The Moment Of Celebration
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle B
It is a known fact that most people like a party. However, strange as it might seem, most of the people don't want to be the center of attraction. Likewise, many adults, when presented with a thoughtful gift, often exclaim, "You shouldn't have!" Children, on the other hand, seem to enjoy the party whether it is theirs or someone else's party. Children relish the notion of celebration. They never say that they shouldn't have received a gift and they tear it open before they read the card!
Celebration is not an orgy of indulgence, but an occasion of honor, a time of refraining from ordinary tasks, a time to observe a notable occasion with festivities, a time of uplift. The person for whom the celebration is called is an honored person, and the people attending are also honored to be there.
Chapters 24 through 27 of Isaiah are sometimes known as the "Isaiah Apocalypse"; that is to say an Isaiah version of what the prophet says God is revealing to humankind; a revelation from God. The vignette we read today is a description of an eschatological banquet; a great celebratory banquet at the end of time, a feast hosted by the Lord of Creation, to which all peoples of the world are invited and which is held at a holy place, the mountain of the Lord: the place where God dwells, Mount Zion, the city of God.
We might think that, unlike us, Isaiah did not have any of the threats under which we live: AIDS, nuclear war, high rates of marital distress, and personal illness. Such was not the case. His country lived under the reality of the destruction by the Babylonians, exile, famine, high infant mortality, personal illness, and low life expectancy. Isaiah's litany of the banquet of joy means all the more if we remember that it was conceived and born in time of peril, anguish, and fear.
In our constant quest to make "the word of God" available and accessible to all people, we find that Isaiah was not a small provincial thinker with tunnel vision. Isaiah's description of this heavenly feast of celebration was one of a vast inclusion for all people. "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear" (v. 6).
Do we ever consider why we celebrate? Why do we celebrate the sacraments, Easter, Christmas, thanksgiving, birthdays, baptisms, marriages, anniversaries, retirements, and all kinds of occasions? Do we party just to party? Do we celebrate just to feel good, just for its own sake?
According to verse 7, the answer is, "No." According to verse 7, there is more to the party than the party. According to verse 7, there is a significance to the celebration that is beyond the celebration itself: "And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever" (v. 7).
Isaiah is telling us that there is more to that moment of celebration than that which meets our eye or our understanding. The prophet is telling us that something else is going on: this rich feast of celebration is precipitating an action of God; the blessing of this divine banquet given to the guests by the host is the destruction of "the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever."
The moment of divine celebration at this banquet of banquets is also the destruction of death: the elimination of our greatest fear, the calming of our worst anxiety, the healing of our worst nightmare, the destruction of the greatest obstacle to our growth and freedom.
The moment of divine celebration is one where all our veils are removed, all of the things that enslave us are lifted. This banquet is a supreme act of love and compassion by God on behalf of God's beloved: "Then the Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken" (v. 8).
God is personally embracing each of us like a loving parent and offering unconditional, unqualified, totally compassionate, grief healing, forgiving, redemptive acceptance.
And our response to the transforming, restorative joy of this event: "It will be said on that day, 'Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.' "
We are not to say for this magnanimous, magnificent gift, "O God, you shouldn't have!"
How can God love you without making you occasionally, the center of attention?
This is the God whom we loved, and he did come and love as he promised and as we expected, and we are now both together, and we have been saved by the Savior.
Hallelujah!
We need all the moments of celebration we can get. Friends, we need celebrations in our lives, because those very moments of celebration define our lives: the moments of celebration alter our course and set our coordinates in new directions, the moments of celebration give us energy to go on, the moments of celebration renew our lives, these moments nourish our lives and bring us back from exile, and the moments of celebration give us rest -- they cause us to stop, pause, and gain insight as to who we are and where we are going.
Without the moments of celebration we are just "busy" all of the time without thinking about who we are and where we are going. Every time you and I have an opportunity to go to a celebration, we need to go and feed on that moment of celebration for the betterment of our lives.
Every time we worship, we celebrate our kinship with God. That experience serves to refocus, redefine, re-covenant, and reinvigorate our lives. True celebration creates holy, sacred space: safe space. The sacrament of Holy Communion connects us with the communion of all the millions of the Saints of Christendom. Communion is a powerful experience in feeling connected; a great antidote for loneliness, lostness, and loss of identity. We are creatures of communion created by our Maker to live at our best when we are in harmony with other people, especially at the moment of celebration.
The celebration of Baptism is another moment that serves to remind us that we exist as people saved by grace as a gift from God, not based on our merit, but that our salvation is based on our value as God's beloved daughters and sons.
