Great Things

sermon preached by the Rev. Sue Judson Hamly at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN

Texts: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 and John 1:43-51

When Phillip called Nathaniel to come and see Jesus, Nathaniel was skeptical that any good could come out of a backwater hick town like Nazareth. He changed his mind when he met Jesus.

Nathaniel was amazed that Jesus knew about him before he even met him. Obviously, Nathaniel wasn’t very familiar with Psalm 139. I just love the first 18 verses of that psalm! It contains so many reassurances ….

O God, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away. …You are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O God, you know it completely. …
… It was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
… I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
… My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,…Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, before they existed.
… I come to the end—I am still with you.

This psalm reminds us that God’s love it like the love of a caring parent for her or his children. Mothers are certainly aware of what it’s like to know a child before it’s even born—and so are most fathers. Grandparents too… in fact everyone who is looking forward to the birth of any baby begins to feel as if they know the baby already.

My cousin’s daughter in Wickenburg, AZ, gave birth to her first baby this week. We received e-mail pictures while they were still in the hospital. When Heidi got home, one of the first things she did was change her status on facebook so that it says, “Heidi is so in love with her new baby girl ” Has it ever occurred to you that God feels the same way about each and every one of us?!

Yes! God is in love with you and you and you and me. All of us—no matter who, no matter what! And God sent Jesus to show us and teach us about that love.

If we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” then all of us can do great things. Don’t let the word fearfully stop you. We forget that in the bible “fear” usually means awe and respect. So a better translation would be that we are awesomely and wonderfully made. We are awesome because God made us that way! And God loves us each just the way we are.

There’s a story about a young rabbi named Zusya who was quite discouraged about his failures and weaknesses. An older rabbi said to him, “When you get to heaven, God is not going to say to you, ‘Why weren’t you Moses?’ No, God will say, ‘Why weren’t you Zusya?’ So why don’t you stop trying to be Moses, and start being the Zusya God created you to be?”[1]

We are all awesomely and wonderfully made. Can you imagine if we believed that about everyone, including ourselves? Can you imagine a nation and a world inspired to live as if everyone mattered? Can we dare to hope for the impossible to happen—the end of religious, racial, class, orientation and gender hatred? God has made each person precious, awesome and wonderful. God has made our planet precious, awesome and wonderful. What if we believed that and treated people, animals and all of nature that way?[2]

I’ll tell you what… if we believed that—if all the people of the world believed that—great things would definitely begin to happen in our global community!

Many of us are expecting—or at least praying for—great things to happen after our new President is inaugurated on Tuesday. Of course he’s going to need lots of help and cooperation, but the most important thing is to give him a chance.

That’s all any of us can ask for—to be given a chance—and God is the one who gives us all the chances we need. God calls us to be the best we can be—the best individuals each of us can be, and the best Faith United Church we can be. We are looking for people and ideas to help our church be a church of the 21st Century, called and inspired by God to be and do great things and to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ right here in our community.

Nathaniel wondered if anything good could come out of Nazareth. Some people in town may wonder if anything exciting can come out of a UCC church when they don’t really even know or understand who we are and what we’re about as God’s people. It’s time for us to find new ways of demonstrating our understanding of God’s love shown through the life of Jesus as we follow in Christ’s footsteps in our everyday life, work and community interaction.

Nathaniel came with Philip to meet Jesus. Jesus told Nathaniel what he saw in him and Nathaniel was amazed. He asked Jesus how he knew so much about him and Jesus replied, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Fig trees are sacred in Islam as a place of meditation. Was Nathaniel a religious person—a seeker—is that what Jesus saw in him?[3] Whatever it was, there was something about Jesus. He KNEW, and Nathaniel recognized it immediately. It might not have even been in what Jesus said, it might have been more like something Nathaniel sensed upon meeting him. Fortunately he was willing to take Philip up on his invitation to “come and see.” See how Jesus lives and loves. It was apparently very obvious, allowing people to feel known and to imagine a different future.

Whatever it was, Nathaniel was inspired to proclaim Jesus as son of God and king of Israel. Jesus replies, you say that just because I knew you before we met? You’re gonna see even greater things than that, my friend!

Because God has known us and loved us since the beginning of everything, God sent Jesus to teach us all about God’s love. And when we love one another and all the rest of God’s people as Jesus loved, great things are going to happen because the love of God incarnated in Jesus Christ is the greatest love there is.

So don’t be afraid to be who God created you to be! And as a congregation, let’s not be afraid to seek God’s guidance in new directions for this new age. We can do great things because God is with us—in all time and for all time. AMEN.

Endnotes:
1. James Limburg, Westminster Bible Companion, quoted at
http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/january-18-2009-second-sunday.html
2. Adapted from “Fearfully and Wonderful Made” by Rev. Kirk Moore, Union Congregational Church, UCC, Somonauk, IL.
3. Note #1 from Ann Fontaine to “Sermonshop 2006 01 15.”