I had the great privilege of welcoming two year 5 and 6 from one of our local Primary Schools into the church today. They were full of curiosity and questions, and were quite fascinated by our relatively modern building, but more fascinated by the stories that lie behind some of our practices such as the story of the Last Supper and of Jesus baptism.
They wanted to know why we had an empty cross on the wall rather than a crucifix like the ones they had seen at both the Anglican and Catholic churches in the village...
They wanted to know why we have a table and not an altar...
... and why we use real bread and not wafers...
...and of course why our wine wasn't real...
They wanted to know if the water in the font was special, and whether they could put their fingers in it...
...they wanted to know if we sang the same hymns and said the same prayers as the other churches, and whether God minds that churches do things in different ways...
Children are great at stretching your theology; and that last question got me thinking, I hope my answer made some sense. I told them that each of us had a slightly different view of who God was, and that sometimes people understand the stories from the Bible in different ways, but that the truth is that each of us sees and understands only a part of who God is, but my hope is that one day we would see and understand more clearly, and that I think we are all in for some surprises!
When I got home I took a fresh look at this weeks lectionary readings and the reading from Isaiah 6: 1-13 struck me afresh; God is so vast and so glorious that just the train or hem of his robe is enough to fill the temple with unimaginable glory! Add to this picture the fearsome and magnificent angels ( not chubby cherubs) flying back and forth proclaiming God's greatness and it is perhaps easy to see why Isaiah felt that he should have been struck dead, and was certainly struck dumb.
I wonder sometimes if in our rush to explain things to others that we reduce our vision of God sometimes, that we forget his glorious complexity, and his utter uncontainability- his ways are so much higher than ours, as are his thoughts (Isaiah 55), not only that but even his thoughts towards us out number the grains of sand upon the sea shore ( Psalm 139)...
What if we have caught merely a glimpse of who God is, what if we have only caught a glimpse of the hem of his robe? Yes he has revealed himself to us in Christ, but there are depths and glories in Christ's teaching that I have only scratched the surface of...
Like Isaiah I find myself crying "woe is me, I am lost, and like Isaiah I find that God does not wipe me out, but rather charges me with following him and proclaiming his word, it is God who purifies me, who cleanses me and calls me to follow...
...could it be that as he turns to lead me forward that I will catch within the hem of his robe a glimpse of colours and depths that I have not encountered yet?
I have run out of words... perhaps that is a good thing!
I'll leave you with the lyrics from Chris Rice song Wind and Spirit:
I hear a sound and turn to see a new direction on that rusty weather vane
Suddenly the dead brown leaves are stirred to scratch their circle
dances down the lane
And now the sturdy oaks start clappin’ with the last few stubborn leaves
that won’t let go
I can hear Old Glory snappin’ and her tattered rope now clangin’ against
the pole
And my breath is snatched away
And a tear comes to my eye
Feels like somethin’s on the way so I look up to the sky, I look up to
the sky and...
From the corners of creation
Comes the Father’s holy breath
Ridin’ on a storm with tender fierceness
Stirring my soul to holiness
Stirring my soul to holiness
I see the lifeless dust now resurrected, swirling up against my window
pane
And carried ‘cross the distance comes the long awaited fragrances of
earth and rain
And out across the amber field the slender grasses bend and bow and kiss
the ground
And in them I see the beauty of the soul’s who let the Spirit lay them
down
And it takes my breath away
And a tear comes to my eye
Feels like somethin’s on the way, so I look up to the sky, I look up to
the sky and...
From the corners of creation
Comes the Father’s holy breath
Ridin’ on a storm with tender fierceness
Stirring my soul to holiness
Stirring my soul to holiness
And like a mighty wind blows with a force I cannot see
I will open wide my wings, I will open wide my wings
I will open wide my wings and let the Spirit carry me
From the corners of creation
Comes the Father’s holy breath
Ridin’ on a storm with tender fierceness
Stirring my soul to holiness
Stirring my soul to holiness...
My prayer;
Come Holy Spirit, give me a fresh glimpse of the glory of God, stir my soul to holiness....
Picture from The Hubble Space Telescope
