"Water Walker or Boat Potato?”  WOW#2

February 28, 2010

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Ah, this is the life.

What are you all looking at?  Isn’t this what you pay me for?  By the way- anybody from the SPRC out there?  This reminds me I was going to ask for a more comfortable backrest here.  When I take my nap, I kind of slide down and it hurts right across there.  Oh well, I guess it’s better than working for a living.

What’s wrong with you people?  Haven’t you ever seen your pastor ready to take on the world for Jesus Christ?  I’ve always told you if you have a crisis, just leave a note under my pillow and I’ll get to it.

<<<   >>>

You mean that’s not what you expect of your pastor?  You expect something more?  Like what?  <<<   >>>  But I’d have to get out of my boat to do that!!  You can’t be serious!  You want me to get out my boat?

Let’s think this through together.

The Disciples are all on the sea and the storm comes up.  The boat is rocked back and forth, up and down.  Waves bigger than they have ever seen.  Even with the most experienced sailors on board, the boat will surely sink . . .  but then. .. HOPE appears.  JESUS HIMSELF  is suddenly available walking toward them on the water!

At this point, the story turns to focuses on Simon Peter who gets up to walk on the water. Let’s think about the other 11 disciples though.  John Ortberg says, “You think Simon Peter was a failure because he started to sink?  I think there were 11 bigger failures sitting in the boat.”

Why didn’t all the disciples get up and walk on the water.  As someone asked in the study last Wednesday, why didn’t the others get up and say, “I want some of that waterwalking too!”

1.      One reason might be Skepticism -Let’s not get too excited here.  That can’t really be Jesus.  We all know the water is at least 30 feet deep there is no way that’s him.

2.      Fear Perhaps.  Let’s not all jump out at once.  You know he just might drown out there.  We really should let Peter take a test walk here.  If he survives then you can try it.  I’ll wait here in my nice safe boat until 3 or 4 of you have escaped this way, then I’ll think about following.

3.      Perhaps they were good Delegators.  “Peter you walk on out there and Get Jesus.  There’s no use all of us ruining our shoes or maybe even dying.  You go get Jesus and bring him to the rest of us.”

4.      Perhaps they were like the Israelites who said, “It would have been better to be slaves in Egypt than to die of thirst in the desert.”  Maybe the 11 were saying, “it is better to be shipwrecked here than to drown out there!"

5.      Maybe there was someone who said, I was the one that got my feet wet pushing us away from shore.  It’s someone else’s turn now.

6.      Maybe there was even someone who said, “You know what?  It’s 4am and this is my only day to sleep in.  I’m not getting up to walk on the water.

7.      Maybe there was a disciple who said I can be just as good a sailor staying in the boat as he can walking around on the water.

8.      Maybe there was a disciple who said, don’t we hire someone or have a committee to do that so we don’t have to?

Oh, Oh, I think I just crossed the line from preaching to meddling didn’t I, and I’ve barely started this morning.

There were 11 boat potatoes sitting in the boat watching Peter walk on the water.  There were probably 20 different and excuses they didn’t get out themselves.  And that’s all they were, excuses.

xxxxx

Today’s message is really pretty simple.  Our statistics are about the same as most other churches.

First a couple of provisos:

1)      Worship attendance is not the only measure of a person’s faith or even their level of activity in the church.  I know that.  But it is generally a pretty good indicator.

2)      Not everyone who is here signs in on the fellowship pads.  I know that too, but most do.

3)      Finally I do not see veging out or being a couch potato as a bad thing.  It is merely descriptive.  If you end up feeling as if I am calling you some kind of potato, please don’t be offended.  Accept it as a loving challenge to move one step closer to Jesus.

Ok ARE YOU READY?

 Of 360 members in the congregation, 150 or roughly half signed in to worship at least once last year.  The rest sat at home and we might lovingly refer to them as Sunday morning couch potatoes.slide 1

Of the 150 that signed in to worship, 75 came at least once a month.  The other half well we can’t call them couch potatoes because they came . . .  we might call pew potatoes.  slide 2

Of the 75--- 40 or again about half, came twice a month or more, the other half made a good effort and maybe we call them boat potatoes slide 3

No matter how you look at it, in any organization-- and the church is no different 90% of the work, 90% of the ideas, 90 % of the risk, 90% of the funding, 90% of the success can be attributed to 10% of the people.  In other words 90% of the water walking is done by 10% of the Christians.  Hmm.. 11 in the boat one on the water.  Roughly speaking that was even true back in Jesus day wasn’t it.  And you know what?  There was no condemnation no judgment.  Notice- when Jesus got into the boat he didn’t scold the 11 for not getting out of the boat.  He calmed the storm and let them worship him.

