This morning we’re closing out our series of looking at the miracles Jesus performed in his life on earth. Of course he did many more than we have looked at over the last few weeks, but it’s a start. We stopped and paused to dig a little deeper into the what was happening with the various encounters.

We started with looking at the healing of a paralyzed man in a house so crowded his friends had to lower him through the roof to get him in front of Jesus. We learned that the encounter was far more significant than Jesus healing the man, it was a revelation to the people in the room of the authority by which he is able to heal. Jesus showed he had more authority than just absolving people of their sins, he had the power to heal and make people like this paralyzed man walk. It was said that only God can forgive sins, and Jesus went well beyond that.

Then we looked at Jesus healing a man with a withered hand. Jesus healed him on the Sabbath, the day of rest. Work is forbidden on the Sabbath, yet Jesus healed the man anyway. Why make a man suffer any longer just because of the calendar?

Then we watched as Jesus calmed the storm as his friends were scrambling about in the boat, just trying to stay afloat. Jesus showed his power over nature, showing he had control of things we though uncontrollable. This challenges us deeply as we believe in what we know and see, and Jesus shows there is much more than this.

Then we moved onto the casting out of demons from a man who was tortured by a legion of demons within him. Again, showing us his authority over not just nature in this case, but over spirits and spiritual matters. The demons trembled as Jesus came near and begged for mercy.

Last week the children took us on another journey with Jesus across the water. They looked at the story of Jesus walking on water, and how he was joined by Peter. Showing us that where we focus our faith, that when we let Jesus be our guide we can do what we would normally see as impossible. Now maybe we can’t walk on water, but there are many other areas where we feel we cannot do something, yet with Christ as our guide, nothing is impossible. Maybe with him we can turn this town around and bring the love of God to everyone one every street if we simply believe and ask for it to happen.

In many of these stories we read of fear. Fear because Jesus was doing things no one thought possible. Our experience told is it couldn’t happen, yet with Jesus, he had power over these things, power only God could have.

So this week we look at the traditional story for before the start of Lent. This is Transfiguration Sunday and we read the traditional reading of Jesus selecting a few of his disciples and heading up the mountain.

While Jesus leads them there his clothes become a dazzling, brilliant, blinding white and is joined by Moses and Elijah. Together, with the disciples watching, they had some sort of conversation. O to be a fly on that wall!

That’s when Peter speaks up.

I’m sure none of you have ever done this, but think about in movies of television shows where there’s this incredibly exciting moment, and one of the sidekicks gets really nervous and says something incredibly awkward just to break the tension a little bit.

That’s sort of what Peter has done. Once again we read that the disciples are terrified because of what they are witnessing. They are seeing Jesus, completely transfigured before them, and he’s talking with two of the most famous historical figures of the time. Moses and Elijah! Rockstars of the Old Testament are standing there in front of them talking with Jesus.

Once again, this is clearly something beyond what they can comprehend. They’ve seen Jesus do so much, and yet again he outdoes himself, and it scares them because they can’t put it together.

So Peter offers to build some tents. He opens his mouth and says the first thing that comes to mind, not even really thinking. He might have well asked if anyone wanted a sandwich.

Just in case there was any doubt that this was a special moment, just after Peter utters those words a voice from heaven speaks, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” and everything returns to as it was. Just Jesus and the disciples are left standing on the top of the mountain.

If they were afraid before, imagine how they must feel now. No words are spoken from the disciples on the way down the mountain. All that is said is Jesus telling them to tell no one what they have seen until his work is finished.

Jesus is now on his way to Jerusalem. This is his final march towards the city, leading to his death. The season of Lent will be here in just a few days.

So as we finish up our series on miracles Jesus performed, what do we take from these encounters?

When we stop and look at the deeper meaning to the story, where does it lead us? How does it make us feel? What does it make us believe?

We have witnessed, and even today, Jesus doing something we can hardly comprehend. He’s glowing whiter than white and talking with two heros of the faith from long ago, and in a flash it’s over. All that’s left are the three disciples trembling in their sandals.

