Text: Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29
A few weeks ago, I was able to make a trip to Hawaii with my family.
Twenty three of us… aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids, siblings, parents, nieces, and nephews… in paradise.
One of the things that I am always on the lookout for in Hawaii are rainbows.
The mountains in the center capture the clouds as they move over the island, bringing light sprinkles nearly every day.
But water and sunlight means rainbows.
Nearly every day!
The first day went by… and I didn’t see one.
The second day went by, and my dad asked if I had caught the double rainbow over the ocean that morning. Nope.
Did I see the one the next afternoon?
*sigh* I hadn’t.
A WEEK went by and I hadn’t seen a rainbow.
But I also realized something else.
While I had been looking… I hadn’t really been paying attention.
I was still getting into vacation mode.
Still carefully putting away all of my plans and thoughts and to-do lists from ministry both here and at the conference center.
That second day of vacation, after all, we had a special session of annual conference that I joined virtually so that we could say goodbye to 83 churches as they left the United Methodist Church.
I had been in paradise. But I wasn’t present.
In an interview, Anne Lamott talked about prayer as getting outside of ourselves and paying attention:
Prayer is not about saying, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to pray now.’ Or, ‘Oh, I see I’ve made a notation here to pray at 2:15.’ It’s about getting outside of your own self and hooking into something greater than that very, very limited part of our experience here…
It’s sort of like blinking your eyes open. … It’s sort of like … when Dorothy lands in Oz and the movie goes from black and white to color, and it’s like having a new pair of glasses, and you say, ‘Wow!’
I started focusing on being more present to what was happening all around me.
Savoring every moment and bite of food and laugh of the kids.
And one afternoon, on a walk with my niblings, it happened.
I turned around and saw a rainbow.
Wow.
The artist Michael Lipsey says that “if you’re not amazed most of the time you aren’t paying attention.”
Because the truth is, you don’t have to go to Hawaii to catch a rainbow or a spectacular sunset or a glorious flower bursting forth.
We have the opportunity to get outside of our own selves and hook into something greater every single day.
It is the touch of your partner’s hand.
Or the way the sunlight filters through the leaves.
It is the frosting covered face of our children.
Or the swell of the organ in a hymn.
Wow.
The other day, I came into this sanctuary all by myself and sat on these steps.
And I was overwhelmed by it all.
Nine years of memories flooded my soul…
From the nervous excitement of that first Sunday and hearing your gasps as I threw seeds all over the church…
Playing and building with scaffolding and bricks during a stewardship drive…
The babies I baptized… and the grown-ups, too!
The little ones who are now taller than I am…
Playing bass…
Singing with the choir…
The many, many goodbyes as we celebrated the promise of resurrection…
The meals we shared…
The singing and music and laughter…
We don’t always take the time to appreciate and celebrate each of those moments when they happen, but…
WOW.
I was all alone that morning… but not really.
Because I was connected to something bigger than myself.
And friends… I know that this is a big morning with lots of emotions that just fill this space.
As Missy and I talked about it… we might have to do some liturgical weeping today…
But I also want and need you to know that this room…
this sanctuary…
this world is always filled with wonder and power and awesome things…
If we are willing to pay attention.
In our scripture from Isaiah this morning, he sees the Lord sitting on a throne, with the hem of God’s robe filling the temple.
And you know what, I can imagine that Isaiah’s day actually started off pretty normal.
He might have gone to the temple that morning for prayer.
Or maybe he was bringing an offering.
But something happened to him in that space.
He hooked into something greater than himself.
He could see beyond the veil of his own limited experience of reality to catch a glimpse of the divine.
And God’s glory filled the room.
Seraphs… angels… flew around crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”
“The whole earth is full of his glory!”
Everything around him shook and Isaiah falls to is knees…
Woe is me!
Woah!
WOW!
(it might all be the same prayer…)
The Psalmist is moved in the same way, hooking into the power of God in all of the earth
as they listen to the rolling thunder,
or the roar of the ocean,
or the creaking trees of the forest…
they see the mountains tremble and the fire of God flash forth…
As the Message translation puts it:
Bravo, God, Bravo!
Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the glory,
In awe before God’s visible power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your best to honor him!
