Holy Seraphims Batman!

Have you ever woken up from an intense dream that left you shaken and sweating?

Or maybe the glimpse of an idea that surprised you, or a daydream over a cup of coffee?  I imagine that’s what Isaiah was experiencing when in the middle of the church service, the sermon and incense was putting him to sleep. He had a daydream, a vision that would have made Stephen Spielberg or George Lucas or Peter Jackson green with envy.  Winged creatures, not quite angels, and definitely not human.  And a God that is so big, just the hem of God’s robe filled the whole temple.  Even Kate Middleton’s train on her wedding dress was not long enough to do that.  And the temple is tended by seraphim, odd looking creatures with many wings. Some biblical scholars remind us that the word seraph comes from the Hebrew root word for snake, sarap, like the word Serpent, so maybe Isaiah was foreseeing an episode of Game of Thrones with flying dragons, snake-like creatures covered in feathers?   Either way, Isaiah was confused, overwhelmed and astonished at the sight of so much bewildering imagery, the immensity of his God experience that day.  And he was in despair.  Who could look at such a vision without recognizing that they were not worthy for such a thing?  Isaiah experienced profound doubt and shame being in the presence of the Holy. How could he see this when he was so flawed and uncertain, so acutely aware of his imperfections and his faults?  In other words, he was human and he struggled with imposter syndrome.  And he was in deep pain.  Woe is me, I am lost and live with people who are lost like me, in a world that is imperfect.

Can you relate? How many of you are feeling lost?  How many of you struggled with flashbacks when you heard that once again you might evacuate?  How many of you looked around your homes wondering what to pack, what to leave behind?  How many of you waited for that call, that knock on the door?  How many of you felt a lump in your throats or a tightened stomach at the thought of that long drive?  I can’t begin to imagine reliving that potential trauma. 

There are times when we find ourselves up against things over which we have no control.  Fires, floods, viruses and bacteria can disrupt our lives in unexplained ways.  We don’t know where to turn, how to respond, where we can go when we feel at a loss.  One of the hardest things to admit to ourselves is that we are not God.  Despite our best efforts, things happen.  We come to realize that we are not God, and that we don’t always know what’s best.  We say, “Oh Woe is me, I am lost.  I am not God and God is more than I can logically understand.  How can I be in the presence of the Holy?”

That is the question for us frail humans.  We are not God, we are not perfect or pure or almighty.  We have flaws, we make mistakes, we have failures from time to time.  We get hurt, and sometimes we hurt others.  How can we approach God?

Isaiah showed us how.  Just like an AA meeting, he named his vulnerability, and his flaws.  He recognized and confessed his pain.  “Hi, I’m Isaiah, and I’m a broken, imperfect human.”  And just like in AA, he found himself freed from all that self-centred concern and angst.  Just like in AA, he found himself accepted just as he was.  Just like in AA, he turned his life over and found he had a clean slate, not from any action he had taken, but by the action of God through the strange beings that worshiped God, saying Holy, holy holy.  And just like in AA, he found that he was called to help and serve others.  By being honest and vulnerable in front of the holy mystery that was above and beyond perfect description, he found healing and a new purpose.  Which is what Jesus may have been getting at when he was talking to Nicodemus.  Nicodemus was a man of high standing and influence in his community.  He was a public figure.  He had a lot of power and authority, and yet he was troubled and uncertain.  He came to Jesus for answers and Jesus searched for a metaphor that Nicodemus would understand.  Both scriptures point to the same thing. That the Holy is hard to approach when we are in pain or in trouble, but the Holy is always full of grace and healing for us.  And when we are ready to be as vulnerable as a child, as truthful and honest as Isaiah, we will be approached by God’s healing, purifying love.  It may burn and hurt like a red-hot coal to our lips, but it leaves us able to say, “Send me!” with joy and enthusiasm. 

Our Song of Faith describes God in ways that Isaiah would have loved: 

God is Holy Mystery, beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description.

Yet, in love, the one eternal God seeks relationship.

So God creates the universe and with it the possibility of being and relating.

God tends the universe, mending the broken and reconciling the estranged.

God enlivens the universe, guiding all things toward harmony with their Source.

With the Church through the ages, we speak of God as one and three:

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We also speak of God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, God, Christ, and Spirit, Mother, Friend, and Comforter, Source of Life, Living Word, and Bond of Love, and in other ways that speak faithfully of the One on whom our hearts rely, the fully shared life at the heart of the universe.