We have not witnessed any of these events first hand. We rely on the stories passed down from generation to generation in the church to learn about the things Jesus did and taught many years ago. These stories help to build our faith and through the Holy Spirit we are opened to their meaning and how it impacts our lives here today.

Through the stories we are with Jesus on top of the mountain. We are with him as he heals people and touches their lives, giving them hope and freedom from the things which hold them back.

Just as we too are held back by things in our lives.

Just as we too struggle with ways in which we respond to the words of Jesus Christ we read, or the urging of the Holy Spirit to move us forward into a life of faith.

It’s ok to be a little scared. Hey, it’s even ok to be completely terrified according to what we’ve been reading the last few weeks!

Jesus is no ordinary man. He is the Son of the Most High God. He is the one who touches our lives in amazing ways, moving us into places where we never thought we’d be.

But he doesn’t leave us there along. Jesus is right here beside us, walking forward with us, guiding us on the journey.

It is an appropriate Sunday for us to have our annual meeting here at Carman. Today we’ll discuss what we have been up to as a community of faith, and I also hope we’ll have some discussion about what the future holds for us as people who seek to live out the call of Jesus Christ on our lives.

And I hope we get a little bit scared while we do it, because following the Lord can be a little terrifying at times when we feel pushed outside of our comfort zone. Outside of what we think is possible because of our age, or our numbers, or our finances, or our building, our skills, our minister, our music, our location… none of this matters.

What matters is that we are willing to have God push us just a little bit more, to move us in ways we have not been able to see as a path we could follow.

You know, “the road less traveled.”

God is in the business of miracles. Do we pray for them? Do we ask God to challenge us, to make us a little afraid? Do we ask God to answer our questions, like “Is now a good time?”

I think it is. I think it’s the perfect time to move. I think God is just waiting for us to act. To take those first trembling steps into what we are scared to do.

The mountain top is behind us. Before us is the glory of the Lord, revealed to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world. The one who we were told, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

And now’s as good a time as any.

Ever have one of those moments where you’re walking down the street, or through the mall and off in the distance you see someone you know? So you start to wave and smile, you’re happy to see your friend! As you continue walking toward this friend you can’t wait to talk to, you start to make out their face a little more clearly, and then you realize you don’t know who that person is at all! Has this ever happened to any of you? No? Well me neither.

There are times when things aren’t quite what they seem. Times where you may be surprised by what you discover. We used to have two rescued racing greyhounds, and one day Bev was out walking them when she stopped to talk to a friend in the neighbourhood. They went into the backyard and were looking at the in-ground pool. That’s when one of the dogs decided she needed a closer look and realized she couldn’t walk on the blue part of the lawn.

Today’s miracle is a bit of looking at both sides of these kinds of stories. On one side the person made the right assumption of who he was seeing, on the other, they weren’t sure.

Jesus has arrived at a small village by boat and as soon as he gets out he’s recognized from a distance by a man who is possessed by a demon or an unclean spirit. This man lives in the tombs, among the dead, which pretty much guaranteed he would be seen as unclean and ignored by the wider community.

But he is also a strong man, he keeps breaking the shackles they would use to tie him up and restrain him with. In fact, no one can overpower him any longer to tie him down. This man is no doubt causing great fear in the community because of his strength and being completely out of his mind. He cries all night long, like an animal, and cuts himself repeatedly in attempts to end the pain and suffering he is being subjected to.

The man is living in torture. Tormented by demons; shunned by the public; attacked by those who try to control him and his movement; people are terrified by his presence in the community. The guy is a bit of a freak show.

But then Jesus steps out of the boat. Immediately the man recognizes who he is and runs to him, falling flat on the ground in front of him, prostrate; a sign of respect and submission to a higher authority.

This is an interesting encounter between Jesus and the man. In fact, Jesus is not conversing with the man, but rather with the evil spirit living inside of him. Which again, speaks to the importance of how Jesus was recognized so easily from a distance.

