Meeting God

A pastor once asked his congregation:
Dear fellow Christians — who worship the true and Triune God, the Holy Trinity: “What is God like? What would it be like to meet God, face to face?”

Those are questions that have occupied the minds of people for thousands of years. And they’re good questions because there is a God; only a fool could deny that Somebody greater than ourselves has put all things together. And we are going to meet that God someday.

So: “What is God like? What would it be like to meet God, face to face?”

I think, in general, Americans have an answer to those questions. “God – hmm – God is bigger than we are, and not usually visible. He made things. Other than that, God is a lot like we are. He likes us, whether we behave or misbehave. Importantly, he’s got a sense of humor. Even though he likes all people, he does have his favorites. And we’ll get to meet God someday, forever and ever, and so will everybody else and it will be party, party, party ...”

In Isaiah 6, we see the prophet meet the (real) triune God and his response was quite different.

Everywhere we turn we see evidence of just how holy and how incredible the Lord is. Every time I see a newborn baby or, as in that great hymn, “seeing the stars and hearing the rolling thunder — and hearing the birds sing sweetly in the trees” I am reminded of how big God is. I can see God at work in and through my friends and in the blue blossoms of a hydrangea.

At a recent church work day, I could swear I saw the hem of God’s garment filling the temple as we came together to paint, fix lunch, clean, and fellowship.

God is magnificent and mighty and worthy of every bit of praise we can give and Isaiah recognized that. Seeing God in the hydrangeas and church work days is wonderful and it still doesn’t come close to what Isaiah saw in the temple that day.

When we consider, like Isaiah, how great God really is, we will also be reminded of just how unholy we are. It’s like an ultimate study in contrast ... God’s splendor and our sinfulness ... God’s holiness and our shallowness.

In the middle of all that greatness, Isaiah’s first response was to declare his sinfulness. In verse 5, Isaiah recounts, “‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’”

When face to face with God’s holiness, we recognize that we are people of unclean lips and we live among a people of unclean lips. When Isaiah cried, “Woe is me!” it was due to the Hebrew belief at the time that if someone saw God face to face, s/he would die.

Still, there is some truth to that belief. When we are face to face with God’s holiness we can’t help but be confronted with our sinfulness. There are some pieces of ourselves that we must die to -— to die to our own wills so that God’s will can become more prevalent in our lives.

In Isaiah’s case, a seraph touches a hot coal to Isaiah’s lips. We, too, must have that cleansing, through repentance, turning away from the things that lead us away from God and turning towards God and looking at him directly. It’s not a difficult concept to understand, but it can be hard to do.

I think we tend to gloss over God’s triple holiness with attitudes like that pastor presented to his church. “He likes us whether or not we behave badly.” It may be true enough; God’s love is unconditional. However, that line of thinking can gloss over the fact that God expects more from us than we often give. He expects charitable hearts. He expects ethical living. He expects complete honesty with him and with each other. He expects kindness, gentleness, and self-control. And there’s not a person reading this column who could possibly say, “Yeah; I got it all checked off. I’ve been kind, gentle, honest, haven’t gossiped, haven’t cheated, and so on ...”

Ironically, if you are thinking you’ve done pretty good, then you’re now guilty of pride. Meeting God is to be confronted with the parts of ourselves that need to die.

In the United Methodist Church, celebrating the sacrament of Holy Communion is a real and tangible way of meeting God in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is God’s table and we are the invited guests. Just as Isaiah was welcomed into God’s presence through the cleansing from the hot coal we are welcomed into his presence through the power of his son. Ought that not convict us of something?

This is for us the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s not merely a symbol; it’s a sacrament, whereby we meet Christ to become one with him, “...one with each other — and one in ministry to all the world...” God invites us to his table and we gather, seeking to be his ministers.

We often think of Isaiah 6 as Isaiah’s call. However, I noticed something new this time: God doesn’t call Isaiah. God asks, “Whom shall I send,” and Isaiah volunteers. Such is the empowerment of meeting God through the body and blood of his only Son to be one in ministry to all the world.

Faced with God’s holiness, we are confronted with our inadequacy. We recognize that, on our own, we are incapable of being God’s ministers. We are incapable of being one with God. We are incapable of being one with each other. And we are incapable of approaching God’s table on our own merit.

In our tradition, we confess our sins before we approach his table, which is the throne of God. But it is not enough to just be sorry for our sins; we’ve got to renew our efforts to not do them again or, in the case of where we’ve not done something we should have, to do it this time.

Still, are we ready to reveal a sin that we do not believe we are committing? Are we ready for God to confront us with a sin we justify or make excuses for? Are we willing to let him take that burning coal and touch our lips with it?

Lord, make us more like Isaiah, accepting the burning coal and responding to your call with the words, “Here I am! Send me!”

Sally Oakes is pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church, 607 Rivers Road, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Phone: 770-964-6999 or 770-964-6992, or e-mail bethanymnc@bellsouth.net.