May we have the courage to be vulnerable to the Holy Mystery, and may we find deep healing and purpose in God’s loving action. Amen

Guided into Truth

I’ve had a lot of people telling me stories about the spirit of the times recently, and the spirit of the times seems to be a spirit of grumpiness.  The spirit of grumpiness is so strong that we could even sing “Spirit, Spirit of grumpiness, blow through the wilderness, grumpy and mean”, but who wants to be singing hymns to that kind of spirit?  It does seem to be everywhere.  People are gossiping, or judging, people are complaining and on a tight fuse.  There’s so much fear and anger out there, it’s almost palpable. 

Now some of you might be saying, Monica, you are exaggerating, and you’d probably be right.  Except that there are signs that people are under stress.  The senior’s apartments in town had to lock their lobby entrances after the lobbies were used as bedrooms and bathrooms. We tensed up last week when the forest fire smoke returned, and we remembered how our summer last year was impacted by many days of poor air quality. And how horrible that some of Fort McMurray is once again evacuated because of fire. Although it’s not as bad as the one they called “The Beast” that they fled from 8 years ago, I’m sure they are having flashbacks and that is stressful.  8 years ago, we had people here from First United in Fort McMurray and my goodness, it was hard to celebrate Pentecost that year.

It's not just Athabasca or Fort Mac.  Cold Lake was in the news when they cracked down on vagrancy incidents. According to officials, the unhoused population has increased in two years from 10 local people to 195, including many arriving from surrounding areas.  The bakery here in town is no longer giving free meals to people in need because of angry incidents.

This is not the spirit that we want to have dominate this town, this province or even this world.  But it is incredibly contagious. Seems we are judging everyone for the littlest things.  We point fingers, we get indignant, and we get so self-righteous.

The metaphor I like to use is that it's like we are goldfish swimming in a goldfish bowl where we don't know what the waters taste like. And right now, whether we like it or not, people are tense and stressed, not knowing what the future holds. We can become addicted to snap judgements and prejudices. Interestingly enough, the word prejudice comes from pre and judge. We pre-judge people to be exactly like us, which means we're safe with them, or exactly opposite to us which means we're in danger from them. It's a fast way to make decisions that helped our ancestors escape from sabre-toothed tigers. But now we can see prejudices for what they are, distractions for us goldfish so we don't think about what is happening in the world. We can focus on our grievances and outrage and avoid how we ourselves contributed to the chaos and stress of our neighbors. One thing I don't miss is reading about the vitriol of town council, that had been a good change, and rumor has it that the Athabasca Inn has sold! So even in all the bleakness of both local and world chaos, there are glimmers of hope. We as Christians are called to be bringers of hope. We are called to be channels of God's creativity, God's healing and God's inspiration. 

Peter spoke against prejudice and judgement when he addressed the rumors directly, “People of Jerusalem, we are not drunk!” And Jesus said time and time again, the only judge is God.  The world is wrong about sin and justice and judgement, and the ruler of the world who does the judging, will be the one who is judged.  We are to be given the spirit of Truth, which is uncomfortable at times.  But the spirit of truth is that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to love the world.  And we are to love the world too.  Jesus said, “He who is without sin cast the first stone,” “judge not lest you be judged”, and “take the log out of your own eye before you try to remove the speck of sawdust in another’s eye.” 

One of my counsellors said it in this way.  She would tap her nose then her cheek.  That was her reminder to keep her nose out of other people’s business and on her own face where it belonged.  It’s easier said than done.  There are times when the Spirit guides us into uncomfortable truths, and times when we avoid truth as much as possible.  But truth from God is supposed to build us up, not tear us down.  It’s supposed to fill our hearts with courage and inspiration. It’s supposed to improve our mental health not tear it down. The best truth is spoken in love.  It builds our confidence bit by bit.  Jesus spent a lot of time helping Peter and the other disciples develop their confidence and leadership skills and they didn’t even know he was doing it.  He tried to prepare them for his death and let them know they would have comfort from God with the spirit.  Little by little, he built them up.  Little by little, the Spirit would continue to build them up.  Little by little we are also built up by the Spirit.  Little by little, we are healed, one hymn at a time, one prayer at a time, one hug at a time.  Little by little, the Spirit gently grows and heals and inspires us.  I like to joke that we are growing our angel wings one feather at a time, and just like Peter and the rest didn’t realize how Jesus was healing them and forming them into community, we don’t always realize how we are being formed into community.  But we are indeed being continually formed and reformed into ever more loving communities of faith, just as God wants us to be.