It was not the man who recognized Jesus, but rather it was the evil spirit, or as we learn in the conversation, the spirits! It is the demons within who control the man, making him strong, causing him to do all the things he does like casting off his clothes and breaking free from his shackles causing great fear in the community.

Look at the first words said by the demons. “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

The spirit recognized Jesus first, but not only recognized who he is, but recognized his power! The spirit knew that Jesus had power and authority over him, and he knew Jesus was there to exercise it.

The evil spirit pleads for Jesus to take it easy on him. He pleads and begs for mercy in what is to come. The spirit is afraid of Jesus because as he clearly exclaimed, Jesus is the Son of the Most High God. No one told him this, the spirit just knew it instinctively. He recognized Jesus for who he was himself.

And he knew this was not a good thing.

So Jesus grants the request to be allowed to enter the herd of pigs and from there they run to their death, drowning in the sea.

Imagine though the power and authority Jesus has over these evil spirits. Not only do they recognize him and fear him, but they ask his permission to be allowed to leave the man and enter into something else. Once they enter into the pigs, they run to their death, drowning themselves in the sea.

What power Jesus has! What a public witness to who he is and what he can do! Even the evil spirits submit to him. Spirits no one has been able to control with ropes and chains, Jesus controls with simply his presence and his words.

How does the people who witness this event react? Do we see them cheering in the streets that this terror among them has been eliminated? Do they raise Jesus up on their shoulders and march him down Main Street?

No, they are afraid.

Like we saw last week when Jesus calmed the storm, saving the lives of those who were sailing on it with him, they became more afraid than when they were about to die at sea.

This week, we see Jesus eliminate a very serious threat to the community, and the people are terrified. The pig herders flee into the town and tell people what they saw. The people respond by coming out and begging Jesus to leave the area. Once again, people are more afraid by what Jesus can do than what they have seen with their own eyes.

Jesus has power over evil spirits. It’s pretty clear only God has this ability. The man who was once filled with these spirits gets it. He begs to see if he can travel with Jesus when they begin to leave. But Jesus instead tells the man to share what has been done with him. “Go tell your family and friends how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you,” Jesus tells him.

It’s interesting that in the Bible people are afraid of Jesus. Why is this? What is there to be afraid of?

Jesus does good things right? He teaches people Good News. He heals people. He saves people’s lives. Is there anything wrong with this? Of course not!

So why is there fear? Why are people terrified when Jesus does things like calm the storm or cast out demons?

Because he’s God.

In simple terms, as God among us, Jesus scares us. What is so terrifying about a close encounter with God?

It’s us. We’re the problem.

When we come into the holy presence of God, when the light shines close to us, we see our faults. We see where we have fallen short of following as God has instructed us to live.

Our sins can no longer be hidden and ignored because we realize that once we are in the presence of a perfect God they show like infected wounds. We realize we are unworthy of such love from a perfect God.

We want to run and hide. We want God to go away because we just can’t deal with it right now, it’s too hard for us. We’re quite comfortable in our ignorant bliss that nothing is wrong.

We can’t be perfect. There is only one who is. But we can be made whole.

Discovering the sin in our lives is not a bad thing. It is not something to fear. It is something to embrace because God can help us be healed of these things. Only God can make us clean.

The man with the evil spirits, no one could do anything about it. Nothing could be done until Jesus comes. In fact, all the miracles we’ve been looking at over the last month show that it is only Jesus who can do these things.

Jesus heals more than just the body. Jesus heals our spirits. Jesus has control over things which we do not. Jesus has power over nature; he has power over the supernatural; he has power of good and evil. Even demons themselves tremble when we comes near.

How much does God love us?

He loves us so much He sent his only Son to take away our sin. He came himself to show us how to live and to show His power and His love.

O God, what have you to do with me?

God wants us to be clean. To be whole. To be His.

His Son shows us this.

His Son died for this.

