Knox Presbyterian Church

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New Testament Reading: Ephesians 4:4-6
4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Sermon: Rev. Paul Seebeck "A Holy Mystery"

This morning as we continue our fall series on integrity I’d like to by asking to consider the following statement found on the front of your bulletin covers: integrity – wholeness, completeness, living and undivided life begins with an encounter into mystery. I believe this is what Paul is trying to communicate to the early church and to each of us. Our lives with God at the center begin – from a scriptural perspective – when we say yes to our encounter with mystery – that time and again ask to us to hear and see with new eyes and ears that we are one with God through Jesus Christ, and as a result one with each other!

I’d like to acknowledge at the start of this message that Presbyterian Minister Steve Doughty has impacted by thinking on this for this particular series. He’s written a wonderful little book called To Walk in Integrity: Spiritual Leadership in Times of Crisis. Published by Upper Room Books in 2004, it has been a treasure of wisdom for me as we continue to grow together in the grace of Jesus Christ in our ministry together here at Knox.

Steve tells a story of a meeting he had with fifteen lay leaders and two pastors on a church governing board who faced an immensely divisive situation – they were in crisis mode. They invited Steve in case they needed a referee. Steve says he sat in the room that night and never got called on – imagine that for a moment this is my sports mind at work now but imagine a football game between say Washington and Washington State where you had referees, but you never needed them. Steve was in awe of what he saw that night –eternally gratefully for what he witnessed.

The group began its meeting as they always did with prayer and time for one of their lay leaders to share her faith journey. The woman whose turn it was talked for forty-five minutes. Can you imagine, sitting in that room, knowing that this divisive issue was on the docket, and this woman is going on about her faith journey? Yet not one person fidgeted or checked their cell phones or watches. The entire group hung on every word, every struggle, every honest and agonizing question, and every affirmation. They were in the presence of something holy and they knew it, Steve says “in the fullest sense of the word they bowed.”

After the woman finished the group prayed again. Then in the next forty-five minutes, with great honest, they dealt with the divisive issue. When they finished, they didn’t all agree, but they had come together at a deeper level across their differences, and it was more enduring than anything an outside referee might have fashioned.

Scripture is full of stories of these kind of encounters with this kind of Holy mystery that turns us as human beings around towards God at the center so that we can move forward with confidence in the midst of our ever changing circumstances, that often is or at least can feel like crisis. Isn’t that a great image? I have Lola Reams to thank for that one! She was giving some constructive feedback last week, she’d written in the margins in her bulletin, “but I don’t want to turn back, I want to move forward.” It was her reaction to a phrase I’ve been using in this series, of how in moments of crisis we should turn back to God – what I was trying to communicate there was that there is a moment of turning around “back to” – if you will—God at the center, where the divine presence has always been. But I think this language is much more accurate of what happens, we do turn around yes, in our encounters with this holy mystery, so that we can move forward, not backwards to what was, but forward to what is! So thank you Lola for that conversation, and thank God that we experience the word coming alive together not in a vacuum – but in a community of faith.
So here are some examples in scripture of women and men encountering Holy Mystery that allows them to do this, to move towards wholeness and completeness, towards living an undivided life.
Mary: The angel Gabriel comes to her and says “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” What is Mary’s first response to this encounter with this mysterious, holy greeting? Fear. But she doesn’t retreat, because she is at some level caught up in the wonder of it all. Then God through the angel Gabriel speaks to her fear and her questions with some of the greatest words ever uttered in scripture “You have found favor with God!” And when Mary’s doubt creeps in, “How can this be?” – the response is equally profound and beautiful, “Nothing is impossible with God.”

So let me ask you some questions – what is it that keeps you from moving forward with God at the center of your life into personal wholeness and completeness? What are the fears – or doubt – that keeps you from capturing the wonder of it all — That God is with you in all of the seeming impossibilities?

I’d like to linger in these questions for a moment, for we could ask the same things about our communal life together here at Knox. What keeps us from moving forward into all of the wonder that God has in store for us? What is our fear? Do our doubts keep us from encountering the wonder of this holy mystery – that God is with us leading us in all of those things that we label “impossible” in the midst of our changing circumstances and challenges?

