To God be the glory – that’s how I often end my sermons,
but today I think it would be best to start there. It’s not a very common
phrase, although I think it would be interesting if we started working it in to
our conversations. Maybe it would sound something like, “Wow, it’s really cold
today – to God be the glory!” That’s a little awkward, I know, but the point is
that there is so much that we expect or anticipate to revolve around our own
experiences and needs that sometimes we forget how much of life is truly a
gift. We forget how important it is to recognize our relationship as creatures
with our creator.
Maybe that’s because we don’t always see the direct
connection that we have with God. We become like children who have not seen
their parents in ages and who forget that they are still, in some way, a
reflection of – or a reaction to – the love or neglect they may have received.
Giving glory to God often becomes reduced to silly things
we say in time of need like “God never gives you more than you can handle”.
Well of course God does. What would you need God for if you can handle
everything on your own?
No, giving glory to God requires something more than
simple justifications. First off it requires us to realize that glory is not
ours to give. Glory is not about giving credit to God for touch downs or bank
mergers or anything that we can do by simply believing in ourselves. Glory is
instead – according to Isaiah – what God withholds. Glory is the recognition
that God is God and we are not.
Now, you fans of the Westminster Confession of Faith may
be saying, “I thought that the chief end of humanity – our sole purpose – was
to glorify God and enjoy God’s presence forever.” True, but the question is not
“can we” but rather “how do we glorify God?” To that our scripture readings
seem to say, “Who better to turn to for an example other than Jesus?”
But here’s the problem. To ask that question we have to
dive headfirst into the deep waters of the divinity of Jesus. To do that it
seems like we either have to separate the man named Jesus from the trinity or
decide that God was involved in some serious cosmic narcissism.
Yet, maybe there is a third way. While the prophet Isaiah
was speaking about an ideal ruler to unite Israel, we have long since come to
understand that his words describe the character of Jesus. He was the one who
came to serve, and he was the servant of God’s own choosing. That is why Mathew
tells the story of his baptism. That’s why all four gospel accounts include the
baptism of Jesus.
Jesus was the one who received God’s Spirit in order to
bring about justice for the nations. Jesus was the one who did not come to
glorify himself but to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Jesus was the one who would
heal or remove the presence of sin and evil and say, “Tell no one,” because he
wanted them to glorify God.
Never did he back down from challenges to his testimony,
and always he moved toward the covenant of grace and mercy that God would
establish through his life and death and resurrection. And while we remember
this powerful witness, we must also remember the words of the prophet Isaiah,
who said, “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you
by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light
to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners
from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the LORD,
that is my name; my glory I give to no other.”
So, glory is God’s. Great. What does that do for us? Quite
a bit, actually. You see, because of Jesus we truly see God’s glory. Because of
Jesus we are wrapped up in the covenant God has made with all people. Because
of Jesus, we become formed and forged into a light for all nations. Because of
Jesus we can see how indiscriminately God chooses to love. God does not care
about color or nationality or where you sleep at night. God simply wants us to
recognize that we have a specific witness to share.
Maybe it would be easier if we were like Peter and the
others who could tell everyone about eating and drinking and traveling with
Jesus, but maybe not. You see I think we all have a specific witness to share
about our experience of God. We certainly have one as a congregation.
Last night our witness was to open up our fellowship hall
for shelter due to the hard freeze. And while that feels good to say, it is
also a bit like congratulating yourself for putting on pants. We have beds.
It’s dangerously cold. What else would we do? Of course we have those beds to
house volunteers that are coming to do flood repair, and that is part of our
witness, too.
The thing is, we have to realize that what we have to
share is not a metaphor or a symbol of something else. We, like the bread and
fruit of the vine, are common things used for a sacred purpose. In the breaking
of bread together, Christ is with us – truly.
We have but these two sacraments in the Presbyterian faith
– baptism and communion. In baptism we die and rise to ourselves and enter into
new life as one of God’s children. In communion we become aware of that which
we have already received – the very presence of God – and we prepare for
sacramental living.
And here’s the thing that excites me most about all of this;
last August we were doing a study on hospitality and wringing our hands about
ways to use the education building and whether we need to repair or restore or
even rebuild it. Then our community was baptized by the flood.
I don’t say that lightly. There was death and loss and
destruction, yet there has been and will be new life as well. All the things
that we talked about – housing people, feeding people, even caring for children
and the most vulnerable of our community – all of those things are happening
and have been every since our conversations about hospitality began last July.
Soon we will house volunteers through the Presbyterian
Disaster Response. Our worksite partner is Rebuilding Together Acadiana, and
they focus on the elderly, the poor, and those with special needs. Later this
month the Extra Mile will hold some parenting classes here that will be open to
the community. On January 29 we’re hosting a networking event with the
Louisiana Inner church Conference for congregations and non-profits who focus
on children in poverty. And tonight we’re opening the Fellowship Hall again as
an overflow shelter!
Now it would be ridiculously self centered and cruel to
say that God gave us these opportunities because we asked. Instead, what we
need to realize is that we have placed ourselves in a position to receive grace
upon grace because we know that God is active and present. We know that God is
moving in and through us, and we have a story to tell about what God is doing.
Of course, it doesn’t stop here. It can’t stop here. Oh we
have a lot more hand wringing to do over what we will do next, and we still
have a building to manage. We do have a brilliant witness to share together,
but each of us must also recognize where God is active and present with other
people and other places, for that is where you must draw your witness from!
Each of us has to realize that the truly powerful thing about the baptism of
Jesus is not simply to show us what to do but instead to include us in what God
is doing. For Jesus looks to you at this table and says, “You are mine. With
you I am well pleased.”
Wherever you have been, whatever you have done or left
undone, whatever has been done to you – this is the place where you can be
received by God’s own choosing. And to God be the glory, now and always. Amen!
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