Epiphany 5 C + Awesome God + 2.9.25

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Saints, Oxnard

(Isaiah 6:1–8, (9–13); Ps. 138; 1 Cor. 15:1–11; Luke 5:1–11)

“Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God.”

Leaving aside problematic interpretations of the song, there is still truth in these words from Rich Mullins circa 1989 and they could as easily have been Isaiah’s words or Peter’s words today, or Paul’s for that matter. Throughout today’s scriptures we see the majesty of God on display. Isaiah sees God in the temple of Jerusalem, seated in glory. The Psalmist, speaking of praising God before the gods, is referring to the host of heaven. And Paul speaks of a gospel truth that was so profound that it spoke to him even though he was separate from God’s truth and grace at first. Last but not least, Simon Peter and the disciples see the awesomeness of God in the miraculous catch of fish. Jesus is revealed as the Son of God through this and a series of other miracles during this section of the book of Luke, and not only do the disciples see abundance, they see healing, renewal of life, restoration of family, and they are also reminded that they must be ready to drop everything and follow at a moment’s notice.

It is interesting to see the reactions here. First Isaiah, seeing God in glory, 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!" He reminds me of someone I met recently, apologizing in advance that he might swear in front of me, a priest. Essentially, Isaiah is saying that he may have a bit of a potty mouth – perhaps he was a swearer – which is interesting because, being in the temple, he may have been a priest- but hey we have rebel priests too! But he seems to think this makes him unqualified. And God does something interesting. God takes away his doubt with an unusual act. A seraph, or an angel that looks snakelike- interesting to read this in the year of the Wood Snake! - touches his lips with a burning coal. The seraph then pronounces that Isaiah is forgiven. God has taken away Isaiah’s excuse, and so when God calls for someone to send, he says, “Here I am, send me!” A powerful image.

Similarly, upon seeing the just ridiculous, almost indecent catch of fish in this gospel, Peter’s response to Jesus is to proclaim his sinfulness. He doesn’t even belong in his presence. Why this declaration, now? Surely there have been glimpses of Christ’s grandeur, including the healing of Peter’s own mother-in-law, before now. Perhaps it is because fishing is Simon’s language. He saw how Christ healed his mother-in-law, but not being a doctor, perhaps the penny didn’t fully drop until he, knowing the difficulties of fishing, saw this crazy bounty. So he responds, realizing if this is really God’s son, he’s not worthy. But Jesus knows this proclamation isn’t really about Simon Peter’s sinfulness, but rather about his fear. After all, before the word “awesome” was skater, surfer and general dude lingo for amazingness, it meant “really freaking scary” and that is how we should understand what Simon and Isaiah are feeling in these passages.

Well, you might say, I am scared. Like, terrified. That is a feeling a lot of us can connect to at the moment. And I feel you. I am here with you. The foundations of our republic seem to be rocking at their core. Common decency and the respect for those of other cultures and expressions who make up the richness of our modern culture seem to have been abandoned in some weird cult of wealth. Many around the world may dream of a wealthy person on a throne who can grant their desires like some especially bountiful Oprah. You get a car, and you get a car, and you all get cars! Our culture has gone mad with a love of stuff.

We have forgotten. What is truly holy. And not just holy, but holy, holy, holy. Holy to the max. So holy you can’t get your mind around it. The optional verses at the end of the Isaiah passage have God saying something kind of queer to the prophet: “Go and say to this people: `Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” This is weird. Almost like when Jesus tells parables and says that the people of the age won’t get them. Because they won’t. There will always be those who, their heads turned by the world, will care more about earthly things than heavenly things. And I don’t mean people. Because those who care about people, who genuinely care about people, are always heavenly minded in a way. But those who focus on the material, the tangible, on what they can grab, they cannot hear the message. Woe to us, because to a certain extent we are all those people. We want certainty, and nice shiny objects. Human relationships are complex. So much easier to write a carefully worded zinger of a post online or buy a new bag, or is that just me?

So, what is the antidote to the poison of our times? How can we fight past the amnesia of wealth-mania? I was at protest on Tuesday and what struck me weren’t the people with whom I was protesting, or so much those who disagreed, but you know what struck me, were the people who were driving along, staring straight ahead, avoiding our gaze. It made me wonder. Is this how we are all living at this time? Trying to move forward with our blinders on, because anything else would be too scary or uncomfortable? Let me just stay in my lane.

Well, that is me sometimes. I will admit. Sometimes I just need to turn off the news, silence my notifications and breathe deep. We all need that. Honestly the only antidote that I can think of is to spend some time in the presence of the holy daily. A famous quote from the Dalai Lama said that every day he spent one hour in silent meditation. But not on busy days. On busy days, he spent two hours in prayer!
I will be honest. To me that is unfathomable. I get in my prayer and meditation, but I am lucky if it lasts 20 minutes before I am on to the next thing in my morning routine. Very few of us are the Dalai Lama. But we can spend time in prayer each day. Shut out the world for just a bit, or better said lift the world up to God, and breathe, and pray.

We need that! But we don’t need it as a form of escape, we need it as a form of reconnection. With God and with our world; with all of creation. We need to remember that our God is an awesome God. That no matter what is happening here on earth, there is someone bigger and better in charge. Does that mean everything is going to be okay? I am not going to lie. In the short term,

 I don’t know if that is the case. We will pray and hope and do our best to be there for each other, but I have no magic wand. And the mystery of God is that sometimes we are protected, and sometimes we learn by going through the fire. And God accompanies us in that fire. But we do know, in the wisdom of Dame Julian of Norwich, that eventually, all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.

So, remember the gospel to which Paul refers. Hold fast to the good news of Jesus. Remember that, in a world of immense wealth, God can summon a ridiculous catch of fish, and has a hand on all wealth. But what God really wants, is for us to catch people. To encourage people. To let them know they are not alone. We are so much more valuable than any fish, or car, or smart phone. We are beloved of the holy of holies. We are God’s. And God’s got us.

Amen.