Peter: Then there’s the story of Peter’s encounter with holy mystery. After fishing all night and catching nothing Jesus calls his name saying, ‘Peter put out your nets into the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” At some level Peter is incredulous, “Jesus we’ve been at it all night, haven’t caught anything.” Yet something shifts deep inside of Peter – he’s seen enough of Jesus to take a giant step forward, “Because you say so, I will let down my nets.”
Was this a simple act of obedience, or was it more complicated by the mystery of it all? Peter’s response when the nets become so full that they begin to break indicate that while he was moving forward he really didn’t expect much even though he was moving towards God.

When Peter sees – great word isn’t it? – When he sees beyond the limitations of his own impossibilities “there are no fish, we have caught nothing” he falls down before Jesus, recognizing the difference between his own humanity that is divided and incomplete versus the wholeness and completeness of Jesus who is living an undivided life with God – divine nature – at the center of Christ’s human experience.

Then something astonishing happens, Jesus says to Peter now that you know your limitations “do not be afraid” but get up and follow me! Isn’t it great to know that when we find the courage to move forward – even if we can’t fully grasp what is in store for us — God is waiting in each of our steps to show us more of the wonder that the divine spirit is present with us?

Moses: In his encounter with the mystery of the presence of God, Moses sees a bush burning that doesn’t go out. As he approaches it he hears his name being called “Moses, Moses.” At this point in his encounter with holy mystery Moses is open enough to respond with three of the greatest words of human faith: “Here I am.” Then Moses hears these words that cause him to want to move away, “You are standing on holy ground, I am the God of your Father, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Now Moses is afraid – his first respond is to hide his face because he doesn’t dare look at God that is present with him in his human, physical existence in the moment.

These are just three of countless examples in scripture of men and women encountering the mystery of the presence of God. Notice the patterns of similar behavior in the human response to holy mystery:
• There is both a sense of fear at the unknown
• A sense of wonder at the possibilities
• Doubt and a sense of self unworthiness,
• But always movement through that fear and doubt
• Because of captivation with this holy mystery

What happens to Mary, Peter, and Moses in their willingness to move into the heart of the mystery is instructive for us. As Steve Doughty points out in each of their faithful responses is a “yes” “a letting go” “a yielding to a whole new way.” As psychiatrist Gerald May author of a book entitled “The Connection between Darkness and Spiritual Growth” says “It is not for us as humans to use the power of mystery but for us to be used by it. We do not embrace it in our arms, it embraces us. We do not capture it, but are captured by it. So it is that Mary gives birth to Jesus, Peter becomes the spokesperson for the early church, Moses leads God’s suffering people out of slavery.

This is a characteristic of people of integrity, seized by the wonder of the mystery of sensing God’s presence they move forward giving themselves fully what lies in front of them in each step of this journey – into wholeness and completeness – life without divisions.

This is what I believe Paul was trying to communicate to the early church, which is at the heart of the message of Jesus – God is with you in oneness in divine spirit with Jesus, this is the one hope for all of humanity – there is one Lord, and one faith, [God love isn’t just for Jews is what Jesus a Jewish man told the religious authorities of his day]. Rather this one God is loving creator of all of humanity, who restores us by being in, around and beyond us, captivating us as we move towards God at the center of our being and all things.

I’d like to end this message by going forward to the beginning of worship – please go there now in our bulletins to the Call to Worship. I wrote these words from Psalm 19 on Wednesday night, I’m memorized them as child, and somehow they spoke to me again – the heavens declare he glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of divine hands and now say with me Day after Day they pour fourth speech, Night after Night they display knowledge.

Thursday morning I woke up early for may daily human ritual of taking our dog Tia for a walk through the flower garden, and then into Manito Park where she chases squirrels – usually it’s early enough where there is no one else around. As all of this was happening I suddenly became aware of the beauty around me – have you seen green grass recently? How about the wonder of trees in the late summer that are coming to grips with the first chill that is enveloping around them? Then I heard these words again There is no speech or language where their voice is not hear, say the next lines with me, Their voice goes out into all the earth, Their words to the end of the world.

Isn’t that remarkable? God is with you, in you, beyond you connecting you to oneness. God is with me, in me, beyond me, connecting me to oneness. God is with us, in us, beyond us connecting us to oneness. May we get caught up enough in this wonder to take a giant step forward moving saying yes, letting go, yielding to this new way, beyond our impossibilities into the wholeness and completeness. May God capture you with divine vision for your life, for our lives together in this place.
And now say with me
We are part of one body,
One Spirit,
One hope,
One Lord,
One God of all, above all, through all, in all. Amen