02/04/2024 ~ Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11, 20c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/912000748

The Everlasting God

“Do you not know? / Have you not heard? / Yahweh is the everlasting God, / the Creator of the ends / of the earth.” — Isaiah 40:28.

As I have said here before, I am a Vietnam veteran. My MOS in the Army— MOS is Army speak for what your job is— my MOS was cook. Hence, I landed at Tonsonuit Airbase and was transported immediately to a mess hall in downtown Saigon.

It was a different kind of mess hall. Only Field Grade officers— Field Grade officer is Army speak for officers who have attained the rank of Major— only Field Grade officers and those of an even higher rank were served in this exclusive mess hall. It was also frequented by high ranking American Embassy personnel.

The mess hall was actually not yet operational when I arrived. That was in process. The Army had taken over a four-star hotel in downtown Saigon which acted as barracks for those Field Grade officers. The mess hall was located, naturally enough, in what had been the hotel restaurant.

The building, just 6 stories high, was one of the tallest structures in the city. The mess hall was on that 6th floor and had an open air patio where meals could be served. It afforded a vista which encompassed downtown Saigon and the Mekong delta.

The target date for opening the mess hall was only five days after I arrived. There was one problem. While the existing restaurant equipment was largely adequate, the old stove housed there was not. So a huge Army issue stove sat in a crate in front of the hotel waiting to be installed 6 floors up.

The only elevator in the building was just big enough to hold three people, barely. No Army stove was going to fit in the elevator. That presented an interesting challenge: how do you get the stove up six flights of stairs.

And that was six flights with three ninety degree turns on each level. So seven GIs, myself included, uncrated that sucker and lugged it up to the kitchen, six floors, 18 turns in the staircase, three for each floor. We did it by dint of brut force.

This is where I could insert a long and harrowing story about getting up those stairs. I will not. Suffice it to say we just got ‘er done.

Here’s another piece of Army speak: nearly every last piece of equipment issued by the Army has a tag or a plate on it. These are called a nomenclature tags or nomenclature plates. Their purpose is to name and describe that piece of equipment to which it is attached.

Only after we got that stove up 6 flights did anyone bother to look at the nomenclature plate. The description included this— weight: 1,000 pounds. Ouch! We had moved that half a ton monster up 6 flights, around 18 turns— whuh! (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “Do you not know? / Have you not heard? / Yahweh is the everlasting God, / the Creator of the ends / of the earth.” (Slight pause.)

Nomenclature— it’s an interesting word. As I indicated, for the Army it means name this thing and describe it. It’s a stove— this is the length, width, height, weight…. Some would argue that’s a boring but a very necessary thing to do: naming, describing.

In a very real sense, theology does exactly the same job as a nomenclature plate. Theology does nothing more than name God and try to describe God.

Indeed, the very word theology means the science of the study of God. That science, any science, gets deeply involved in naming and describing.

Now, on occasion people will ask me what my theology is. What they are really trying to ask is am I a liberal or am I a conservative. What is interesting about that is, while everyone, even some very serious theologians, succumb to the temptation of using those terms, those labels— liberal and conservative— they have no theological meaning.

When it comes to describing my theology, this is how I respond. I am a Monotheistic Trinitarian or I am a Trinitarian Monotheist. Please notice, this names, describes and even proclaims God is Three in One.

Also please notice I am not simply a monotheist. I suspect each of us knows this: there are churches all over America who claim only Jesus is God. That is monotheism and only monotheism. Others make a claim only the Spirit is God and only monotheism. That’s monotheism. Still others claim God is some central, unifying, singular force. That is monotheism and only monotheism.

These monotheistic positions are hard to justify in terms of historic Christianity which says God is Three and God is One. The Christian description, the Christian naming, the Christian nomenclature is much more fluid than monotheism.

These three different monotheistic positions— meaning just Creator, Redeemer, Spirit— are easy to describe, to explain. There is only one thing, one aspect of the Triune God to explain and describe if you’re relying on these monotheistic descriptions. The Trinity— that’s hard to describe and hard to explain.

So, given that I say the Trinity is hard to explain let’s look at the reading from Isaiah, and the awesome language found therein. Let’s try to see how these words explain God.

Several things should be obvious. First, reading from Isaiah is a poem. Hence, it does not in any way address a naming, a description, a nomenclature of God except through poetry. And a poem by definition is about emotional understandings, emotional connections with God.

Second, we know this text was written around 2,500 or 2,600 years ago. We can be confident noone knew what it was like to fly back then. And yet… and yet… this poem addresses what God might see from a great height, higher than any structure.

It speaks about God Who is (quote:) “…above the circle of the earth, above the vaulted roof of the world, and its inhabitants look like grasshoppers;…” That language is just amazing, incredible, especially given that it is ancient.

Then on top of that, these words invite the reader, the listener, to see things from God’s perspective. (Quote:) “…those who wait for Yahweh, God, / shall renew their strength, / they shall mount up, soar with / wings like eagles,….” (Slight pause.)

It is said the Hebrews did not have a theology. And if theology is about naming and describing, the Hebrews never bothered to name, to describe. Why? For the Hebrews, God is about emotional understandings, emotional connections with God.

In fact, I think if we look for an exact description of God, a nomenclature, in both the Hebrew Scripture and the Christian Scripture we will not find one. It is only several centuries into the Christian era that naming and describing becomes a thing to do. And so I maintain Scripture is about an emotional understanding of God, an emotional connection with God, not about naming and describing.

As I said already the Hebrews did not have a theology. Rather, the Hebrew did theology. The Hebrews acted. The Hebrews acted out of their emotional understanding of God, out of their emotional connection with God. The Hebrews acted out their faith.

Indeed, after the reference which invites people to soar with wings like eagles, that verse continues and says this about those who wait for God. (Quote:) “…they shall run and not be weary, / they shall walk and never tire.” In short, those who emotionally connect with God— will be empowered by God to act.

All that leaves the obvious question, the one which I think the poem from Isaiah with its language, both fluid and articulate, asks. What is our emotional connection to the reality of God Who clearly seeks to be emotionally connected with us?

Indeed, for me this is a question asked throughout Scripture. Are our hearts open to God? The question is just that simple. Are our hearts open to God? Amen.

02/04/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Speaking of emotional connection with God, that’s exactly what Dorsey did with this hymn. [1] I have mentioned this here before. Theologian Walter Brueggemann says the God found in Scripture is portrayed with remarkable, intentional, artistic illusiveness. I would suggest, thereby, the use of poetry and its ability to address emotions is a natural way to listen for God, especially when we are trying to discern anything about the will of God.”

BENEDICTION: Surely God will empower our ministry; surely God will supply for our needs when we are about the work of God; may this God, the God who formed the universe, bless us with the courage, the knowledge, the wisdom and the fortitude to serve the Gospel of Christ, empowered by the Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] This was said when the last hymn, Precious Lord, Take My Hand, was introduced this was said: “The closing hymn will be Precious Lord, Take My Hand. It was written by Tom Dorsey. Tom had the nickname “Gospel Tom” because he was one of the pivotal people in the initiation of the Gospel Movement of the 1920s and 30s. Dorsey wrote this hymn when shattered because his wife had died in childbirth and the son who she bore did not survive twenty four hours. He wrote it as a plea to God to walk with him.”