I think the 11 in the boat did the best they could at that time.  Given another opportunity the next day, I am pretty sure there would be more takers.  And I am sure that today’s couch potatoes and pew potatoes and boat potatoes have done the best they can so far.  So far.  But today is a new day and I want to challenge them to take one step closer to Jesus.  One step closer to water walking.

You can break down statistics any way you want.  You might use giving, or participation in service and outreach, or any other number you want to use.  We can spend all day talking about why we are, where we are.  But the numbers and excuses are really not important.  The important thing is not the statistics, not the excuses, not the mistakes you have made, not the problems you have had, but where you are today personally in the continuum between couch potato to water walker.  slide 4

Don’t just look at your attendance.  Don’t just look at whether you are on a committee or not.  Don’t measure it by whether you pray do your morning devotions.  Those are all external things.  Look into your heart.  Look at your relationship with Jesus.  Look at your trust in Jesus.  Look at your faith.  Where are you between couch potato and water walker?  Where are you between sofa sailor and water walker?  Don’t think about anyone else.  Where are you in your faith walk with Jesus? 

Where are you today and do you want to move one step closer to Jesus?

Where are you on the continuum and are you willing to move one step closer to Jesus?

slide 5Last week I had you get up and move one pew closer to the front.  I’m not going to do that this week.  In part because I value my job.  But mostly because it isn’t what happens on the outside that matters.  Today, instead of moving your body closer to the front of the church, I am going to ask you to move your heart one step closer to Jesus.

Decide on something simple right now.  Something simple you can do this week that might bring you closer to Jesus.  It might be regular prayer; it might be devotions or scripture reading.  It might be showing God’s love to someone who is sick or grieving, it might be forgiving someone or asking forgiveness. .  It might be participating in the study when you hadn’t planned to.  It might be inviting someone to church.  It might be fasting, or practicing silence, or reading an inspirational book.  It might be anything you think is going to bring you a little closer to Jesus.  Don’t worry about making it hard yet.  We’ll get there.  Just decide on something that will help you to take one step closer to Jesus this week.  And then do it.  You’ll never walk on water if you don’t start with the small steps.

Amen 

Walk non water -#A What is the name of your boat? 2/24/10

Walk on Water #A

Reinbeck UMC

2/24/2010

Last Sunday we started talking about water walking and getting out of our boats.  It occurs to me that it might be a little easier to get out of our boats if we understand the boats we in which we are sailing.

When my family lived in Michigan, I remember walking along the big marinas looking at the huge cabin cruisers.  Perhaps you have seen big marinas in your travels.  I always enjoyed reading the names of the boats.  Some people get very creative.  For instance, the boat named

A-Loan-Again

What College Fund?

How about the Never Sink II

One more- how about this one Anchor Management

Unfortunately, I don’t think any of our boats are going to have cute names like that.  I cannot tell you for sure, but I suspect we may have names more like “too much pride,”  “I serve my Job,” or “Money, money, money”

I can’t tell you what they name of your boat is.  I suppose I am grateful for that.  I have enough problems dealing with my own boat if you know what I mean.

I can’t tell you the name of your boat, but I want to try to think through the process and see if you can put a name on our boats together.

First, let’s take out attention off of Peter for a moment. 

·         Thinking about the story I read tonight, what was the rich young ruler’s boat?  What did he want most of all to keep. (I think his possessions)  Maybe his boat is called “Too much stuff”

·         Or think of Paul on the road to Damascus.  He was on the way to persecute Christians because he was a Pharisee of Pharisees when Jesus knocked him out of his boat we might say. . .  What was his boat?  Maybe the outward trappings of his religion and heritage?

Ø  Let’s think about the other 11 people in that boat that night so long ago. The 11 other than Peter.  I can’t speak for all of them, but the gospels give us a pretty clear picture of some.  Perhaps you will see yourself. . .