His Son rose from the grave to show us we can have it forever.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Who here has been on an airplane? Do you remember the first time you flew? How did you feel? Maybe a little excited? Maybe a little bit nervous (you know, just a little)? It can be a little nerve-racking for sure. You are, after all, flying. You are hurtling through the air at thousands of feet above the ground in a little metal tube. So it’s ok to be a little nervous. You do get used to it though. Ask anyone who has flown regularly, it’s not so bad over time.

I still remember the fourth time I was on an airplane. It was in my final year of university in the fall of 1997 and I was invited to Ottawa for a job fair by a very large company. In fact, so were about 1000 other students. Over the weekend we were interviewed be numerous groups, and if we were lucky, we got a job offer on the spot.

I was one of the lucky ones. I had exactly what I had hoped for offered to me on Sunday morning. Man was I excited! I got to visit some friends and relax before my flight back to Halifax. It was a great day. It was also my girlfriends birthday, and I had already began the plans for how I was going to propose to her when I saw her later in the week. I had the world in the palm of my hand!

When I got to the airport for my flight home, the weather had picked up a bit. My friends and I who had gone didn’t care that our flight was slightly delayed, we all had new jobs!

When we finally got on the plane, the captain warned us it might be a bit of a bumpy ride, the wind had picked up quite strongly.

As we took off, literally just seconds after we left the runway, a gust of wind shook and tossed the plane sharply to the left. How dinner stayed down is beyond me! My buddy, who was next to me, looked at me, and without words we knew what each other were thinking… “It’s been nice knowin’ ya!”

For the next few minutes, it was a hair-raising ride. They don’t build rides like that in amusement parks. It felt like an eternity, but it was probably something like 20 minutes. Once we got through the front that was passing through, it was smooth sailing, er… flying.

I remember looking around the cabin and seeing some people look completely relaxed. And I thought to myself, are these people crazy? Don’t they know we’re going to die!! These of course were the people in the suits, those who travel all the time. They trusted the pilots and their ability to fly in this weather. Who knows, maybe they have seen worse? I hope I never see worse.

This is the story I think about when I read the story of Jesus and the disciples on the stormy sea. Of course Jesus traveled with fishermen, and they knew this body of water well. If anyone knew how to sail through the storm, it would be them.

But they can’t. They’re scared that this is it! Their lives are over, no one can do a thing about it. So they turn to Jesus, asleep in the back of the boat, and they grab him and shout, “WE’RE GONNA DIE!!”

Jesus wakes up, rubs the sleep out of his eyes, maybe looks around at the disciples and the terror on their faces, then he sits up and calls out, “BE QUIET!”

And silence falls over the sea.

The wind stops. The water becomes like glass.

The disciples, who were just moments ago afraid of dying at sea, now look at one another, and we’re told they are now filled with even greater fear.

The problem is solved, they are safe in the boat, and they are filled with greater fear? What is up with that?

These men have just witnessed one of the worst storms on the sea they have ever encountered. The power of nature is very real to them. No doubt, over the years they have been warned over and over again about the dangers of working on the water. We too know full well the power of the earth in this part of the world. We know the dangers of working in mines, just as we also know the dangers of working at sea. We’ve heard the stories over and over again. They are part of who we are, how we were brought up, how we live.

So imagine if everything we believed about the power of the earth was completely turned over and upside down just when we thought we were at its mercy? Imagine if we felt our lives were about to end as we have always been told is might end, and someone stands up and says, “STOP!” And just like that it’s over.

Just like that someone has shown us that he has power over the most terrifying thing we can imagine. Someone has the power over life and death. How would you feel?

And what about what Jesus had to say after he calmed the storm? “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

It seems like a bit of a silly question really. “Why are you so afraid?” Well, wasn’t it obvious? They were afraid because they were about to die. They were scared of dying. Can you blame them?

Over the last few weeks we’ve been looking at miracle stories in the Bible and how the stories often hold a deeper meaning than what we might initially see at first glance.

Today, I believe the key in these verses from Mark is what Jesus says to the disciples. It’s not just he calms the storm with a few words, it’s the interaction with his friends that matters.

