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Sermon for Sunday, January 20, 2008
Pastor Sara Kay Olson-Smith
The Second Sunday of Epiphany
Texts: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
Grace to you and peace from our God our creator, and from Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Perhaps you, too, have felt a bit like this servant in the reading from Israel. This servant speaks out to God, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing. I’ve failed. I have no energy left to do anything else.” There are days I most certainly feel this way. There are days when I am tired, and weary, and I look around and feel as though I, too, have labored in vain. There are days, when I gather with you, people whom I have grown to love, and feel as though I’ve let you down as we work together to grow this congregation. Also, I look at the community around us, people who God so deeply loves, who are hungry, lonely and despairing, and I think, surely, we’ve failed these folks, too. Perhaps you feel this way, too. There are days when the challenges seem so big, and our resources seem so small.
It was in the midst of these prayers of lament that we get this reading from Isaiah. The book of Isaiah was written during the time of Israel’s exile, as the people of Israel were forced from their homes, their government overtaken, their cities of Judah and Jerusalem destroyed. The people of Israel were deported and forced to live under the harsh and oppressive rule of the Babylonians. It was a place and time of chaos, violence and terror. Therefore, these words throughout Isaiah were words to remind the people that God had not forgotten them, that God still had compassion for them
Our reading today comes from one of the “Servant Songs” which tell of the servant who is to come who will bring about God’s saving plan for the people. The servant speaks of his despair. “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing.” In the midst of the exile and oppression, the servant is tired and see no change coming about. The servant feels that challenges seem so big, and resources so small. But God says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to restore Israel. I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation should reach the ends of the earth.”
This word from God, spoken to the people in exile, was baffling. It was a big enough, impossible dream to believe that God would restore Israel, would bring back the remnant of Israel, would save this small community of believers. This seemed impossible enough. But God’s dreams were even bigger. “Not only will I redeem my people,” God says, “but you will be a light to all nations, my salvation will be known to all people, to the ends of the earth.” God calls the people of Israel to dream big, to trust in the big, hairy and audacious dreams of God, that not only will God save the people Israel, but all people of the world. God’s dream is bigger than we could have ever imagined!
It is crazy, don’t you think, that God is giving this servant an enormous vote of confidence, to this one who says, “I am tired and I have done nothing right.” But instead of saying, “You’re right, servant, you can’t do anything right! This is a job for someone more suited for it,” God says, “This task is too small, I have something even greater in mind for you - and for this world!”
As I read this, in the midst of my own weariness, questions and long nights awake (it is, after all, annual meeting time) I heard God say to us, “You have not failed, St. Peter’s of North Plainfield. You are faithful people. I have entrusted you with quite a task, but dream big. Dare to dream about the possibilities that lie within you. I will accomplish incredible things through you - things you could never imagine. Even in your mistakes, even when you feel like nothing is happening, even if you might someday end up having to close, I will do amazing things through you. I have big dreams for you, St. Peter’s. Trust me. You will be a light!”
I continue to learn, even in my doubt and wonder, that God’s dreams for us are bigger than we could imagine. This reading from Isaiah points to this. God names this big dream, bigger than the exiles could have imagined, bigger than we could imagine. “ You will be a light all nations, my salvation will be known to all people, to the ends of the earth.”
God had a big, hairy, audacious dream to save this whole world, a dream bigger than anything we could have ever imagined. Look at what God has done. God gave the old and barren Abraham and Sarah descendants as many as the stars in the sky. God brought the people out of slavery into the promised land. God most certainly brought the exiles home, a remnant people to rebuild the temple.
God continued to do audacious and bold things in order to bring about God’s way in the world. God came into the world as Jesus, God in human form, in order that all people might be brought back to God. Jesus came to forgive sins, to conquer death on the cross and, through his resurrection, to bring salvation to all the world. This was God’s big hairy audacious goal. But the thing is, God did not stop there. God kept dreaming big, and kept using people to accomplish this big dream. God came to a small group of people, afraid and locked in an upper room, came in wind and fire, the Holy Spirit descending upon the church, that we might be witnesses, to proclaim the good news to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit remained with them, and continues to remain with us.
God's dream is miraculous. It is bigger than we could ever imagine, but the more miraculous and crazy thing about God’s big, hairy, audacious goal to bless and love this whole world is that God has chosen people to live out this dream.
In our Gospel story, we hear how God uses people in simple ways to bring about God’s dream in our world. It starts with just one person. This time it is John, who says, “Look, that one is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Then John tells how he has seen and experienced the power of God in Jesus. This one statement acts like a sort of ripple in the pond, for John says again, “Look, there is the Lamb of God.” Then two of Jesus’ disciples start to follow him, and they ask, “Where are you staying?” Jesus says, “Come and see.” The ripples of God’s dream continue to move out, as Andrew says to Simon Peter, “Come and see.” Peter goes, and, through Jesus, is transformed, and through Peter, God changed the world.
Through these ordinary guys, the ripples of God’s dream continue and continue. Two centuries later, these ripples gather round us, a congregation named after this one who heard the simple witness of Andrew. Here we are, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, continuing to bear witness to Jesus, the Lamb of God. Here we are, ordinary people, who believe in God’s big dream to bless and love this world, and who, even in our weariness and questions, boldly dare to participate in it.
We hear in our readings today that God is up to something enormous in this world. God is using God’s people to accomplish these big dreams. This dream of God’s is bigger than we could imagine. God is on a mission to bless and love this whole world. God is moving in our lives and in the lives of our neighbors. God is up to something enormous - it is bigger than even us. Even as we, with those people of ancient Israel, struggle sometimes to believe that the ministry of this congregation could be restored to vitality, as we wonder if our dreams are too big, God says, “No way, your dreams are too small! I will do amazing things through you, more and different than you could ever imagine. My dream is to bless and love this whole world, not just St. Peter’s, not just North Plainfield, but this whole world. I have chosen you to be a part of it. Come and see Jesus, the one who will do amazing things through you, in ways you could never have imagined. Come and see this one who will empower, enlighten and use you. Come and see Jesus who, through the Holy Spirit, lives my dream in this world.”
We are called to participate with God in God’s big hairy and audacious dream to love the world. Like the ones to whom Paul wrote in Corinth - from our second reading - God has given us all we need. We are not lacking in any gift. We have been enriched. We have been strengthened. God, in Jesus, has given us what we need to be God’s people in the world.
Most importantly, we can live this dream because of Jesus, who remains with us. We can do this because we have seen Jesus, in this community, in the ways we have known miraculous and transformative love, in times of prayer, in support, in acts of service and giving beyond what we could have imagined. We have seen Jesus in this time of worship - in music, in prayer. We have seen Jesus in this meal of bread and wine, where Jesus has come to us, to dwell among us, and reside in and through us. We have seen Jesus, who, through ordinary and sometimes weary people, is bringing about God’s big, hairy and audacious dream in this world.
Thanks be to God,
Amen.
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