I used to have a remarkable memory. When I was maybe seven or eight years old, I lost my library card in my messy room. I loved the library, and we went there often to check out books. I was the kind of kid who only got in trouble because I stayed up late reading books by flashlight underneath the covers on my bed. So, when I lost my library card, it was a big deal. I hunted all over for it and couldn’t find it. My mom took my brother and me to the library to check out books, but first I had to tell the librarian I lost my card. She said it would cost money to replace the card, but I could still check out books without it if I remembered the barcode number on the card. My mom started to say that she was sorry we didn’t know the number when I rattled off the long number to the librarian. She typed in the number and said, “April?” My mom was shocked. 

I used to remember all kinds of things: my library card number, all of the names of the dinosaurs, and little details from the books I read. I rarely forgot appointments or commitments, and I was organized enough to be early to most everything. But, something happened when I had my first child. I think some people call it “mommy brain.” Anyway, I forget the silliest things sometimes. Sometimes I even forget the big things. Like, when I was talking to someone from the Washington Post last week and she asked me how old I was. I didn’t remember my own age! I had to ask Jeff because I honestly couldn’t remember. 

Our Scripture passages from Isaiah 6 and 1 Corinthians 15 were written to people who needed to remember who they were and to what they had been called. They were people who were facing difficult days and needed to dig deep, examine themselves, and find courage to live in a world that was not hospitable to them. 

As we have explored 1 Corinthians together over the last few weeks, we have seen a church in turmoil. They were facing divisions and arguments, they were excluding people, and they were looking a whole lot more like the world around them than like the body of Christ. Throughout the letter, Paul reminds the church that they are the body. They belong to each other, and Jesus is the head. Jesus is the one we are representing to each other and to the world by how we act towards each other and how we live in the world. 

Here in chapter 15, Paul changes his tone. The first two verses say this: “Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.” The word “remind” doesn’t just mean “to remind.” It carries with it the idea that the Corinthian church knew the Gospel and then forgot it. They knew the truth, and then the truth escaped them. Paul says, “Remember. Don’t go back to who you were before. Don’t be formed after the pattern of this world, but be courageous and live as the body of Christ, even when it is difficult, and even when there are consequences.”

We find a similar call in Isaiah 6. In this chapter of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah shares his calling by God to be a prophet. The passage begins like this: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.” King Uzziah was a good king. In 2 Chronicles 26, we read this about Uzziah, “Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper” (2 Chronicles 26:3-5). 

Juliana Claassens, professor of Old Testament at University of Stellenbosch, recognizes the importance of the death of King Uzziah for the prophet Isaiah. She writes: “The death of King Uzziah discloses that this is a traumatic time in which the prophet Isaiah is called to perform his prophetic duties. The chapters immediately preceding and following this week’s lectionary text yield further insight into the context of trauma that informs this prophetic call narrative. The political power plays informing the Syro-Ephraimitic war, set against the backdrop of the reign of terror inflicted by the Assyrian Empire, would have caused great anguish for the initial audience. Also, in terms of the final form of the book Isaiah, the cataclysmic events associated with the destruction of the capital city Jerusalem by the Babylonian Empire contribute to the sense of foreboding permeating this week’s lectionary reading.” In other words, this was a time of chaos and uncertainty. There were political tensions, war, and the cruelty of the Assyrian Empire. The death of King Uzziah was an uncertain time, and it is in this situation that Isaiah has a vision of the Lord seated on the throne.

Today, as we conclude our series on “To Be the Church,” we are called to examine ourselves and stand firm, to avoid having a persecution complex, and to remember that God is always on the throne. 

First, we are called to examine ourselves and stand firm. For the people in the church at Corinth, they needed to examine their relationships with each other and how they behaved as the body of Christ. In the world, we face temptation to break up into groups, and we are encouraged to spend our time with people who are just like us. In the Corinthian church, the rich excluded the poor for the meal before communion. They argued over which theologian and evangelist they related to the most. They disagreed over how to worship and who could speak in the service and in what order. Paul reminds them that the world cares about these things. When they were called together to be a church, they were called to function differently than the rest of the world, but they had let the biases and prejudices, the unhealthy practices and one-upmanship of the world infiltrate the church. 

