The Anglican Parish of Banyule

Sermon preached by Peta Sherlock
at Watsonia and Heidelberg
February 7–8 2004

I always worry about preachers who talk too much about sin, so I mostly avoid the topic altogether. But today I can't avoid it. It's there in Isaiah, when he has a vision of God in the temple or the hem of God's robe in the temple, and Isaiah says "Woe is me: I am a man of unclean lips." It's there when Simon Peter is going about his fishing business and meets Jesus who turns out to be a better fisherman and Peter tells him to go away because Peter is a sinful man.

That much helps me in my prejudices. The stories don't start with sin. I really dislike evangelists who start with the fact that I, and you, especially you!, are sinful and that we had better do something about that sin or we will go to hell, so we should repent and then they tell us about Jesus who can help in that process. That way of preaching seems to me to start with me and then finally bring in God, whereas the bible tells us "In the beginning was God". WE came much later.

In these two stories from the bible we start with a person meeting God in all his glory, so much glory that Isaiah can only glimpse the hem of God's robes (and that hem alone fills the temple). We start with Peter doing what he knows best, fishing, running a fishing business in fact, and along comes Jesus, doing what he does best, teaching the crowds, today from the safety of Peter's boat, and then telling Peter how to run his business.

"Come on, Jesus," says Simon Peter, "there's no fish to be caught today." and here's the little word that means so much, "BUT...". That's faith! did you blink and miss it? "Come on Jesus, I know more about this than you, we won't catch any fish...BUT..."

Martha does it too at the tomb of her three day dead brother Lazarus, "Don't go opening that tomb door, Lord, the body is starting to smell by now... BUT..." It's faith, that little "but".

And then we read that this vision of God's enormity or Jesus' power is followed immediately by fear! Well you would be fearful if you saw God in the temple and the hem of his robe filled it and the temple shook, and the angels sang out Holy holy holy! You and I would want to duck for cover. Simon Peter sees the huge catch of fish that Jesus found them, and their boats began to sink under the weight of the catch... well, you would be scared too if you were about to sink in the deep dark waters of lake Galilee, and were found out to be pretty ignorant about your business in which you had spent a lifetime showing people how clever you were.

And both of these characters, Old Testament and New Testament, priest to become prophet and fisherman to become disciple, say, "Oh No! I am a sinful man. I cannot stand before you, Lord."

So I believe I am quite biblical in saying that how this sin thing works is that we recognise that we are sinful when we are confronted by God. God comes first, recognition of sin comes second.

Now I would guess that our sinfulness is a kind of recipe and it contains about a cup of fear, 2 tablespoons of smallness, a teaspoon of finiteness, and perhaps a pinch of unwillingness to let go our own little kingdoms of power, our own autonomy.

There is Isaiah in the temple, his workplace. He is particularly overcome with the vision of God's hem in the temple, and he feels so unworthy to have been granted that sight, that the fear and sinfulness is about to completely overcome him, so that he feels he can never talk about it. But God's angels come and take a burning coal and touch his lips and pronounce him clean. THEN Isaiah is ready to hear God's call to become a prophet and go speak God's word to the people. The sense of fear, unworthiness, sinfulness, is gone and faith takes its place. Isaiah is able to speak and he says "Here I am, send me." That's faith, from fear to faith. That's the route God wants us to take in our lives. Meet God, perhaps slowly at first, as God coaxes us into a relationship, then realise the enormity of God's power, realise our own place in the universe, but are coaxed once again by a loving God who says, "Big as I am, I want you, I need your help." Faith steps forward and says, quite foolishly perhaps, "Here I am, send me."

Simon Peter discovers that Jesus is more interested in faith than fear too. Typically Jesus says to this man fallen at his feet: Fear not, do not be afraid. And then he also sends the sinful man our into the world to share God's word with God's people, putting it sweetly in terms that Peter understands: you will be catching people. (Presumably nets full to the brim, nets full to the breaking point, of people, so that the boats will start to sink.) From fear to discipleship and all because of that little word BUT...

How are you going in your relationship with God? Fear or faith? overwhelmed by God's enormity? Overwhelmed by unworthiness, sinfulness, sheer terror? Out of your fear or unworthiness, will you dare to utter that little word of faith, "BUT..."?

How is our church going? Well, the treasurer has worked up a balanced budget for us, including a part-time children's worker and a pastoral worker, and immediately the crack in the arches at St John's get dangerous, the organ loft needs an overhaul after the wild storms ruined the organ just before Christmas. In other words we can spend the budgeted maintenance allowance in one fell swoop! Out of our poverty, we will utter that little word of faith, "BUT...".

How is the world going? What is worse? to be able to find weapons of mass destruction or not to find them in Iraq? You can easily be swamped by the enormity of the world's problems. But in our prayers today, we stop for a moment and utter the title word of faith, "BUT...".

Just one word of warning. Faith and action go together, always have, always will. Isaiah, you go and tell the people my message. Peter, go you and fish for people. Please join me in prayer this day, but assume that as you pray for an answer to your own, the church's and the world's needs, that you will be called by God to become part of the answer.

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