…We fall to our knees – we cry out, “Glory!”
And friends… I have to wonder how often we, too, might cry out in wonder and awe at God’s glory…
If only WE were paying attention?
Anne Lamott writes that “astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.”
Next week, you will welcome a new pastor.
As part of that time, you will also hear from a guest, Josh Smouse, who is bringing to this church a word and some encouragement and direction from the CAT survey that you all took.
But before you dive into some of those ways that the church can continue to grow and thrive, I want to invite you to take a step back and ask a different kind of question:
Am I paying attention?
Am I spiritually “open for business”?
Have I been willing to allow myself to get hooked into something greater than myself?
A colleague posted on facebook this week a word about how we can change our experience of worship… and I want to share a few of their thoughts with you
- Pray before you get there. Friends, you don’t have to raise your hands, but how many of you prayed before you came to worship this morning? How many of you asked God to speak to you during this time? What might be different if you opened yourself up to encounter God before you ever walked into this room?
- Listen to worship music on the way. What are some songs that speak to you? What helps you to connect with God not just in your head, but in your soul? How might that change what you are able to see and hear in this space?
- Sing loudly and focus on God. John Wesley talks about this in his directions for singing! … sing lustily and with good courage! Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim more at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. And to do this, he encourages people to attend strictly to the sense of what you are singing… what are the words? What do they ask of you? What are they inviting you to pay attention to?
- Don’t run late. We are all going to be late at some point… but the truth is that when we arrive harried and discombobulated, it is going to be harder to let go of those distractions. Try to arrive and give yourself enough time to center and truly be present in this space. After all, you don’t have a week to get present so you can see the rainbows!
- Expect God to move. Oh friends… do you actually expect God to show up in worship? Are you ready for God to speak? Do you want to see the hem of God’s robe filling this space and God’s glory over all the earth?
While trying to do a few of these things might truly change your experience of worship… they aren’t just about what happens in this room.
Because there are amazing, incredible things happening all throughout the ministries of this church…
Our little free pantry gets emptied nearly every day… and people show up to fill it again and again and again… WOW.
Our Immanuel Gospel Fellowship community continues to grow and their worship is so full of life and sound and chaos and joy… and you can come and experience it any Sunday at noon… and I encourage you to do so! You truly will cry out… WOW.
People are going through really hard times in their lives… but you keep showing up with food and prayers and encouragement… you are present with one another… WOW.
As she describes that third essential prayer, WOW, Anne Lamott writes:
Love falls to the earth, rises from the ground, pools around the afflicted. Love pulls people back to their feet. Bodies and souls are fed. Bones and lives heal. New blades of grass grow from charred soil. The sun rises.
And it is happening everywhere, all around us, every moment of the day.
This whole earth is full of God’s glory.
It is not just the miracle of the rainbow… but also the loving embrace of a church for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
It is not just the beauty of a sunset… but also the glorious diversity of our colors and cultures.
It is not just the rumble of thunder in the mountains… but also the roar of laughter as family and friends from many generations play together.
And if we prayerfully connect with God… open our spirits… pay attention to what is happening… I promise, you will be amazed by what you see.
I also know that there is a fine line between being amazed and being terrified.
In Isaiah, we discover there isn’t much distance between WOW! … and Woah! … and Woe is me!
Sometimes we are overwhelmed by just how great of a struggle we face…
Or how far we have to go…
Or by how much has been lost…
There is so much hate in this world.
So much violence.
So much destruction.
Sometimes the problems of the world make us say, WOW – how could that possibly be?
There are so many people who are unwilling to get outside of their own selves and their own limited experiences to hook into something greater.
Yet even those poetic words of the psalmist, David… you know, the ones that recall the violent destructive power of nature… earthquakes, floods, raging fires…
They also name that above anything that has the power to destroy… is God.
The one who gives strength.
The one who touches our lips with grace and mercy.
The one who brings peace.
The one who has the power to heal… and forgive… and change… and transform… and create… and renew…
The one who calls…
The one who sends every day, ordinary people into the world…
So that we can pay attention…
Pay attention to the hurt, and the joy, and the love, and the struggle…
And with arms and hearts and lives wide open, can say, “Here I am, Send me.”