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"I Had to Know God for Myself"February 07, 2010 Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany Listen to part one of this sermon. Listen to part two of this sermon. According to the Pew Forum, 49% of the U.S. public claims to have had a religious or mystical experience, defined as a "moment of sudden religious insight or awakening." This statistic surprised me even though in the quiet of my office I often hear about such things. Still, half of those polled said they had experienced a sudden religious insight or awakening which, upon first reading struck me as quite a lot of spiritual activity out and about in our land. To prime the pump I'll tell you now that I'll be raising my hand. Of course, you might think that doesn't count. But if the poll holds true and you reveal the truth about your experience, we could expect at least half the congregation will lift a hand. And further speculating here, since we're gathered within in a church glistening with sparkling mosaics we might predict that more than 50% of hands would go up, unless the embarrassment factor kicks in. I'm certain that if we were to unpack everyone's experience we'd have a very large and interesting array of stories to tell. I know that's the case given the sampling I've heard in my office and over lunch. Spiritual experience has made quite a comeback from out of the wreckage of modernism and militant secularism. Contrary to the patterns of the last half of the 20th century, we now seem to be moving into a time of much greater acceptance of matters of transcendent, spiritual concern, even if there's less certainty around traditional religious forms and hierarchies. Poll after poll are accumulating the evidence for this. I think this situates a place like Christ Church quite strategically in our cultural moment, in such a fantastic, multicultural, world-class city like New York. And I think we have an opportunity to recover the dynamism of our ancient scriptures that had suffered some calcification through a deadly combination of two-dimensional churchy, stuffy, sentimentalized and manipulative patterns of interpretation. For instance, in today's readings we have three references to profound, life-changing spiritual events in the lives of three different people spanning hundreds of years. Isaiah is thunderstruck by glory while worshipping in the temple. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts," he hears; "the whole earth is full of his glory." Paul references how he encountered the living God, even he, the least of the apostles, even unfit to be called an apostle because he persecuted the church, but his holy encounter turned him inside out. And Peter, the professional fisherman who, in today's story had fruitlessly put out hard effort for many hours - as he said, "Master we have worked all night long but have caught nothing" - Peter wound up falling to his knees in stupefaction after his meeting Jesus on the shore who had told him to cast his nets into the deep water. Each of these short vignettes tell of life-changing spiritual encounter with transcendent truth. Though the language and cultural contexts span millennia, they nevertheless speak to what seems to be authentic human experience of the mystery that lies beyond our material senses. They address the matters that seem most important concerning how we ought to organize and understand our lives and the resources that are present to us by virtue of our relationship with the One who knit us together in our mothers' wombs and to whom we shall one day return. It's in a place like this where we learn that no material accomplishment is a guarantee of a fulfilled life, but more importantly, no material failure prevents a fulfilled life. The spiritual giants have always taught that the emptiness we sense at our core can only be filled by launching out into the deep, letting down our nets, casting our fate into the depths of God. This leap into faith is our deepest, most natural and passionate response to our being born and having to die. This is the primary religious movement and lies at the heart of all authentic worship. Really, this is our most important task - launching out into the deep, taking the plunge, as it were, with God. Everyday language falters here. That's why we engage in ritual activity, why we use art and beauty to help make the translations between the heart, the mind and the soul, why our forebears invested so much in this space and why we value excellent, inspiring music, why we teach this language to our children. We need multiple languages to speak to this deep human need. Even if you didn't raise your hand earlier, I bet you've sensed the yawning maw of the Great Mystery. Maybe you didn't know quite what to call it, but here you are addressing yourselves to God. And I wonder if we expect holy encounter. Martin Luther King, Jr. was thrust into civil rights leadership in Montgomery, Alabama after Rosa Parks had made her decision not to move to the back of the bus. The community formed a new organization to lead a bus boycott and chose as a compromise candidate the new minister in town, King, who was then just 26 years old. All you twenty and thirty somethings take note - not to mention all you forty, fifty and sixty somethings…. As soon as King's leadership was announced, the threat from the Ku Klux Klan and the harassment of the police began. He was arrested for going 30 MPH in a 25 MPH zone and thrown in jail. Afterwards, late at night he wondered if he should resign. The phone rang, employing the notorious "N" word the voice said, "We're tired of you and your mess now. And if you aren't out of this town in 3 days we're going to blow your brains out, and blow up your house." King tells of sitting staring at an untouched cup of coffee trying to think of a way out. In the next room lay his wife already asleep along with their newborn daughter. Here's how he remembers it: "And I sat at the table thinking about that little girl and thinking about the fact that she could be taken away from me at any minute. And I started thinking about the dedicated devoted wife, who was over there asleep…And I got to the point that I couldn't take it anymore. I was weak… “And I discovered then that religion had to become real to me, and I had to know God for myself. And I bowed down over that cup of coffee. I never will forget it…I prayed out loud that night. I said, 'Lord, I'm down here trying to do what's right. I think I'm right. But Lord, I must confess that I'm weak now, I'm faltering. I'm losing courage. "'And it seemed at that moment that I could hear an inner voice saying to me, Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world….I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No never alone. Never alone. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.'" Religion had to become real to me, and I had to know God for myself… That was the moment Martin Luther King, Jr. launched out into the deep. Perhaps in a manner like Peter at the lakeshore, he had toiled all the day and had caught nothing. He heard God's voice say, "Try it again, only this time, go way out to the deep water. Let down your net there." To know God for oneself is to launch out into the deep. We're all invited there and there's no special time to receive the invitation. Peter and his friends heard this while engaged in their mundane work. Martin King's story is dramatic in its context, but the fundamental issue is the same. Millennia before, Isaiah heard God's voice causing him to proclaim, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips." God cleansed and held him still and sent him out as a powerful witness for righteousness and truth. Religion had to become real to me…I had to know God for myself. I have toiled the whole night and taken nothing. And Jesus says, Put out into the deep water, let down your nets there. And the seraphs called to one another, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of God's glory….." Previous sermon: The Greatest of These Is Love • Next sermon: The Brilliance Before Us All past sermons |
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