Shock and Awe

By Lisa Rzepka, February 8, 2004
Isaiah 6:1-13, Luke 5:1-11

O God, author of our lives, you inspired Holy Scripture to be written for our wisdom. Help us to hear, learn, and inwardly digest your saving stories that we may embrace and hold fast your blessing. Now, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, Amen.

A friend of mine, Ruth, recently shared with me an amusing story that I have permission to share with you this morning. Ruth's friend, Leah (not her real name) is a native of southern California. Well Leah decided to visit Ruth in Washington, DC in the winter time. Leah had never been to the east coast so after touring the sites in metropolitan DC, they decided to visit Ruth's family in NY. To get to NY, they had to drive through PA. Now, if you've ever driven through PA you remember that many of the highway routes have been carved through what looks like granite hills. You know what I mean, those passes through hills that have been blasted through making steep banks on both sides of the road. Well, Ruth and Leah were traveling in the winter time and there was snow on the ground and Leah was marveling at this new weather phenomenon she'd never experienced. When they got to the blasted hills of PA Leah asked, "What's that?"

Ruth looked around and said, "What's what?"

"That!" her friend said.

Seeing nothing Ruth said, "What?!"

Raising her voice her friend said, "That!!"

Realizing that this was not getting anywhere Ruth said, "Next time you see it, describe it to me."

Ruth discovered that Leah was trying to figure out what the water formations were that had cascaded down the sides of the steep hills and had frozen to the craggy rocks. Ruth was shocked to realize that the ice cascades were nearly invisible to her she was so used to them. Leah found them awesome. Shock and awe - characterizes this simple story which intersects in more than one way, I think, to our two Scripture readings today, readings that have been labeled by writers as vocation or call reports.

Shock and Awe

When I first heard that phrase less than a year ago, I must admit I was concerned about the baggage it carried, the daring, perhaps overconfident, perhaps arrogant connotation it carried. However, this week as I prepared my thoughts for today I found myself grateful to George W. Bush for the phrase - for it gives us a starting point from which to begin thinking about what shocks us - what shakes us - and not only that but where and when is awe evoked.

Let's think about recent events - I wonder if it was awe that Janet and Justin actually thought they would evoke through the somewhat shocking Super Bowl half-time show that was televised to 299 countries around the world… I say somewhat shocking because if you're like me you might be somewhat jaded. In our society - what's a little more skin? Or, on a couple of other notes, are you shocked any more to hear about political decisions reportedly made through distorted facts… are you shocked by insider trading and unethical decisions by celebrities…Or how about violent death in our world - daily car bombings -- the uncounted toll of war…the list of evil goes on and on.

It's hard to get shaken up anymore. Even if we did get fired up, what's the use? You know, that's exactly the essence of Simon Peter's first response in this morning's gospel story. Okay, okay, I've been fishing all night but if you say so I'll let down my net. He might as well have said, "It's not going to matter so why don't we save ourselves the trouble?"

Well, I jumped into the middle of one vocation story, a story about how one lives their life in response to the manifestation of God in their life. So let's back up a minute. You may be familiar with these stories - Isaiah is given a glimpse of God's glory in the Temple - Simon Peter participates with Jesus in a really BIG catch - Isaiah and Simon Peter are both shocked and in awe! What's interesting is their response.

How do YOU respond to shock and awe?

Have you ever seen that car commercial where the girl keeps telling the salesperson to "SHUT UP!" At first I found that commercial really offensive because I was taught it's not polite to tell people to shut up. Then I realized this woman is supposed to be responding to shock and awe of getting an unbelievable deal.

That reminded me of my own response when I found out that after seven years of infertility treatments, and two years after we decided we were through, that I was going to have a third son - I said, "Get out!" Meaning - "no way" that could happen - it's too unbelievable. I was shocked - and in awe of God's humor.

How do you respond to shock and awe? Isaiah's response: "Woe is me!" and Simon Peter's response, "Go away from me…" in the Greek can be literally translated "Get out of my neighborhood!" These responses are more than incredulous unbelief; they are loaded with the shock of who they find themselves in the presence of, and who they are in relation to that presence.

Put yourselves in their sandals, if you suddenly found yourselves with God, what would you say? Indeed, for them there is more to this response…what's registering is the awesome recognition that they are in the presence of the Holy, the divine - their in awe - because they know they can expect great things from God. But what is really shocking is that God is calling them - empowering them to carry out God's plan and purpose. "Woe is me…" "Get out…" may slip from our lips.

Now…it would be really easy to summarize the stories at this point. You know - God calls - we follow - we can fish for people - there will be great rewards; happy life, happy family, abundance everywhere - for us - if only we listen, follow the formula, and get it right.

If only following were that easy - but it's not. Have you ever tried to follow someone to a place where you don't know for sure where you are going? It's hard - it's a struggle. The Biblical accounts of call and response - that's what vocation is - our response to God's call are fraught with struggle- remember Jacob's wrestling, Moses' wandering, Jeremiah's Exile.

