A sermon
preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 17
July 2016, the Nineth Sunday after Pentecost, by Rev. Dr. Ngeo, Boon Lin. The scripture readings that day were
Isaiah 6:1–8;
Colossians 1:15–28.
According to Isaiah 6:1–8
In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw God sitting
on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs
were in attendance above him; each had six wings ; with two they covered their
faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one
called to another and said : Holy , holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole
earth is full of his glory.
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of
those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said : woe to me! I am lost, for I am a man of
unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts!
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live
coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph
touched my mouth with it and said : now that this has touched your lips, your
guilt has departed and your sin blotted out. Then I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
And Isaiah said : hineini , which means here am I ,
send me!
The scripture I just read is the most famous call of
a prophet in the Bible.
The scripture begins with “In the year that King
Uzziah died”. King Uzziah was the tenth
king of Judah and according to the Bible, he was a very godly man. Unlike many other kings, he never totally
departed from the worship of God.
Under his influence, the southern kingdom attained
power, wealth and successunlike any it had enjoyed since the days of solomon.
Many people were disturbed by the death of the great
king. After all, he had reigned for 52 years.
For Isaiah and the whole nation, his death signaled
the end the time of great prosperity. In other words, the death of the great
King ushered in a time of uncertainty, change and doubt.
It was a year King Uzziah died, just like some people
say it was the year Tananmen Square incident happened, it was the year Hong
Kong was returned to China, it was the year September 11 happened.
It was the year when things fell apart; it was the
year we were confused, when all that had once been familiar now seemed long ago
and far away.
It was the year King Uzziah died.
It was a bad time, it was a shaky time, it was a
crazy time, it was a frightening time.
Even though the great King Uzziah had just died,
Isaiah saw God and he was called by God.
What must have been a down time in prophet’s life became his most
important uptime in his life.
My brothers and sisters, I hope what happened to
Isaiah in this event help us to realized what we need to do during the down
times in our lives.
We all have down times in life! Those down times can
ruin us, can destroy us, or we can grow in those times.
It all depends on us, it depends upon what has our
attention, and how do we respond to those down times.
It was the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw God in
God’s sovereignty. Isaiah says “I t saw
God sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up”. An earthly King may have died,
but God still is God. Isaiah saw God in all God’s glory, and it had huge impact
on the life of Isaiah.
My brothers and sisters, when life seems to fall
apart, we need to remember the God who is in control of it all We need to
remember who is in control. Isaiah
experienced the presence of God. The King might be gone, but God was still
there.
God had not forsaken Isaiah even during this
downtime. Let us remember, we are not alone, and we are never alone, God is
always with us and for us.
We all have down times in life, but not all of us
confront our down times in the same way. When things didn’t happen or work out
as we wish, when our world seems to fall apart, when tragedy happened in our
lives, when life feels stressful, when
you have suffered a painful setback after you have worked so hard, what do you
do ? Where are you?
Are you hiding? Are you running away? Are you
pretending as if nothing had happened?
There is a very famous story of “run away and hide”
in the Bible. Which is the book of Jonah. Jonah is not a fanciful fairy tale of
a man who was swallowed by a big fish.
It is a true story. But it is
true in the sense that it is a realistic description of human psychological
evasiveness and reluctance.
Jonah is a very intelligent person. He hears an
intense inner call to go to a place called Ninevah.
But instead of
doing what God is telling him to do, instead of doing what he knows he is
supposed to do, he does the two things that most of us tend to do when we are
reluctant to show up for what life has in store for us. He runs away, and falls
asleep.
How many times, we know exactly what is the right
thing to do, but we refuse to do it because we have a super big ego? How many
times, we know we should apologize, we know it is right to forgive, we know we
should let it go, we know we should not be afraid, we know we should pursue our
dreams, we know we should not give up, but we have chosen to do the opposite?
Instead of being fully present or following through
on what we know deep inside us is the right thing to do, we run away, hoping no
one will know, hoping things will get better naturally.
Life is never easy. I can guarantee you, for the rest
of your life, or even for the rest of today, there will be stressful moments
and situations.
But what will you do?
Are you going to confront the problems head on ? or you rather numb out
and run away?
In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah responded to his
life’s challenges, and to his God : Hineini. Here I am. Instead of hiding or running away from the
urgency of the current moment, Isaiah responded : Hineini. Here I am.
In Judaism, in the Hebrew Bible, perhaps no single
word is more well known, more important, or more powerful than this three-
syllabus hebrew word : Hineini ( Here I am ).
When life incidents happen, when our lives call us to
do something right, where are you ?
We can choose to run away, or we can answer from our
hearts and souls : Hineini. Here I am!
Where are you? In the book of Genesis, Adam hears a
silent and invisible voice asking : Where are you. And Adam says : I heard the sound of You. But I was afraid
and I hid.
When we respond to life’s challenges, to God by
saying hineini, Here am I, it means no
more hiding, no more running away, we are fully present, we are opening up our
minds, our hearts and our spirits to be present in this moment, to be fully
alive, to be fully awake in this particular moment and to connect or align our
spirits, minds and hearts with the Ultimate source of wisdom of the Universe,
which we call God.
At UCLA, Dr Daniel Siegel has written several books
on the neuroscience of prayer and meditation. And he shows how the practice of
meditation and mindful states can cause detectable physical changes in the
brain and improve well being. His research studies at UCLA have demonstrated that people who have
learned how to go into spiritual or mindful states of consciousness have very different brain images from regular
folks, and the practice of mindfulness can
improve clarity, focus and health.