·         Perhaps James and John- the fisher-brothers were in a boat called Pride—After all weren’t they the ones who wanted to sit at Jesus Right and left side?  Look Around you to see if you share a boat with James and John.  If yours has to be the biggest, best boat- and you like everyone to know it- maybe you are in a boat named “Look at me.”

·         Perhaps your boat mate is Matthew, also called Levi.  He was a tax collector.  You might think money was his boat, but if that were the case, why would he ever follow Jesus?  I think it is more likely that power is his boat.  Power to take what he wants- power to make people do as he wishes.  Power.  Do you hang on to power?  Like to wield power?  Relish the attention and energy you get from being in charge?  Maybe your in the boat called “More power”

·         Perhaps your boat mate is Thomas.  Not because you doubt, but because you depend on rational evidence, thinking, and your own intelligence.  Though I don’t think this is my primary boat, I have to admit I have a foot in this one.  When confronted with a problem, one of my first responses is to try to figure it out logically and somehow I believe that if I can figure it out in my head, the solution will also come from my head.  I am usually disappointed in that expectation.  How about you- does that sound familiar?  The boat called “I can figure it out.”

·         Perhaps your boat mate is the infamous Judas.  I have done a lot of thinking about poor Judas, and I think we make him out to be too evil.  I doubt that his intention was to see Jesus killed.  I doubt that he wanted to be the one to be known as the betrayer.  I suspect that he had a plan in mind.  He had a vision of how this Kingdom Jesus kept talking about was going to happen.  It had nothing to do with crosses and empty tombs.  It certainly didn’t have anything to do with dusty donkeys.  I think He had a plan and he thought if he backed Jesus into a corner, Jesus would have to emerge on his big white stallion and save the day, instituting the kingdom along the way.  Dr Phil would ask him, “how’s that working for you Judas?” as he watched Jesus hang on the cross.  How about you?  Might your boat be called “the my way”

·         With the exception of Peter the other 6 disciples are something of a mystery to us.  But that’s OK because you can pick any one you want as your boat mate. 

o   Might your boat be called “bigger toys or more toys?” because you place a great value on your things? 

o   Might it be called “My Job” or “my time” or “My house”  Maybe it is just called the mine!

o   Do you place your faith in a human relationship, find your meaning in being successful- whatever that means to you?

o   Or perhaps like me-  Yes- I’ll tell you my main boat is security.  I have been to the brink of thinking I was going to loose my house, my health, my mind,  and my self esteem by declaring bankruptcy.  Many years ago I was to the brink of thinking I was going to loose my family. We have had our house burglarized loosing the pictures of Amber’s first Christmas. .I have lost jobs and status, and hope, and retirement plans and a business, and self esteem and my greatest fear is not that I won’t have enough, I don’t need a lot, but I fear that someone will take away what I do have.  My boat is named “stability” “safety.” or “security”,

If  someone laid out in front of you- all your stuff, all your relationships, all your roles, all your dreams, all your strength, all of your gifts—all of anything you have both tangible and intangible. And you had to start giving things away.  What would be the last thing you would give away--- the thing you would hang on to the longest?  That just might be your boat.

Think about it--- pray about it--- I would like you to separate from whom ever you might be sitting with.  Take some very private time in prayer- in your pew, at in the chancel, wherever you want to be.  Then write the name of your boat on the paper- Nice and big like it is going to go on a boat.  When you are ready, but not before, bring it up and put it in the boat face down so no one sees it.  When you are ready to have communion come to me one at a time please to receive communion and a prayer.  When you have had communion and a prayer, you may kneel again in prayer, return to your seat, or quietly leave.  The service will continue and I will be here as long as anyone else is in the sanctuary.

Walk on Water #1: Life in the boat 2/21/2010

Walk on water#1

Life in the boat

After the resurrection Jesus and Moses wanted  to take in some fishing. So he gets his friend Moses and they head up to Minnesota to fish. They are about to rent a canoe when Moses says:"Jesus, can't you still walk on water? Why not just walk out there?"
So Jesus takes his reel and tackle and steps onto the lake....and falls knee deep in water.

Moses says, "Well....maybe you need a head start or something, why not go to the end of the dock and try."

So Jesus takes his reel and tackle and steps off the end of the dock and falls up to his waist.