Parker Palmer, a Quaker writer and scholar, helps us untangle the meaning of call and vocation wherein vocation is the art of living our Christian response. Palmer writes that vocation, is like a journey - but it's a journey that bears no resemblance to the trouble free "travel packages" sold by the tourism industry. This journey is more akin to "the ancient tradition of pilgrimage - a transformative journey to a sacred center." (Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000, 18. ) Our call stories are about epiphanies - remember the Magi's journey - discovering oneself in the presence of that sacred center.

Palmer notes that in the tradition of pilgrimage, hardships are integral to the journey itself, as they strip the ego of the illusion that it itself is in charge. Isaiah's call report illustrates Palmer's point - as he's sent in a very disturbing direction. God instructs Isaiah to prevent repentance and healing! Make the people's minds dull, stop their ears, and shut their eyes God says. Isaiah is shocked, probably appalled, and asks, "How long, O Lord?" A judging God says,"Until everything is burned…until only a seed is left."

Aren't you glad you're Christian? You know, we follow a loving New Testament God who is willing to fill our boats until they're ready to sink! In this story at least we get to skip the judgment. Yet, the concept of the Law and judgment in the Hebrew Bible is not arbitrary judgment but righteous judgment on God's part which is linked to God's justice and order for -

our lives

and for everyone

and everything

everywhere.

God's judgment and justice go hand in hand. So, turning to the Greek again we find Jesus' invitation to Simon Peter a little closer to what Isaiah hopes to do…

Jesus' invitation for Simon is to be catching people, which in the Greek translation is 'to take alive in the sense of rescuing from death.' Note the use of the word catching, it's continuous, on-going, not something we do for awhile or when it suits us. Well, Isaiah wants to save his people from death - for the first five chapters he's been warning them of impending doom, but they're not listening! Is it ever possible "that the Word of God, the truth of the present and future, comes in a proclamation of judgment?"(Tucker, Gene M. "The Book of Isaiah 1-39," New Interpreter's Bible: Volume VI. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001, 101-105.) Is there a time for judgment as well as salvation? Could we miss God's yes to us because we have not heard the no? Does anything go? The proclamation of judgment Isaiah is to carry to the Hebrew people perhaps is a parallel to Isaiah's cleansing in the Temple. Isaiah was cleansed with a hot coal and he is to report a cleansing to a people… Hearing more than one vocation report, the art of living our lives in response to the epiphany of God in our lives, deepens our scope of understanding and helps us along our pilgrimages. God does not speak the same Word in all times and in all places.

Jesus calls us to follow him and reminds us that apart from him we can do nothing - we can fish all night and not find the way to save ourselves. A friend once pointed out to me that the only person we ever really willingly follow without reservation is the host or hostess in a restaurant - because we want to be fed. You know the Biblical feeding stories - Jesus wants to feed us. You know Jesus never said worship me, revere me, glorify me - he only asked us to follow him. ("A Miraculous Catch," Synthesis: Year C) Only sometimes that place is unexpected, we don't quickly see it - and it shocks us - it's as if he says follow me not there, but THERE! We might bump up against righteous judgment and justice.

Vocation at its deepest level is not, "Oh, boy, do I want to go to this difficult place where my message may not be heard." Vocation - our response to God - at its deepest level is, "This is something I can't not do, for reasons I am unable to explain to anyone else, and, oh by the way, I don't completely understand myself but they are compelling."( Palmer, ibid, 25.) Encounters with the Sacred compel us. They move us toward the center, sometimes by opening a way, sometimes by closing a way.

A Christian vocation is very much akin to what Palmer calls the Rosa Parks decision, which is quite appropriate to think about in Black History month. Palmer relates the Ms. Parks was the epitome of living an undivided life - acting on the outside what she deeply believed on the inside. When a graduate student asked Ms. Parks why she sat at the front of the bus that day in Montgomery, Alabama she responded, "Because I was tired."

"She didn't mean her feet were tired. She meant that her soul was tired, her whole being was tired of playing by racist rules" ( Palmer, ibid, 33.) and she had to follow the truth God had placed in her heart. "Rosa Parks sat down because she had reached a point where it was essential to embrace her true vocation" she needed to be catching people, saving them from death. Perhaps she was shocked by the movement it started. Many are in awe of the effect it had.

In this season of epiphany I had an awakening this week. In these vocation accounts I began to recognize the remarkable resemblance to our worship sequence in these call stories ~ especially Isaiah's. Isaiah comes into the presence of God, he confesses and is cleansed, purified, enabled to [over]hear the Divine voice, and then he accepts - no - he responds - he volunteers for a commission [a sending]. Week by week we remind ourselves anew in that same pattern what God is calling us to be and do…

Will you pray once again with me? This time I want you to take your hands and hold them palms up together. As you hold them together thank God for the awe inspiring gifts that have been placed in those hands; things entrusted to you - loved ones - family - friends - the many blessings God has shared in your life.

Sacred, Centering God, You reach deep in our hearts with a message that is very personal and yet, is something you call us to share with one another. We pray for the epiphany, the uncovering of what that call is, how we can faithfully follow you THERE - wherever that THERE may be. Use these hands to be instruments of your shalom - your peace, well-being, and wholeness for our world out there. Amen.

© Copyright, 2004, Lisa Rzepka
All Rights Reserved.
Providence Presbyterian Church
Fairfax, Virginia