“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Such straightforward questions from the Son of God.

Jesus is asking them why they feel the need to be afraid. Jesus sees their fear as an indication that they do not have faith. Faith, it seems, is the key to calming their fear.

If they have faith in knowing they are following the Son of God, who is leading and teaching them, then they should not be afraid for a few reasons. First, it’s not time for Jesus to die yet. Sure it’s a bad storm, but Jesus still has work to do. It’s not his time.

Also, if they believe that he is the Son of God, then there still is nothing to worry about, even if the storm does take their lives. If they believe in Jesus the Christ then there is something even greater waiting for them should they perish on the stormy sea. This being eternal life with the Father and the Son.

Before they set out in the boat, Jesus had just been teaching parables about the kingdom of heaven. Teaching about the goodness of God in the sharing of His Word.

If the disciples had listened and learned, then there would be nothing to fear about death. Jesus was with them; not only in the boat, but for all eternity.

The storms of life can be mighty hard to navigate. There may be times when we just want to throw in the towel and give up. There may also be times when we’re nearly frightened to death as to what life may have in store for us next. But Jesus is teaching we need not be afraid. He is with us in the storms.

When we open up our lives to Jesus Christ, we don’t need to be afraid any more. He will care for us. Jesus will be with us in those tough times and only he can calm our fears.

And should our day come, when all else fails and our lives are finished, Jesus will still be with us. Jesus still calms the storms, because we will be with him in the eternal presence of God, our Father, joining with them in the heavenly kingdom prepared for those who believe in Him.

The invitation is to follow him, the one who gives life, both here on earth and forevermore, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

Why are you so afraid?

There’s nothing to fear, God is with us when we follow Christ. It just takes a little faith to believe and by doing so you can go a long way.

Photo by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/_cheese

So this weekend we introduced the kids to Star Wars. It started when they wanted to play Star Wars Monopoly. Well it was a hit. But of course it’s a little tricky to explain places, ships and characters when they haven’t seen the movie. So last night we had a movie night and watched the first movie, Episode IV.

Again, it was a huge hit. There’s even a rumour it may have ousted Cars 2 out of the top spot of hit movies in the house. Who would have thought that was even possible?

However, as we watched the movie I was very glad I have seen it many times before. “Who’s that?” “Is that a good guy or a bad guy?” “What are they doing?” “Who’s that?” “Is that a good guy or a bad guy?” “Where are they going?” “Where’s that place?” “Is that earth?” “Who’s that?” “What blew up?” “Is that a good guy or a bad guy?” “What did he say?” “Is he a good guy or a bad guy?” “Is he dead?” “What’s ‘terminated’ mean?” “Do the good guys win?” I think you get my drift.

Star Wars is an entertaining movie, for sure. But the dialogue and action may be a little advanced for 7 and 5 year olds. They tried to pay attention, but details just don’t sink in that quickly. So they watch carefully, but also ask a lot of questions when they don’t understand what is happening. It’s a little more complicated than a lot of movies they tend to watch, that’s for sure.

But, is it really that different for adults? Have you ever had company over and you were sitting down to watch your favourite show when your guests start to ask questions about who the characters are, and maybe what the storyline is about since they’ve never seen the show before? It can get a little frustrating can’t it. You just want to sit and enjoy your show, but you can’t because you have to explain everything as it goes.

“Well, she doesn’t like him because….” “Oh, he’s like that because one time…” And so on.

Think for a moment what it would have been like for Jesus. Everywhere Jesus went people were watching him and asking questions. “What’s he doing now?” “Who’s that he’s talking to?” “Why would he be going there now?”

Well this morning we hear of Jesus going into the synagogue, a place he was going to be watched very closely by those who thought they knew everything.

After Jesus entered the synagogue, he encountered a man with a withered hand. It’s interesting that the questions of the crowd watching wasn’t so much “could he do it?” but rather “would he?”