Let us speak, with joy and utter trust to the Lord of history, the words of the prophet, that within each service of worship, we might be filled with the spirit of God and affirm in our hearts: "This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!" (v. 9b). Amen.
Celebration is not an orgy of indulgence, but an occasion of honor, a time of refraining from ordinary tasks, a time to observe a notable occasion with festivities, a time of uplift. The person for whom the celebration is called is an honored person, and the people attending are also honored to be there.
Chapters 24 through 27 of Isaiah are sometimes known as the "Isaiah Apocalypse"; that is to say an Isaiah version of what the prophet says God is revealing to humankind; a revelation from God. The vignette we read today is a description of an eschatological banquet; a great celebratory banquet at the end of time, a feast hosted by the Lord of Creation, to which all peoples of the world are invited and which is held at a holy place, the mountain of the Lord: the place where God dwells, Mount Zion, the city of God.
We might think that, unlike us, Isaiah did not have any of the threats under which we live: AIDS, nuclear war, high rates of marital distress, and personal illness. Such was not the case. His country lived under the reality of the destruction by the Babylonians, exile, famine, high infant mortality, personal illness, and low life expectancy. Isaiah's litany of the banquet of joy means all the more if we remember that it was conceived and born in time of peril, anguish, and fear.
In our constant quest to make "the word of God" available and accessible to all people, we find that Isaiah was not a small provincial thinker with tunnel vision. Isaiah's description of this heavenly feast of celebration was one of a vast inclusion for all people. "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear" (v. 6).
Do we ever consider why we celebrate? Why do we celebrate the sacraments, Easter, Christmas, thanksgiving, birthdays, baptisms, marriages, anniversaries, retirements, and all kinds of occasions? Do we party just to party? Do we celebrate just to feel good, just for its own sake?
According to verse 7, the answer is, "No." According to verse 7, there is more to the party than the party. According to verse 7, there is a significance to the celebration that is beyond the celebration itself: "And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever" (v. 7).
Isaiah is telling us that there is more to that moment of celebration than that which meets our eye or our understanding. The prophet is telling us that something else is going on: this rich feast of celebration is precipitating an action of God; the blessing of this divine banquet given to the guests by the host is the destruction of "the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever."
The moment of divine celebration at this banquet of banquets is also the destruction of death: the elimination of our greatest fear, the calming of our worst anxiety, the healing of our worst nightmare, the destruction of the greatest obstacle to our growth and freedom.
The moment of divine celebration is one where all our veils are removed, all of the things that enslave us are lifted. This banquet is a supreme act of love and compassion by God on behalf of God's beloved: "Then the Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken" (v. 8).
God is personally embracing each of us like a loving parent and offering unconditional, unqualified, totally compassionate, grief healing, forgiving, redemptive acceptance.
And our response to the transforming, restorative joy of this event: "It will be said on that day, 'Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.' "
We are not to say for this magnanimous, magnificent gift, "O God, you shouldn't have!"
How can God love you without making you occasionally, the center of attention?
This is the God whom we loved, and he did come and love as he promised and as we expected, and we are now both together, and we have been saved by the Savior.
Hallelujah!
We need all the moments of celebration we can get. Friends, we need celebrations in our lives, because those very moments of celebration define our lives: the moments of celebration alter our course and set our coordinates in new directions, the moments of celebration give us energy to go on, the moments of celebration renew our lives, these moments nourish our lives and bring us back from exile, and the moments of celebration give us rest -- they cause us to stop, pause, and gain insight as to who we are and where we are going.
Without the moments of celebration we are just "busy" all of the time without thinking about who we are and where we are going. Every time you and I have an opportunity to go to a celebration, we need to go and feed on that moment of celebration for the betterment of our lives.
Every time we worship, we celebrate our kinship with God. That experience serves to refocus, redefine, re-covenant, and reinvigorate our lives. True celebration creates holy, sacred space: safe space. The sacrament of Holy Communion connects us with the communion of all the millions of the Saints of Christendom. Communion is a powerful experience in feeling connected; a great antidote for loneliness, lostness, and loss of identity. We are creatures of communion created by our Maker to live at our best when we are in harmony with other people, especially at the moment of celebration.
The celebration of Baptism is another moment that serves to remind us that we exist as people saved by grace as a gift from God, not based on our merit, but that our salvation is based on our value as God's beloved daughters and sons.
Let us speak, with joy and utter trust to the Lord of history, the words of the prophet, that within each service of worship, we might be filled with the spirit of God and affirm in our hearts: "This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!" (v. 9b). Amen.
