A sense of awe….              

It was last October that I welcomed the Revd James Afele to the Synod.  James is a Presbyterian minister from Ghana, and was here on a return trip follow my visit to his church in the spring of 2005.

I felt that whilst a visit to the suburbs of Sheffield and Leeds had its merits a visit to York Minster ought to figure fairly high on his agenda; and so James and I were welcomed as Guests at the Minster by one of the Canons and given a brief and informal tour of that wonderful building. 

It was his first time to York, and I can say without any hesitation that he stood in wonder, amazement and awe as he looked down the vast nave to the great window at the end and contemplated the vaulted roof and the huge columns. 

But you may know already.  You can see it ever you go into York.  Indeed you have been there so often that you now take that wonderful building for granted.

But we are prone to that, we very quickly take for granted our human achievements, endeavours and even our aspirations.  We take for granted our ability to build what we want from cathedral churches to Humber Bridges, our endeavours to go where we will, to the far reaches of the earth or colonise the stars, our aspirations to grow new human parts, and prolong life indefinitely.

Of course, just when we think we have got it all sorted out, creation bites back, with tsunamis, hurricanes, droughts or even floods.   And for a moment anyway we are put in our place.  We are not as significant as we thought as nature simply rolls over us.

That sense of awe is found time and again in scripture, the ability to stand in amazement.  But not to roll over us leaving us terrified and condemned by our own frailty, but rather to transform us, embolden us, empower us. 

For almost without exception that sense of awe is about us recognising our creator God and our place in that wonderful creation.

The story of Isaiah’s call is, like much of scripture, a bit too familiar.  Yet it contains the essential elements of what God is trying to do.  A sense of awe coupled with a sense of call.

The story from Isaiah is set at a time of great change.  “In the year that king Uzziah died….”   The king has died and change is in the air, the people will need God’s grace as they face an uncertain future. 

And as so often happens in these moments the spirit of God works through the events to draw people’s attention to God’s will, his place in their lives and his purpose for his people.

That sense of awe is crucial for it is the starting point for this relationship and this venture.  A sense of awe is crucial not least because God has taken the initiative, and the sense of call and mission that ensues, flows directly out of an understanding of who God is, and his relationship to and with the world.

This passage works hard to create a sense of “otherness” in God so that the readers might see the importance and significance and power of what is unfolding the call of God to the great prophet Isaiah.

This is the God upon whom we and all creation depend for our sustenance; the God who is supreme, sovereign over all; the God who has taken the initiative and spoken; who alone can make us fit for his service.  “Your guilt it taken away and your sin forgive.”

But there is also moral value about all of this, over and above the inspirational.  This is a God who is consistent and reliable in his dealings with us.  This is a God of justice and love, and who displays those characteristics day in and day out, in good times and in bad.  And most importantly of all, then calls upon his people to live by those same principles, in their own lives and in their dealings with others.  No wonder there is a sense of inadequacy by Isaiah. 

But central to all of that is the belief that this is also about the transforming power of God’s holy presence, whose cleansing power not only makes people whole again, but by that very act enables them to hear God’s word and call, and to speak God’s word and call. 

From “woe is me for I am lost” to “Here am I, send me!”  

From that sense of awe comes the power to “bear” God’s word in our own lives, and take that word to the world.  To live out the reality of that relationship in our relationship with others.

Now contrast and compare that, if you will, with the second reading. 

The scene by the lakeside is equally familiar.  But as with Isaiah whose encounter with God was about more than his call to go out in God’s name; so this story is about more than a great catch of fish. 

And even though it follows a familiar pattern; Jesus senses a human needs (the frustration of a nights fishing and nothing to show for it), Jesus response to that needs (cast the nets on the other side) the sense of awe (depart from me Lord) and then puzzlement over Jesus identity; it leads on to a more significant encounter and challenge (follow me and catch men).

Of course the miracle of the great catch raises many questions; apart from the question as to how he did it. 

Why suggest something they had tried already and were tired of trying, and why such abundance that the boat was threatened with sinking?

Yet each of those questions, in its own way, points to something deeper.  Peter’s obedience to try again, when he might have said “We had had it up to here, and what do you (Jesus) think you know about fishing anyway?”  is a significant moment in the story.  Indeed without it there would be no story. 

Even what might appear to be ridiculous instructions can bear fruit.

The very abundance of the catch that threatens to sink the boat is part of the story.   Peter did not ask for help, but what he got as a result of his obedience was beyond expectations, even beyond anything he might have achieved by his own efforts.

God is never mean in his dealings with us.

So there be the lakeside they left everything, for suddenly the place of their valued possessions, the tools of their trade, the means by which they earned their living, are no longer the most important things in their lives, so much so that they can walk away from them.

And that sense of awe, their sense of frailty in the face of such power is matched only by the need for grace and forgiveness and a true sense of humility.

These two stories have two things to tell us.

The first is in many ways negative. 

And it begins with the reminder that, to a large extent, we have lost our sense of awe, we have seen so much, that little causes us to gasp with wonder and amazement.  And if that is not bad enough, with it has gone any sense of the “otherness” of God, who has been reduced to little more than another option from which we can chose.  One on a list of options as to what we can believe.  Another of the take-it or leave-it choices we can make today. 

And out of that there comes a lack of any sense of obedience.  Instead our human rights and our freedoms to choose who we are and what we do, is more important than anything else.  Where human rights have come to mean the liberty to do anything I like, rather than any sense of mutual care and responsibility towards and with my fellow beings.  

But above all else these stories raise questions as to whether or not we still value our relationship with the creator God.

We have thrown a few babies out with a few tubs of bathwater.

But there is a positive side to these stories too.  

Not least the reassuring fact that we are still dealing with a God who has not given up on us.  The same God that held Isaiah in awe and had Peter filled with amazement has the potential to touch us and challenge us too. 

The same God who has not changed does not expect less of us than he expected of them, that out of obedience and humility can grow the seeds of discipleship.

The same God who took the initiative through Isaiah’s vision in the temple and in the incarnate Christ by the lakeside, still takes initiatives with us when we least expect it. 

The same God who called both Isaiah and Peter calls us into his service and is still challenging and sustaining those whom he calls.  The same God is still seeking to open our hearts to his word that we may not only hear it for ourselves but be empowered to speak that word too. 

A word which is still a word of justice and love, of peace and reconciliation, a word for good times and bad times, a word for every generation.

So that like Peter we too can be challenged to consider what is important to us and what we can leave behind.  Maybe we too can let go of the very things that have until now been our very means of life, and instead learn to trust God to provide what we will need for the challenge ahead.

The call and the challenge to hold onto our sense of awe and wonder has not gone away with the passing years.  The call to hold onto that obedience, and have the sense of abundance of God’s grace, remains at the heart of our life of faith.  The call to sense that our own frailty matched only by God’s grace, forgiveness and love, is all we have and all we need.

The call is to put our trust, not in the things we think are important, but in the God who came in Christ that we might have life.

“Here I am Lord send me.” (Isaiah)   

“Depart from the Lord I am a sinful man.” (Luke)

Do not be afraid, (says God) but go and speak to these people.

Just look where a sense of awe can lead you through God’s eternal grace and love.

Amen