Jesus, as we found out last week, would know what they were thinking. He knew they were watching and wondering. So he says to the man, “Come here.”

And as the man approaches, Jesus asked, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”

No one answered. There was just silence.

Notice how Jesus responded. “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart…”

Jesus was angry. He was not pleased at all that they were just waiting to judge what he might do, forgetting anything to do with the man who was suffering and his needs.

So Jesus offered a simple request to the man. “Let’s see that hand!”

As the man lifted his arm to show, his hand was made whole, completely restored.

Today, we continue our look into some of the miracles Jesus performed. We are doing this because it is often very easy to read a story like the one we read this morning and miss out on some details. To look at it and think, “That’s nice of Jesus, I wish he would heal my friend,” and then continue along. But if we do this, we might miss out on a key message from Jesus. Not just to the people he was surrounded by, but also for ourselves.

The key phrase in this rather short encounter is the question Jesus asked, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”

Let’s forget about that first part of the question for a moment and just look at “Is it good to do good or to do harm?”

Of course the answer to this seems pretty straight forward doesn’t it. It’s good to do good! What else could it be? I don’t think anyone would argue at all with Jesus on this one.

But Jesus says, “Is it lawful…?” Yes, of course, it’s lawful, it is allowed to do good to another. It is lawful to save a life. There’s little debate in this area.

But it’s the Sabbath. The day of rest. Rules are very strict on this day of the week. There is to be no work at all. No work in the gardens or fields. This is the Lord’s day, and everyone is expected to honour God on His day. Some of you have shared stories yourselves about what you could and could not do on Sunday’s when you were growing up. From what you’ve told me, there was a lot more could not’s than could’s!

So healing, feeding, helping, saving, these things are forbidden by law simply because it’s the Sabbath. Well, at least that’s what the religious leaders had been telling everyone. That was their interpretation of the law. Unless it was extreme circumstances, then you could save someone’s life.

So it’s against the law to do this? Just because of the day of the week? I suppose what’s the deal with one more day? We don’t know that this man is on death’s door, but I’m not sure a withered hand would be all that comfortable and willing to wait another day.

So when Jesus asks the question and he gets no answer, he’s mad. They know full well he can do it, he’s done all sorts of miracles so far. They know what he’s capable of, and yet they want him to let a man suffer just because of the day of the week?

I think we know full well that’s not how Jesus works. Jesus has come not to live by the laws put out by the religious leaders, he has come to show the world how the laws were meant to be followed. He came to show that love, grace, and mercy were to be the norm. Those are the primary laws. So to withhold helping someone who was in need simply because it was the Sabbath? Not cool.

Our own lives have their own limitations. Society has imposed it’s own laws upon us. There are professionals in our society who cannot act to help a family or children in need because there are rules that don’t let them do what needs to be done. I talk with teachers who see children come from homes that are unhealthy for the kids, maybe even life threatening, but their hands are tied by the system. They all want very much to help, but they aren’t allowed. Those are the rules.

It wasn’t always that way. It used to be that the community would pick up on the loose ends. The community used to help out the families around who were in trouble and struggling. People used to care about their neighbours and do something about it.

But times are different now. We’ve handed the helping function of our neighbourhoods off to professionals: social workers, police, psychologists, doctors and so on. Don’t get me wrong, these people care a lot about the people they help. They must, because it’s hard work and if you weren’t passionate about helping, it’d be a hard career to live through.

But they can only do so much. To protect themselves and the people they work with, they set up very clear boundaries. It makes sense to do this.

And the community sits around and watches.

Here’s another thought I have about these rules around helping and watching.

We’ve stopped going to church.

We have eight churches in this town. If we polled each church about their attendance this morning, I seriously doubt any of them would be over half full.

We’ve abandoned the one place where we learned what it means to live morally in our communities. We’re missing the instruction on what it truly means to “love your neighbour as yourself.”

A couple of you have shared with me that when you were growing up and you did a little bit of mischief around town, you might be better off not going home. Someone would know what you did, and if someone knew what you did, so did your parents. So staying away from the house sounded like a good idea at times.

