Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany - Adequate Service Through Inadequate People

Welcome Statement

Good Morning Church, this week we are going to reflect on one of the earlier proclamations of Isaiah regarding the call to tell the news. This couldn’t come at a more pivotal moment. While in the past I have recalled how drastically harmful and divided news sources, people, and social media has become, it has only become extremely jumped after this last election. We keep holding our breath waiting for a break. We thought election day would have given us calm now that it was over. But it hasn’t.

That doesn’t mean hope is somehow lost for us as God’s people, on the contrary, scripture constantly proclaims a victorious message we have to continue to remind ourselves of. I have found myself lately doomscrolling, and getting way too in the weeds with things, and I realized, I needed to turn back around once again to Christ, and rely on his grace, instead of thinking all is lost.

Old Testament Reading - Isaiah 6:1-13

Isaiah 6:1–13 NRSV

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.” Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

The Unclean Becomes Clean

The unclean tongue of Isaiah becomes clean in this passage. It represents a way to describe how Prophets are anointed with God’s word. Somehow these prophets, with all of the problems they deal with as humans, find themselves able to declare God’s Holiness to the nations around them, and among their peers. It becomes interesting, because one would think human language with its problems and misunderstandings would make this difficult. Of course we know no language or word of a language can entirely encompass the nature of God, we rest in the mystery after all, that which is not yet revealed to us, but we know much thanks to human language. It does not mean that God’s word is not indwelled with God’s spirit, but that it does not contain God in the sense that he is boxed up by it. Scripture is a revelation, not a definition in that regard.

Telling The Good News at a Crossroads

Isaiah finds himself here at a crossroads with Israel . <Insert info> This pushes him to tell of all the things that Israel must prepare itself for, yet somehow, in all of this wrath, there is Good News, around Ch 40 we see the Hope through the Son of Man described. Yet here, we

Old Testament Point #3

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New Testament Reading - Luke 5:1-11

Luke 5:1–11 NRSV

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Fisher of Men

What do fishermen do? Well, We live in WV, I imagine many of you have all fished. I can’t tell you (tell story of how bad I am at fishing at)

I was listening a couple weeks ago where Jesus meets Peter and asks him 3 times to feed his sheep, saying it slightly differently each time. It’s a reaffirmation of what is proclaimed here. He is telling them that instead of fishing for food, they will fish for people. It’s like the living water, instead of always being thirsty, they will find themselves in abundance. Are we fisher of men and women today? What are we doing to respond to the noise of the world? Are we proclaiming a Good News, rejecting injustice, and declaring God’s dominion over the earth?

Or perhaps, are we sullen, allowing the depravity we find ourselves surrounded in holding us back from seeing Christ in the midst of the rubble. In our own country we see inequity rising, we see prices going up, we hope we voted the right way because the world says this is it or else when it comes to an election. People are saying I told you so, blah blah blah. That’s great and all. It’s good to be aware of current events, but are we present, in the event that occured 2000 years ago? The Resurrection?

It’s true that some days feel like Day 2 of Jesus’s death on the cross, where worry is the talk of the town, hiding, preparing, waiting for something. But we keep forgetting that piece is part of God’s plan.

New Testament Point #2

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New Testament Point #3

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Closing Statement

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Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, adfs asdfa

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!