St. James’ Episcopal Church                                                                    Jocelyn McWhirter
Trinity Sunday
May 27, 2018
 
 
Who’s familiar with the expression, “Your God is too small?”
-          book published in 1952; written by J. B. Phillips
-          Phillips = an Anglican priest, concerned about prevailing notions of God
-          the typical English churchgoer, he thought, conceived of a small sort of God
 
He starts the book with 16 examples of Gods that are too small, such as
-          the “Resident Policeman”; essentially, the proddings of our conscience . . .
-          the “Perennial Grievance”; the God who doesn’t make things go my way
-          the “Parental Hangover”; just like mom or dad; indulgent, tyrranical, negligent
-          the “Projected Image”; “a magnification of our own good qualities”
 
If Phillips had been writing today, he might have included a concept of God that’s quite popular, especially among young people: God as karma.
-          if we’re a good person, then things will go well for us and we’ll go to heaven
 
Who, asks Phillips, who can worship such Gods? The real God, he says, is bigger than our conscience, our life’s disappointments, our image of our parents, our image of ourselves, or our sense of just deserts for being good. The real God is worthy of worship.
 
In today’s Old Testament Isaiah sees a big God.
-          the setting for his vision is God’s temple in Jerusalem
-          a temple = a house for a god → the Holy of Holies, separated by a curtain
-          kind of like our sanctuary only bigger, with a space for the people, a space for the priests to offer sacrifices on an altar, and an eternal flame before an inner sanctuary to represent God’s presence
-          for ancient Israelites, a model of the universe, with human activity on earth and the divine realm in the heavens, separated by the sky
 
In Isaiah’s vision, the curtain falls away and Isaiah sees the Lord.
-          in the image of the biggest person possible – a king
-          God in God’s house appears as a king in his throne room
-          high and exalted, and taking up all the available space <v. 1>
-          like all kings, God has attendants – other-worldly attendants
-          seraphs = winged cobras
-          they cover their faces to protect themselves from God’s radiance
-          their job = to proclaim God’s holiness and God’s glory <v. 3>
-          this God is so big and so powerful, the temple can hardly contain him
-          the doors are shaking off their hinges; the interior is filled with smoke
-          and Isaiah is overwhelmed by his own smallness and inadequacy
 
 
Does Isaiah’s vision of God work for us?
Is Isaiah’s God big enough for Americans living in the 21st century?
-          if we were to experience it, we would surely think so
-          but without the experience, we might not easily relate to some of the details
 
For example, when we think “big,” we don’t usually think “king.”
-          we live in a democracy
-          in our experience, kings are more likely to be seen on chess boards and card tables than in throne rooms
-          unless you were watching the royal wedding, with all the big royal pageantry
-          until you remember that the royal family is more often seen in the tabloids
 
Also, we don’t necessarily share Isaiah’s concept of God’s place in the universe.
-          we don’t think in terms of us on earth/sky/God in the heavens
-          we think more in terms of us on our planet, which is one of many planets in many solar systems in many galaxies in a vast universe
-          How vast? I recently read that astronomers are observing a collision of 17 galaxies located 12.4 billion light-years away.
-          that’s about 730 trillion miles
-          How far have we gone? To the moon, about 240 K miles . . . vs. 730 T
 
If when we think “big,” we think “universe,” well, it’s a really big universe.
-          so big, we can barely imagine how big
-          and if God created the universe, it’s not that God is bigger than the universe
-          it’s that God exists outside the universe; outside of space and time
-          we can barely imagine that, either, because space and time is all we know
-          This God is not too small. This God is so big that bigness, which is a concept related to space, doesn’t even apply to God.
 
If J. B. Phillips were here this morning, he might be telling me, “Your God is too big.”
To which I’d reply, “Let me finish.”
-          because for God, “big” doesn’t mean “inaccessible.” It means just the opposite.
-          For one thing, God is our creator.
-          God is the source of everything that sustains our lives
-          “In God we live and move and have our being.”
-          and God makes himself known to us
-          in the words of the prophets; in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
-          in our new life in Christ; and through the Holy Spirit who guides us, who calms our fears, who assures us that we are indeed God’s own children and heirs of eternal life
 
Where does this leave us?
-          with a sense of our own smallness and inadequacy, yes
-          but also with a sense of gratitude, trust, and reliance on God, no matter what
 
Because God is that big.
​

May 20, 2018      Day of Pentecost / Whitsunday
Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
 
The Spirit is presented successively as helper, interpreter, witness, prosecutor and revealer
                                                                                                                                               
