying homage to, not being in relationship with,
or being transformed by. Because God is God in community, because creation is
an action of voice of God, word and Sprit, God calls us into community.
The
doctrine of the Trinity does not give us a way to explain the details of God,
or of faith. What Trinity does is allow a framework, a tool, for seeing God in
a new way.
The
challenge for Nicodemus in his encounter with Jesus is to let go of what he
knows of the physical world, to let go of the certainty of the religion that he
knows so well, and to risk being in relationship with God, to allow himself to
be swept up into the community of God.
That is
our challenge as well. It is easy for us to focus on the physical in life, that
which we can touch and see; it is easy for us to be comfortable with what we
know; but as we worship we open ourselves up to God; as we come together around
the Lord's table we are allowing ourselves to be part of something more, that
can be wonderful and joyous and challenging and frightening. Because when we
open ourselves to God, when we allow ourselves to be swept up into the
community of God and God's people, we don't know what will happen. God being
Trinity, God in relationship with God and with us, is part of the wonderful
mystery of faith.
Let us
take some time to sit in the mystery.
[i] Nadia Bolz-Weber
http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/06/01/some-thoughts-holy-trinity/
