Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 2/4/2024
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, May your will be done, through me.
So I called my friend the other day, childhood friend, we grew up near the practice field where the Detroit Lions used to do their preseason practices.
And we used to carry the football helmets of players like Errol Mann and Alex Karas.
And I had my friend on the phone about 2 weeks ago and I remarked to him "Boy, aren't the Lions having a great season!?"
He said, "Oh really? How are they doing?"
Now this was just 2 weeks ago, when this entire town was painted Honolulu Blue, and Silver,
When every store you walked in had some sort of poster, or banner, or pennant up.
And any television station you turned on had some sort of news story about our once-lame football team, that had finally had a miracle season.
And I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it in absolute shock and awe, and I quoted Isaiah.
Haven't you not known?
Haven't you not heard?
I laugh at my friend and this phenomenon.
And then I begin to think about you and me, as Christians, who are inheritors of God's promises and perspectives - Who have been given and received the gift of eternal life.
And the stunningly fantastic view and vision of the world as God sees it, and I can hear...
Haven't you not known?
Haven't you not heard?
How beloved and precious we are
How important and significant we are
And how utterly pregnant with potential and possibility God has made us.
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
And our job - just like the ancient Israelites who first heard these words following their captivity, then release, by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC - is to come up to speed - and own these words of affirmation and truth.
How beloved and precious we are
How important and significant we are
And how utterly pregnant with potential and possibility God has made us.
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A firefighter came by the house once -
She had a handful of window stickers.
She asked me to paste one on each of our children's bedroom windows.
Then she told me this story.
One night, after midnight, she had been called to the scene of a house fire.
She saw one of these stickers affixed to a second story window.
Two emotional parents explained that their 6 year old was inside
The firefighter rushed in, climbed the stairs, and entered the bedroom.
Not seeing a child - she looked in two places -
Under the bed and in the closet.
Sure enough, there was a little boy, 6 years old, hiding in the corner of the closet.
This firefighter picked him up and carried him to safety.
She handed the child over to his parents - a tearful reunion if you've ever seen one.
Then the boy explained that he had been playing with matches in the basement -
And he knew that his parents didn't approve - they'd warned him, even punished him before.
So after he started the fire, he rushed up to his room in shame,
hoping he could just hide in the closet and not disappoint.
His parents quoted Isaiah:
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
How much your parents love you?
We don't care about the house
We don't care about your disobedience
At least when we compare it with how much we love you!
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
How much our love supersedes all that?
Some of us are hiding in closets of our own this morning-
Of shame and fear-
Worried that those who love us - especially God - would surely reject us if they REALLY knew us - what we do, what we say.
So we distance ourselves, hiding in the closet, from family, friends, even God - because we can't see how they can possibly love and forgive.
But this is not who God is.
God is the merciful, forgiving, accepting, loving God you suspect - who says:
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
How much I love you -
A seven nation army couldn't hold me back
So come out of that closet - you can't hide from God anyway-
And forgive yourself, start over, and know that there's only love and admiration, forgiveness and mercy - that God has for you and everything about you.
How beloved and precious you are
How important and significant you are
And how utterly pregnant with potential and possibility God has made you.
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If you live to 80 - you'll be around for about 4,000 weeks
It's a lot.
It's not a lot.
"Absurdly and insultingly brief" - says productivity guru Oliver Burkeman .
He looks at the brevity and short span of our lives
And when he does, he sees no meaning or purpose.
And so, he grapples with something called 'cosmic insignificance' -
Cosmic insignificance can plague all of us who walk the beach - staring out at the endless waves -
Contemplating just how old the sand and rocks we're walking on really are -
And wonder how anything we do can ever last.
And Burkeman, who's fond of Stoic philosophy, uses cosmic insignificance as a therapy -
As a stress and anxiety reliever -
Telling us not to worry about work, family, or money - because in a thousand years, no one will have any idea you ever existed.
I'm so thankful for Burkeman and his work - and the ways he can give hope and inspiration to so many people like him, who struggle with feelings of insignificance.