 
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen.  Psalm 19:14
 
·        Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost
·        Advent, Christmas, Epiphany
o   Incarnation – God in the flesh in Jesus Christ
o   Crucifixion, Resurrection & Ascension to the Father
·        The Farewell Discourse – Jesus teaching his disciples at the time of the Last Supper
·        Jesus promises that he will ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit as
o   Advocate / Helper : God is Love, Jesus in God, Great Commandment to love each other, friendship  John 14:15-17
o   Interpreter: help us to remember and understand what Jesus has taught; story from seminary of Cross “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” John 14:25-26
o   Witness: to the Father and the Son – John 15:26
o   Prosecutor: Helper to the believer but prosecutor for the unbeliever, unbelief is sin, those who did not believe that Jesus was the son of God and did the work of God are proven wrong, they arrested and crucified Jesus, but Jesus was proven correct when God raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus ascended to heaven with the Father – John 16:4b-11
o   Revealer: As Jesus revealed the truth of God, the Spirit continues to reveal the truth of Jesus Christ and God
·        Summarize:  The Spirit is presented successively as helper, interpreter, witness, prosecutor and revealer.

​May 6, 2018        Easter 6
Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17
 
Love each other!
Love and Obedience
                                                                                                                                               
 
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen.  Psalm 19:14
 
Alleluia. Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
 
Spring has finally sprung.  It is amazing how a little warm rain turns everything green overnight.  Albion is beautiful with flowering trees.  I pass by orchards and vineyards on my way to Albion.  I have been watching the farmers or vinedressers pruning their grapevines for several months.  It seems to be a slow exacting process to cut away the dead, unproductive branches and to prune the productive branches in preparation for this year’s yield.  It is easy to see a well maintained vineyard and one that has been neglected or abandoned.
I find it difficult to prune and trim as important as I know it is.  It is so hard to nip back a chrysanthemum even though I know that it will be fuller and have more flowers if I do.  Dr. Trisha Franzen was saying the same thing a couple weeks ago at the Albion Community Gardens on Jefferson Street where she was pruning the fruit trees.  It is hard to cut away healthy branches even when you know it is for the health of the tree and future fruit.  One does have to be careful in pruning and trimming, accidents can happen as I found out nine stitches later as I was pruning my forsythia bush a few years ago.
Our Gospel readings are currently from what is known as the Farewell Discourse in the Gospel according to John.  The setting is an intimate dinner party for Jesus and his closest disciples or what we have come to know as the Last Supper, a time of teaching and companionship before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.  Jesus is teaching his disciples what it means to be his disciples, followers of the Messiah.  He has washed their feet to teach that their role is one of servanthood.  There will be no fancy palace or clothes.  Jesus’ way is not one of power, might or violence.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, the one sure path to the Father, to God.  Jesus teaches the importance of obedience and love.  God loves Jesus.  Jesus loves God.  God loves Jesus.  Jesus loves his disciples and commands that they love one another just as Jesus has loved them.  Jesus has been obedient to God’s commandment and now asks his disciples to be obedient to his commandment: “Love each other as I have loved you.”
God is in Jesus and Jesus is in God.  Jesus assures Thomas and Philip that as they have seen Jesus so they have seen the Father.  This is all very circular and makes the head spin, but Jesus promises his disciples that if they love one another then they too are part of this circle of love.  God is in Jesus and Jesus is in God.  Jesus is in the disciples and the disciples are in Jesus.  God loves Jesus, Jesus loves the disciples and the disciples are to love one another.  If the disciples accept Jesus’ command to love each other then Jesus is with the disciples and God is with the disciples, the disciples are with Jesus and the disciples are with God.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  Jesus’ job is to love God’s people, to heal the sick, to reach out to the marginalized, to reveal God to his people, to obey God’s commandment even to death on a cross.
John tries to explain what it means to abide in God’s love.  The Old Testament teaches that the vine is Israel and God is the vinedresser, but Jesus claims the vine as himself and the disciples as the branches of the vine.  God is the vinedresser or the farmer who maintains the vine to maximize its productivity of an abundance of fruit.  When we cut a branch off of a grapevine or an apple tree that branch will wither and die.  It can no longer produce a bunch of grapes or an apple.  The branch must be attached to the vine or the tree which is the source of water and nutrients for survival and the production of fruit.  In the same way we are the branches of the vine.  If we are cut off from Jesus then we will wither and die and will not be good for anything other than to be thrown on the fire and burned.  We must remain in the love of God and of Jesus in order to be fruitful, to be healthy and strong.
In our Adult Formation Class we have been studying Willis Johnson’s book “Holding Up Your Corner”.  The key learning is that we should engage with our surroundings so that we can see when something is not right, or “righteous”, can affirm those suffering the injustice and can act to correct the situation or in the words of Pastor Johnson, “Acknowledge, Affirm & Act”.  Imagine what it would be like if each of us was to love all those in whose presence we are.  Whether with our families, our friends, the church, the grocery store, at work Jesus asks us to obey his commandment to love each other.  Amen.