Everyday, we are given the opportunity to show up
more fully or to run away and hide. What do you choose? Where are you? When we
answer Hineini, here am I, we declare we want to live each moment more awake,
more alive and healthier.
According to Buddhism, liberation lies in the present
moment. And it is what we do in meditation. Do nothing, think nothing, just
sitting just being there. This is what I do every morning for one hour, just
sitting.
Meditation has been intrinsic to most of the great
religions of the world, including Christianity. In Buddhist tradition, meditation
has been a core element of practice since the time of shakyamuni Buddha, 2500
years ago.
I have to admit, it is not easy to do nothing, and
not think. Our minds always think about something, either something in the past
or in the future, it is difficult to just be mindful in this moment.
In Zen meditation, for beginners, in order to help us
not to think anything, we always pay attention to our breathing and count our
breathing. Zero, One, Two, Three, suddenly I think about what I am going to eat
for my breakfast, so back to Zero, again, one, two , three, four, oh, I need to
call my mom today, I haven't talked to her for a week. Ok, back to zero again,
one , two, three, four, five, six, seven, great, I make it to seven without
thinking about anything, but Gosh, I
just failed, back to zero again…. And this is what I do, again, and again, for
one hour, every day before I start to pray and read the Bible. This is to
practice mindfulness. It is to prepare me to meet God in prayers.
Meditation or being mindful does not remove the ups
and downs of life, but slowly it changes how you see and react to the
experiences of life, experiences like losing a job, breaking up, struggling in
relationship, illness, dying and death. Mindfulness changes our relationship to
life. And slowly I have learned that I am less and less bothered by a lot of
things. It does not mean I do not make mistakes, I still do, but once I
realize, I just admit it and apologize, I do not have to run away, because I am
home.
I realized I needed to practice meditation or Zen
Meditation about 4 years ago. Because I had no patience. Not only with others,
but even with myself. I routinely blamed myself for not being good enough.
By the way, to realize we need to improve ourselves
and to blame ourselves for not being good enough are two very different
things. I have too much too do but have
too little time. I couldn’t wait to finish what I needed to say, it is why I
talk very fast. I couldn’t wait to get to my destination, it is why I always in
hurry and walk very fast. My mother always says to me, you are going to die
either from heart attack or high blood pressure, soon and very soon.
So, you can imagine, it is very difficult for me to
just sit there and do nothing for one hour everyday. It is difficult for me to learn that I don’t
have to rush, because every step is my destination, I don’t have to rush
because I have arrived.
What is enlightenment ? To attain enlightenment is to see thing as
they are. We recognize them, we embrace
them, but we do not attach to them. If we do not like what we see, we do our
best to correct them, but at the end we let it go. In other words, we are no
longer bothered by them, no more anger, no more frustration, only compassionate.
Gaining enlightenment is like the moon reflecting in
the water, the moon does not get wet, nor is the water disturbed. Practicing
mindfulness is the path to enlightenment. It is a doorway to peace, to
compassion, to ease, and wellbeing.
To say Hineini to life, to say Hineini to God, to
answer Here AM I with our souls and minds and spirits, is to be mindful of our
current moment and situation. It is not
only an indication that we trust God, but more importantly, it is to say that I
trust myself, because I know myself deeply, I know my strength, and I also know
my limitations, and ultimately I can gain access to my own inner wisdom.
To say Hineini, is to be fully present, responsive
and receptive to the other in our lives, whether it be God or ourselves. In the Hebrew Bible, not only Isaiah, but
Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel… in every generation individuals are
called, and each responds with the word hineini, Here I Am.
God calls us to serve God and God’s people, we too
are challenged to respond Hineini. Where
are you? Where are you? Are you willing to answer Hineini, HERE AM I ?
In the Book of Isaiah, not only Isaiah responds
Hineini to God, but God also responds with Hineini! According to Isaiah 58: 9 , Isaiah says to
his people , Then you shall call , and God will answer, you shall cry for help,
and God will say , Hineini, HERE AM I.
When we answer God’s calling, when we reach out to
God, God will respond to us! God will not only hear our prayers, but will
respond to us , Hineini. When we respond to God and to others in the fullness
of our beings, when we respond to the needs of others, our needs will be
fulfilled by the Divine. Ultimately, God
will say Hineini, HERE AM I, I AM HERE
FOR YOU!
In the book of Isaiah, the people of Israel cry out
to God, complaining God was not there for them, complaining that God was
remaining Silent in the face of their suffering. They were just like their
ancestor's in the wilderness before entering the promised land, they complained
bitterly, both to Moses and to God, for bringing them out of Egypt to die of
starvation.
My brothers and sisters, don’t you think sometimes we
are no different from them, we are just like drama queens , always complaining,
but never wanting to cultivate greater intimacy with our own mind and to tap
into and develop our deep interior resources for leaning, growing , healing,
and potentially for transforming our lives by doing something different? We
always look for others to blame.We even blame God for being silent.
My brothers and sisters, God is not silent. God is
always calling us, God is always encouraging us to seek God, to do the right
things. And God also actively making the Divine Presence available. A lot of times, we think God is silent,
actually it is not God who is silent, but we are not fully present, we refuse
to show up!
Because of that,
we fail to hear God. Isaiah in 65:1 says, God says, I was ready to be
sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me.
And God says, I said “hineini, hineini” to a nation that
DID not call on my name!
God says Hineini, Hineini. But , where are you? Where are you?
I pray that you will hear the voice of God who speaks
in silence, I pray that you will be truly hearing and responding to the call of
the other, whether human or Divine.
May peace be with you all.
Amen
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, July 17, 2016