This is what Isaiah was up to -
As his people left Babylon and returned home to Judea, a land barren and broken, as they, too wondered: what's the point?
You might be asking the same question - what's the point?
What's the purpose?
Look at how tiny we are in the face of time and space -
You may be humming Freddie Mercury:
'Nothing really matters' to me...
And this is to whom Isaiah says:
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
There is a God named Jehovah, creator of the ends of the earth-
Who put a spark of conscience in you - that points you toward God.
This God has a purpose in giving you life
Has a meaning for your life, which is rooted in love and care for yourself and others.
This God gives power to the weary that they may overcome doubt and despair -
And to see themselves as the significant and important people God has called them to be - as God's liberating force for the world!
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
That God has called every one of us 'significant and important' as well?
Don't take the bait!
Observers of the natural world have been preaching fatalism and nihilism for centuries - that there's no hope and no future.
But through the eyes of faith...
God knows the number of hairs on your head!
God sees you and calls you the apple of God's eye
God calls you a friend and shows us that we're worth dying for.
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
How beloved and precious you are
How important and significant you are
And how utterly pregnant with potential and possibility God has made you.
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Once there was a baby named Moses.
His parents were Israelite slaves in Egypt -
And when they had him they were told to kill him.
But instead his mother put him in a basket and set him adrift on the Nile River.
That's where Pharaoh's daughter found him, raised him, and gave him a royal home.
One day Moses saw an Egyptian soldier bullying an Israelite slave.
Moses went into a rage, killed the soldier, then headed for the hills, to avoid the consequences.
He figured he'd lead the rest of his life in a small town in the desert, raising sheep.
But God had other plans.
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
He appeared to Moses in a burning bush -
And told Moses to be his messenger and to go set those Israelite slaves free.
Moses protested as much as he could -
'I'm afraid!' - then tell him I sent you!
'I stutter' - then take Aaron, your brother, to speak for you.
'But can't you send anyone else?' - I've chosen you.
Friends, you know the rest of the story -
How God worked through this very imperfect vessel -
To free the Israelites -
To part the Red Sea -
To lead them to a land of freedom -
This is how God worked through Moses -
And this is how God wants to work through you.
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
God wants to use YOU in this work of liberation and justice
Do we really think that God has put us down here to eternally suffer like those Israelites, under the harsh bonds of oppression?
We have gun laws that are broken,
Tax laws that favor the wealthy,
We have constructed a society where life for the few is a holiday-
And life for too many is a burden.
God wants to do this work of justice and liberation through you!
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
That God is calling you beloved and precious -
Because too few of God's people are feeling beloved and precious -
And need you and me to proclaim their worth in word and deed!
That God is calling you significant and important
Because too few of God's people are feeling significant and important-
And need you and me to proclaim their worth in word and deed.
That God is calling you into your potential and possibility -
Because too few of God's people are feeling their potential and possibility -
And need you and me to proclaim their worth in word and deed.
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A luxury liner went down in the middle of the Atlantic.
A lucky few found themselves aboard a life boat.
It started taking on water.
Everyone began to bail -
Except for one well-dressed, self-important passenger.
His seat-mate asked: "Why aren't you bailing?"
He said - "Oh, I'm not into bailing."
His seat-mate passed him a bucket and said:
"You are now!"
Friends, our world is a lifeboat that's taking on water.
And God has called the church to come to the rescue.
The problem is that too few are into bailing.
Like Moses, there's a list of objections for not taking on Pharaoh -
And standing by while those in bondage cry out.
But the good news is that we have what it takes to do what God is asking us to do.
Have you not known?
Have you not seen?
How beloved and precious you are
How important and significant you are
And how utterly pregnant with potential and possibility God has made you.
This morning we serve notice to that Satan of the status quo, that there's a new sheriff in town.
The way things are, are not what they will be.
We're sick and tired of being sick and tired.
And I believe that the better you and I get at living into our identities as
beloved and precious
important and significant
And utterly pregnant with potential and possibility -
We will see our world transformed, transfigured, and transmuted - into the Kingdom of God that God asks us to pray for whenever we pray!
And if you believe it can happen, can I get an amen?