Moses says, " Well why not rent the boat, go out to the center of the lake and try there."

So they rent the boat and go to the middle of the lake, Jesus is about to step off and try again when...

Moses says, "Wait. Just to be safe, why not get yourself into the state of mind you were in the first time you did it."

So Jesus sets down, meditates for a few minutes, and finally he's all psyched up, and steps out of the canoe.... ..and proceeds to drown. So Moses does the water parting thing, and pulls Jesus up into the boat. Jesus is just beating himself up over this. He just doesn't see what's going wrong here. Moses just stares down at the bottom of the boat. Suddenly, Moses says, "I got it! I know what's wrong! Did you have those holes in your feet last time?!?!"

I have been waiting for a month to tell that story. I started with it because I want to say that I really want this “Walk on Water” series to be fun!  Sure we are talking about serious issues of faith and faithfulness, but we have a great story, a great God and a great opportunity to grow closer to God this lent.  So let’s have fun.

Let’s start by turning the church upside down.  If you have to stand on your head to imagine this, go ahead.  But imagine we take the roof of the church and turn it upside down.  What do we have?--- Besides a great skylight in the sanctuary-- what do we have? 

OK, I’ll give you a hint.  Take the roof off, turn it upside-down and put it in a lake.  Now what do you have?  A boat! Right?  Well kind of.  The technical word for the part of the church in which you are sitting is the NAVE.  That is the part from the entry doors to the chancel which starts with the steps here.  The word NAVE comes from the Latin word NAVIS of NAVY meaning ship.  It was given that name because it looked  like an upside-down ship. One of the perhaps not so historical stories about this type of church architecture, is that it was intended to resemble a boat, or ark.

I can think of several boats in scripture. 

The first was Noah’s ark.  The ark was a place of safety; a place of salvation if you will.  A place that saved all the animals and Noah’s family from the great flood.  Like the church there were probably days when it smelled pretty bad in there.  With all those animals there had to be  days when Noah was up to his eyeballs in really bad stuff, but it was better than the alternative.  As imperfect as the church is, it is for many of us better than the alternative.  It is a place of safety and security.  We talk about family and support, and this is an important part of what the church is.  In some respects the church is an ARK of salvation.

There are also times when the church is more like the boat on which Jonah sailed.  Remember God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people to repent.  Jonah thought it would be better to let God destroy the Ninevites so he found a boat going the other direction.  Did he get away with it?  No.  Because the sailors held him accountable.  When the storm came up they decided someone must be responsible.   Since Jonah was fleeing from God they tried to help straighten him out by throwing him overboard.  That’s when he became whale food.

Sometimes the church is a place to be held accountable. The church accepts us the way we are, but then we try to help each other to be better than we ever thought we could be.  One of the things I always say when I am faced with people who say “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.”  I tell them you may be right, but I know I am a better Christian, a more faithful person, a more obedient person in the church than I could ever be by myself outside the church.  That’s because have the support, the encouragement, the teaching, and --hopefully you don’t throw me overboard to the whales--but I know that I have someone to kick me in the rear end when I need it.  So the church is like Jonah’s boat of ACCOUNTABILITY.

Third I think of Paul’s boats on which he sailed to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentile world.  Sure, he got shipwrecked a couple of times, but it was because of the boats that he was able to get the word to those who needed to hear it.  A third way in which the church is like a boat is that it makes it possible for us to get places we otherwise could not go.  If it was up to me alone I don’t know what I could do for those poor people in Haiti right now.  But I know that together  as a church we have been able to collect a significant amount of money to be sent off to help them.  And even more, being part of the greater UM church we have people on the ground cleaning up, caring for the injured and grieving, and beginning to help them put their lives back together.  Do any of you think you could do that by yourself?  I know I couldn’t.  Thank God for the powerfully loving arms of the church reaching out to the world for us.  The church is a ship of outreach.

You know, life in the boat of the church is a safe place, a place of accountability and a place of reaching out,--- but  our story of water walking puts one more twist on how the church is like a boat. The church should be a risk taking place.

Yes, the church is a safe place in a storm, but that safety and security is for the purpose of enabling us to step out of the boat.

Yes, the church is a place of accountability and training, but that accountability includes not letting us just flip and flop around in the bottom of the boat like a big old fish.  It includes challenging us to step over the edge and dip our toes in the water of extreme faith.