The community used to look out for one another. It used to police itself in many ways. The old saying that it takes a community to raise a child is still very true, we just don’t live it out any more.

The love of Christ is unknown to us. God’s commandment to love one another as we love ourselves is forgotten. We prefer instead to live at a distance, to let rules determine our involvement with one another.

That’s not how Jesus shows us to live. Jesus shows us to question those rules, and if they are not helping our neighbours, then we need to get mad and do something about it. Who cares what others think? The love of God is more than the rules, it’s about changing lives for the better.

So if society starts to question us, asking “What are you doing?”

We simply answer, I am doing the will of God. I’m making the world a better place by showing His love to the world, and to you.

Thanks be to God for the love, grace and mercy shown to us in Jesus Christ. Showing us rules are not always good, but love most certainly is.

May the love of Christ flow through you, and into others as we serve our awesome God.

It was 2 years ago this weekend when I, myself, was covenanted with the good people of Carman United Church in Sydney Mines. A service that marked the end of a long journey that began 7 years before, when I was moved by the Holy Spirit to respond to the call of God to pursue ordained ministry. An undeniable call which changed my life drastically 9 years and 3 days ago.

It happened in a church service. One I almost didn’t make it to. My wife and I had hoped to take in the evening service that day, but then we remembered my wife was reading scripture, so we couldn’t have a lazy Sunday morning like we hoped we would.

In that service, I can relate very much to how Isaiah felt. In that service I heard the call of God as the Holy Spirit moved deep within me while I listened to the sermon. It said, “One day you will be up there.”

All I could think was, “What!? I hate public speaking! I can’t possibly do that… can I?”

The response? “With my help, you will.”

Isaiah cried out in the presence of God, “Woe is me. I’m a sinner. I live with sinners, and here I am in the presence of the King.”

There’s an interesting phenomenon when you encounter God in such a way. There’s something you just don’t expect. There’s a sense of fear as we see over and over again when people in the Bible encounter God or angels. It’s a fear of the unknown. It’s a fear of knowing we are unworthy to be in the presence of something so holy. It’s unexplainable, maybe even irrational why we should feel this way. But, history and experience shows it’s also natural.

When Isaiah found himself standing in the presence of God, he immediately declared himself unworthy. And in many ways he was, just as we all are. There’s nothing like knowing just how unworthy you are when you stand in the awesome presence of God.

Think of how this interaction began. The king has died, and Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on the throne, and beside him are two seraphs, heavenly beings, guardians of sorts, with six wings. Listen to how the seraphs announce the presence of the Lord, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” It’s a refrain we know well.

The seraphs proclaim the God not as holy; not as holy, holy; but tell us God is “holy, holy, holy.” There are lots of things called “holy” in the Bible: holy ground, holy place, holy bread, holy Sabbath, holy ones, holy word and so on. These are things that are seen to be separate, above the norm. But only God is described as three times holy. Repetition is used to emphasize something or a point. But to repeat it three times is to show it’s “super-important”, to raise it up above anything else.

R.C. Sproul reminds us that holy, holy, holy is God. We don’t hear mercy, mercy, mercy is God. We don’t read God is love, love, love, or wrath, wrath, wrath. It says He is “holy, holy, holy and the whole earth is full of His glory.”

And when we review the list of the things that are called holy, we also need to remember that these things are holy because God has made them holy. God has set them apart. God has altered them in such a way that they are no longer “normal”, they are now referred to as “holy.”

This is not unlike what has happened with Isaiah. Isaiah, when confronted with God seated before him, confessed his weaknesses, his sins. He said his lips were unclean. But the seraph came to him and cleansed him. The seraph burnt the sin off his lips with a hot coal. Isaiah has been forgiven, he has been cleansed. He has been made new.

Once Isaiah has been cleansed, God asks, “Whom shall I send, who will go for us?” It is now that Isaiah is finally able to say, “Here I am! Send me.”

