Eye has not Seen

 

Meditation 1 Corinthians 2:1-13; Nehemiah 8:5-6 March 9, 2022, Wednesday Ecumenical Lenten service @ HT

“Eye has not Seen; ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love him. Spirit of God give us the mind of Jesus, teach us the wisdom of God”. anthem Teach us the Wisdom of God

Greetings to the beautiful people of Holy Trinity! It is a gift to return among you and it feels like coming home again. We have served together in the community in so many ways and today rings with the memory of such joy.

We’re here today in this blessed season of Lent. We are here to worship our Lord who brought us into a life of faith and wonder; a life of joy and adventure. We are here to raise our voices and our praise to the One who is watching us and who is receiving our worship. May we honor the name of Jesus our Lord today in our words and our deeds.

Paul is our witness this morning to the testimony of Jesus Christ as he speaks to us through his letter to the church in Corinth. Paul arrived in the bustling metropolis of Corinth around 50 AD. Here he miraculously unified the most diverse people into a one unified church of Jesus Christ. From the beginning, the church was in constant need of the reminder of who brought them together into a unified faith. From the beginning the people of the church of Corinth were in constant dispute among themselves. It was the largest blended family experience and experiment in the Christian faith.

And yet, somehow this eclectic group of people became a powerful witness to the world as a united body through the power of the body of Jesus Christ.

Last week the Reverend Willie Justus reminded us to remember. It’s true! If we can’t remember where we came from as people of faith, we don’t have the shoulders of those precious saints who came before us to stand on. We need them. They pray with us every time we pray. There is a legion of angels and saints waiting for us to pick up the prayer train and pray and witness and testify to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Friends, we are standing on the threshold of the future church. It is up to us to do something. It is up to us to stop being afraid of the open door and cross over into the next phase of the church of Jesus Christ.

You see we have to ask ourselves the question-are we ready? Are we willing? Are we able? To do what God has ready for those who love him?

Because he promises what ‘eye has not seen, what ear has not heard God is ready’ to launch the Spirit within us to unimaginable sights and heights.

I believe as people of faith we need a reset. We need to take our remembering from last week and reset our minds  and our hearts this week so that God can fill us with his wisdom and restore us and send us out over that threshold with boldness and with courage and without fear. If the church is unified and strong-the world can be too.

The assault on the church has been great. It has been so great that it is suffering today more than it has in decades. People have stopped coming to church and we have no understanding of how to get them back in the pews. We are suffering because we can’t remember our witness story. We can’t remember our testimony to preach. People have so many choices in their lives and they’re not choosing church. They’re choosing online church of a variety of styles but they’re not choosing in person church. They’re choosing chat rooms and other faith experiences but not church. We have no idea how to bring them back into the pews. We feel lost. We are confused. We have no idea how to navigate this chaos of order around us. Minister colleagues and lay leadership are baffled and struggling to find the way.

So here we have Paul in Corinth, who brings amazing hope to this crazy band of gentiles, Jews, and Roman pagans and tells that that they are powerful force of witness to the world around them. He lets them know that the gospel is its own power of testimony, and they can be renewed in that wisdom. Who doesn’t need some wisdom today?

Perhaps, that’s part of our Lenten journey-to hear the voice of wisdom, to see the way of God. We pause in this season to restock, reset and to restore.

When Mike and I are on our passages with our sailboat we have to stop and pause too. When we come into port we assess our situation. We go around the boat and look for places of chafe and damage. We repair what needs repairing. We reprovision our fuel, our water, and our food. We make sure the boat is fully restocked to complete the next phase of our passage making. And then we reset-we rest. We make sure we are fit for travel again. We reset and recalibrate our instruments. We sleep. We get our land legs again. We interact with the world around us. And through that process we are restored for another season of passage making. That’s what Lent does for us.

In another age before Paul there was a need for a restoration of faith and courage and testimony. In Nehemiah 8:5-6 Nehemiah calls on Ezra to bring out the Law-the then known Word of God and read it to the people. As Ezra stands before the sea of people, he picks up the book of the Law. As he begins to read it the people STAND! They stand, they get up. They respond automatically. Their bodies literally raise themselves up in awe of God’s Word. It is one of the most incredible testimonies to the power of God’s word. It is the power of wisdom, the power of the Spirit at work within the people to restore their faith. To renew their hearts. To fill their souls with the goodness of God’s love. Not only did the people stand when they heard God’s word they then bowed down and wept, they wept because the words of God’s grace were fresh and new on their ears. Sometimes that’s all we need is to hear the words of love and grace read to us one more time and we too weep as we are restored to the bosom of God’s embrace.

So, friends, in this age of uncertainty, where are we standing? 

Looking back? Yes-to remember the saints and to stand on their shoulders. 

Looking forward? Yes-to look with hope and anticipation, not fear, of the future church that God is calling us to envision and provision. 

Looking to the present? Absolutely-for it is in the present that we live. In the present we build, we sustain, we encourage, we act, we live with joy and we do not hesitate. 

You see, in the present we trust the Spirit to grant us wisdom as we believe the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be true and to be our story to tell.

Be of good faith. We have the Spirit of God within us. Be restored. Live a holy Lent. Amen.

Resources: NIB J. Paul Samply- Corinthians commentary.

Words and quotes-Property of Monica Gould.