Yes, the church is a place where together we can reach places we could never reach alone, but that reaching is not only to poor countries in faraway places.  It also helps us to reach into the poverty of our own hearts in order to reach those dark internal places we would never go by ourselves.

In other words like the boat in Matthew’s story on which we are focusing,  the church should be a place where we are challenged to see Jesus and risk reaching for his outstretched hand and his command to “come.’

Far from being the stubborn preserver of all that is ancient and outdated (which is how the church has acted for centuries) Far from being the defender of all that is obsolete and old fashioned.  Far from being the institution of “we have never done it that way before.”  Far from standing in the back of the boat gazing wishfully at the wake we leave behind-- the church should be the navigator with binoculars scanning the horizon for ways we can be ready to speak to people when they catch up with us.

The First time I met bishop Trimble he said that “if we wake up tomorrow morning and it is miraculously the year 1950 the church is ready.”  That’s not the church I want to lead, though. I want to be part of a church that wakes our neighbors up to tell them that there is more to this life than selfishness, materialism, and security.  I want to lead a church that gathers all our neighbors in the boat and then points to Jesus, with his hand outstretched  calling come.  I want to be the first one to abandon security, and material ism and selfishness---and get out of the boat.  I want to be the first one to get my shoes wet answering Jesus’ call. I want to be the first one to not only walk with Jesus on the water, but skip and run with him as well. 

And I want you all to be fighting me for the privilege of being second.

Yes I want life in the boat of the church to be safe.  Yes, I want it to be a place to learn and be held accountable. Yes I want it to be a place that extends our ministry.  But more than anything else I want life in this NAVE- life in this boat to be focused seeing Jesus and responding to his invitation  to come.  I want this church to be a church where people are lined up for the opportunity to walk on the water.  I want this church to be filled with disciples of extreme faith.

·         For some of you that might be the first invitation that we call salvation.  Come and receive forgiveness of sins.  If that’s you that’s great, get out of the boat and on to the water.

·         For some of you that might be a response to publicly profess your salvation and your love for Jesus in Baptism and church membership.  If that’s you that’s great, get out of the boat and on to the water.

·         For some of you who might be sitting comfortably in the same spiritual pew you sat in 20 years ago, it might be a call to get uncomfortable and try something new- risk going to a walk on water study session, a Bible study, a mission trip, inviting a friend to join you in your pew next Sunday, volunteering to serve in some way on a committee, or as liturgist. If that’s you that’s great, get out of the boat and on to the water.

·         For some of you who have seen sporadic growth and have maybe fallen away from the closeness to Jesus you once knew. It may be a call to re-devote yourself to spiritual growth, prayer and scripture. If that’s you that’s great, get out of the boat and on to the water.

·         To some of you who have been growing and stretching your spiritual legs- but have hesitated to take that leap to doing something different.  This may be the opportunity to step out of the boat  and go for it. If that’s you that’s great, get out of the boat and on to the water.

Wherever you are. Walking on water means taking one step closer to Jesus.  Making one decision to trust Jesus more.  Making one decision to act in faith.

I want everyone to stand up, please.  Now everyone move up one pew.  Just one.  I know I may be  risking my life here.<><><><><><>  It is probably safer for the preacher to try to walk on the water than to ask people to move one pew closer.   <><><><> but we all survived.  Now sit down.  Look around.  How’s that.  Not so bad?  That’s what we are talking about in this series. 

One pew-- One step--- one  decision--- one act of faith at a time.  Jesus says come. 

February 7 sermon - Come Into God's Presence.

Come to God

RUMC

2/7/10

What did you first notice when you came in this morning?  Did you see your best friend?  Someone to whom you owe money?  Did you notice a cob web or a light bulb that is out and wonder why no one took care of it?  Did you look at one of the stained glass windows or the big cross up front or the canoe?

(start video)

How would you like to walk into church and see the hem of God’s robe?  That’s what happened to Isaiah.  The temple grounds were almost a square block.  The sanctuary itself was actually about the same size as our building if it was squared off.  Interestingly enough it was also about the same height as our steeple. It was no small building .He walked into the temple and it was filled with the hem of God’s robe.  Not the robe, not the bottom half of the robe.  But the hem of God’s robe filled the whole temple.  That would be a shock wouldn’t it?