God has taken a sinful, weak man and made him holy. God spoke many prophetic words through Isaiah, many pointing to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ coming into the world. The words of Isaiah are the words we often read in Advent as we look to the promises of God to save his people. Isaiah becomes holy. His words are set apart.

I have a slight confession that I have an issue with the New Creed of the United Church of Canada. My issue is that it has changed one word when it talks about the church. In the Apostle’s Creed and in the Nicene Creed how is the church described? The church is called holy. We’ve removed the word ‘holy’ when we describe the church in the New Creed.

So it leads me to question, what are we as the church then? We are the church, yes. But are we set apart? Are we touched by God? Are we the holy church?

Who are we? Are we the caretakers of the building? Are we God’s financial managers? Are we the payers of the bills? Or are we set apart to do the work of God in the world? Are we touched in such a way that we shine with the Spirit of God for all to see?

Jesus asked his disciples a question. Maybe he was wondering how his outreach and publicity campaigns were working. Maybe he was wondering if people saw his ad in the paper.

Jesus asked, “Who do people say that the son of man is?”

The responses were varied, John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other dead prophet.

Jesus then asks those who walk with him every day, “Who do you say that I am?”

Here he gets the answer he is looking for, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Notice the difference in the two audiences in his questions. First Jesus asks, “who do those people out there say I am?” You know who I mean. Those people. The others who haven’t seen anything. You know, the ones who haven’t set foot in the church in 20 years. Those people. Who do they say I am?

Then Jesus addresses those who travel with him. Those who see him all the time. The people who are close, intimate, insiders. What do you think? “Who do you say that I am?”

The people outside of Jesus’ inner circle don’t get it. They hear stories through the grapevine. Maybe they hear some rumours about what he’s teaching. They don’t seem to give a lot of thought about how important it might be to investigate for themselves about who this Jesus is. Is he really just a prophet?

But the people who have come. The people who have sat down and listened to what he says; those who have seen his works; they know. They get it.

These readings are examples of what personal encounters with the holy, holy, holy God can produce. For Isaiah, his lips were the problem, but God made them clean and he became a prolific prophet of God’s message.

For the disciples and other close followers of Jesus, God among us, they became leaders in the new church, but more than that, they changed the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So… who are we?

When we gather in our churches, are we touched and cleansed by the holy, holy, holy God who came to earth to show us the way? The one who came to bring light to the darkness? A living God who comes to make things right in the world? Or do we act like the outsiders who see God as simply a voice of old?

Personal encounters with the holy, holy, holy produce holy things. Holy church. Holy ground. Holy city. Holy ones. People, places, things set apart by God to do holy things.

When Peter responded to the question Jesus asked by saying he is the Son of the living God, Jesus told him this,

“…you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

When we look around the world today, where is the rock upon which Jesus is building his church? Who has the keys to the kingdom of heaven?

As we come tonight to celebrate the covenant relationship between Rev. Bob Biggar, the Westmount-Leitches Creek pastoral charge, and Sydney Presbytery, let us pray that the holy, holy, holy God will unbind His word and His Spirit to all of us who are part of this relationship, and to all our churches in the same way.

Let us pray that the 3x holy God will touch our lips so that we may be cleansed by Him and made holy, and our churches be made holy, through which our city, our province and our nation will become holy as only God can make them.

Let us be insiders, the people closest to Jesus who understand that he is the Son of a holy, holy, holy God who has come to make the earth holy and also all who live upon it.

It is God’s pleasure that we be become holy so that we may dwell with Him in His holy kingdom for all eternity through the healing relationship of His Son, Jesus Christ, God among us. The Christ who gave of himself on the cross, so that we all may be cleansed of our sin and weaknesses.

Let us come into the presence of the holy, holy, holy. Let us be touched, cleansed and renewed by God, and may the whole earth be full of His glory.

May God bless us, heal us, and cleanse us for the work He is preparing us to do in the work of this church, this community, and this presbytery. For without Him, we have no where to go.