Responding to God’s Presence

Have you ever met someone really famous or important? How did you respond?

My first career was being a caricature artist. I would sit at amusement parks or at private parties and draw quick caricatures of people as a form of entertainment. People always gathered around and watched, so I could hear them talking when they forgot that I was listening.

I continued drawing at private parties after I became a pastor. This was a nice way to supplement my income. People would get drawn for free, because the host paid me a set fee for a certain time limit, so there was always a huge crowd gathered around me. People would eat and drink and chat while they watched me draw and waited for their turn. They drank and talked. I listened.

Eventually, someone would ask me this question, “Is drawing caricatures all you do for a living?”

If I was feeling fiesty, I’d reply, “Actually no, this is just a side gig. I’m a pastor.”

You could feel everyone freeze for a split second. It’s like the air was sucked out of the room. The tone of the conversations changed. People started apologizing to me for how they had been talking. They started telling me about the last time they went to church. Many people starting confessing things to me.

What changed?

When they thought they were in the presence of someone whom they vaguely considered “holy” they suddenly became self-conscious of their less-than-holiness.

Isn’t that interesting.

Read Luke 5:1-11.

On Tuesday we saw that Jesus showed up in Simon’s ordinary workplace and made it extraordinary. Notice how Simon responded. When he realized that he was in the presence of God, he said, “Get away LORD. I am a sinful man.”

Luke is doing something very intentional with this story. He is connecting it to other stories in the Hebrew Bible when people were called by God.

Moses saw the burning bush. He said, “I am not worthy. I’m not good enough. I can’t do it.”

Isaiah saw God seated on the throne above the Temple. He said, “Woe is me! I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and come from a people of unclean lips.”

Then God transforms them.

God reminds them that they are loved, they are forgiven, and God has something very special for them to do.

On Tuesday I invited you to imagine your workplace as a holy place where God has a mission for you. How do you respond when you imagine God’s holiness?

Here’s the normal and healthy response:

1. Recognize that you do have junk in your life, and apart from God’s love you are undone. That’s a healthy cleansing.

2. Remember that you are a beloved child of God, warts and all, and that God has called you and will be with you.

3. Get up and go! We’ll talk about that on Saturday

Pray 

Gracious God, help us to see you today. Help us to see ourselves the way you see us. Give us courage to love you, love ourselves, and love our neighbors.