(slide)Once he caught his breath he looked again and saw the seraphim.  Strange looking creatures.  Seraphim are the highest rank of the angels.  "Seraphim" means flaming ones. They had 6 wings.  With 2 they covered their face in order to not insult God by looking upon the divine face.  With two they covered their feet which sounds strange, but the Hebrew actually means lower parts--- which is a  polite way of saying they covered their private parts.  And with two they flew.  As they flew they echoed back and for holy--- holy--- holy--- holy.  Their one and only job is to attend to the throne of God and lead the heavenly worship.

The pivots (hinges of the massive gates of the temple) shook with the volume and the intensity and depth of the worship. And the house of the Lord was filled with smoke.  Smoke is often associated with the temple incense that carries the prayers of the people to God.

The Seraphim in the revelation to John are described this way.(slide) In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.⁷The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

(SLIDE)So what would you do if you walked up to the church and were confronted with the hem and the seraphim and the shaking and the smoke?

Maybe you’d call Ghostbusters.  “Who you goanna call,--- ghost busters.”

Maybe you’d set up a gate and sell tickets on Ticketmaster.

As for Isaiah, he cried "Wo to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

In other words, here I am sin in skin.  Transgression in the flesh- I am so unworthy that I am sure to die.  No unworthy creature like me can possibly stand in the presence of the holy and living God, and live.

Do you ever feel that way?

I do, sometimes!

I think that is the nature of worship.  Whether it is public or private worship, when we come into the presence of the perfect, almighty, wonderful eternal holy God; it is only right that we feel unworthy.  None of us is perfect and nothing but perfection can stand up the light of God’s holiness.

Communion seems to intensify the feeling. Being invited to the heavenly banquet table; being seated at the table with the Holy God himself, partaking of the very body and blood of Christ points out the depth of our sinfulness.

Do you ever feel unworthy to take communion?  Do you ever feel just too dirty to come to the table? 

I know some of you do.  I’ve heard some of you talk about it.

And it is a good question.  How can a lowly, filthy, sinful, human creature ever deserve to be at God’s table?  Take a step into my shoes and ask, "How can a lowly, filthy, sinful, human creature ever deserve to lead others to God’s table?  "How can a lowly, filthy, sinful, human creature ever deserve to raise the bread and raise the cup and say “this is the body?  This is the blood?”  I’ll never forget the first time I did that.  It was an overwhelming, humbling, and kind of frightening experience.  If I ever feel differently about it, “Woe is me.”

But let’s go back to the passage from Isaiah.

Isaiah felt unworthy like us.

But then something happened.  He didn’t ask for it.  He didn’t deserve it.  He didn’t study for it.  He didn’t expect it.   But the angel- the seraph took a coal- actually the Hebrew word means a hot rock--- from the altar and touched it to his lips.  Saying what--- do you remember?  Saying (slide)  "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 

"Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 

The Angel of course is talking about the stone touching Isaiah’s lips. But can’t the same be said for us.

We don’t ask for it.  We don’t deserve it.  We don’t study for it.  We don’t expect it.   But it happens through Jesus Christ.

·       Do you feel angry or hateful?"Now that God has touched your heart, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 

·       Do you find yourself doing things you know are not Godly? "Now that God has touched your hands, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 

·       Do you find your imagination going places you know are wrong? "Now that God has touched your mind, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 

·       Do you find yourself saying things that hurt others, or lying? "Now that God has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 

·       "Now that God has touched your life, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 

Oh I understand that you feel unworthy of God’s love.  That’s OK because you are.  So am I. Frankly it doesn’t matter how we feel today.

Part of the message of this Isaiah passage is that (to adopt a line from Shakespeare) “There are more things in heaven and earth, (My friends), Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  In other words there is more to faith than our feelings.

First, you really are unworthy. 

Second God really does forgive. 

And finally God really does expect you to respond.

(slide)  When God asked in Isaiah, Whom shall we send?  Isaiah said “send me.  I’ll go.“

Today God still forgives and God still sends.  Today, God still seeks people who will say “Here I am--- send me.”  What do you say today? 

When you receive communion today you will hear the words from the call of Isaiah. 

(BREAD) "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out

"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

I ask you to respond in the spirit of Isaiah- if you will --saying

“Here I am, Lord, Send me.”