Paul tells them to examine themselves, to discover the ways they have strayed from the Gospel, to reclaim their convictions, and to stand firm. He tells them to be courageous. If they function differently from the rest of the world, the world will notice. It may be unpopular. People might face criticism for who they spend their time with and how they live their lives. Paul says, “Remember who you are in Jesus, and be courageous in that.” We may face different temptations than the church in Corinth – or maybe some of ours are the same – but the calling for us remains: stand firm, and be courageous. 

In this moment in our country and community, two of the biggest temptations we face are the temptations to separate into groups of like-minded people, and to forsake being together. I spoke a little bit about the temptation to separate into groups of like-minded and like-gifted people  a couple of weeks ago, and so I won’t dig back into that as much. But, we also face the temptation to forsake being together. We are bombarded constantly with opportunities to do other things, and so many of these things are good. We may have gotten out of the rhythm of being together when we were apart out of necessity during Covid. And for some, the risks of being in-person are still too great. Even when we can’t physically be together in the sanctuary, it is important that we don’t forsake finding ways to be together as the body. This may look like get-togethers over Zoom. It may look like phone calls to reach out to each other. And I hope eventually it looks like all of us being together in one place again. And I hope it is soon. It is so easy to forget how to be the body when we aren’t with each other. This week, God is urging us to stand firm and to be courageous, to welcome each other and our neighbors, and to find ways to continue being the body – whether we are apart out of necessity, or when the time comes for us to be together again.

Along this line, priest and author Tish Harrison Warren wrote a controversial opinion piece for the New York Times calling for churches to quit their live stream ministries. I disagree with her about stopping our live stream services. Livestream provides accessibility, and that accessibility is important. I can’t even imagine doing away with that. But, I understand her desire for the body to gather in person. Something unique does happen when the body is assembled. We need to find ways to be together as a body, whether in person or in other ways, because the body assembled (whether in person or online) is the body in worship and in motion. 

We are called to examine ourselves and stand firm, and we are also called to avoid having a persecution complex. This is a tender subject, so please bear with me. In Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6, he sees the Lord seated on a throne. This vision is powerful in the midst of the political uncertainty the people faced when King Uzziah died. The people were in turmoil and transition, and they may have wondered what life would look like now that the king had died. Isaiah’s vision speaks hope and peace into the heart of an anxious prophet.

I love the way Juliana Claasens puts this: “God is portrayed in this vision as the Eternal King, the Lord of Hosts, whose reign offers a sharp contrast to the transience of the earthly kings and their wheeling-and-dealings. Indeed, even the mighty Assyrian empire which instilled so much fear and trembling in the hearts of not only King Ahaz, but every inhabitant of Judah who heard about what the Assyrians did to Lachish and other towns in the path of destruction, will not rule forever. Empires rise and empires fall. But God’s reign is forever.” Kings come and kings go, but God’s reign is eternal.

This is good news, but it is also challenging news. As people who are citizens of another kingdom, we will always face the tension between our heavenly kingdom and our earthly ones. We will need courage to navigate this tension. We will face situations (sometimes daily!) where we take flak for living as citizens of a kingdom that is not of this world. When this happens, we must be slow to cry, “Persecution!” For one thing, we have brothers and sisters around the world who are persecuted and die for their faith. Our struggles and inconveniences have nothing on the pain they are enduring. For another thing, Jesus said we would face trouble in this world. There will be times when our faith requires things of us that rub against the ways of the world, and we might be inconvenienced, or have to suffer a little. When these situations arise, we must stand firm and take courage. Living as the people of God scattered across a world that doesn’t yet look like the reign of God will have challenges and discomforts. It just goes along with our calling. We are called to examine ourselves and stand firm, to avoid having a “persecution complex,” and to remember that God is always on the throne. This doesn’t take away the challenges we will face, but it gives us hope that we belong to God no matter what is going on. Leaders will come and go. Some days it will be easier to be part of the body than others. But, God is always on the throne. Always. As we seek the courage to live as the body of Christ in an uncertain world, may God give us perspective and the eyes to see that God’s kingdom is breaking into the world all around us. May we be filled with the courage to stand firm and the wonder to embrace what God is doing. And may we never forget that our God goes before us and guides the way every moment and every day. We just need the courage to follow. As we close, let’s allow this prayer from Abraham Joshua Heschel to be the cry of our hearts:
“Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Each day enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. …I do not ask to see the reason for it all: I ask only to share the wonder of it all.”