A Deep and Poignant Humility

A Sermon Preached by the Reverend Patricia Rowe-Jones

Poland Community Church

February 4, 2001

When I think of the great Apostle Paul I certainly do not think of someone less worthy than the Apostles, but this is how Paul himself defines himself this morning. We just heard it for ourselves, the words of Paul as they are found in 1Cor. 15, and now I’d like to read once again v.’s 8-15

“And last of all He appeared to me- even though I am like someone whose birth was abnormal. For I am the least of all the apostles- I do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God’s church. But by God’s grace I am what I am, and the grace that he gave me was not without effect. On the contrary, I have worked harder than any of the other apostles, although it was not really my own doing, but God’s grace working with me. So then, whether it came from me or from them, this is what we all preach, and this is what you believe.”

Every time I hear Paul speak of his feelings as somehow being ‘less than’ I seem to be connected to a deep and poignant humility that is the very underpinning of my own Christian Faith. For there have been times when it has been very painful to wander about this earth with a deep and poignant humility, but I have come to understand that I must know who I am not before I can be fully aware of who I am. Who am I? Who are you? Really? Truly? When a person first becomes a Christian it is a joyous and disorienting experience. The in breaking of God into our lives, into our minds and the very core of our human heart experience is no small thing. Often times the spirit asks things of us that are contrary to what our human will or flesh would desire. So there is great joy and struggle and there is a deep and poignant humility as we get real and honest with God and allow our false selves to be revealed and layer by layer we are peeled to the core by a loving God and the physician of the human soul; Jesus Christ. Think of Saul if you need an example of this process Think of the story of Saul of the road to Damascus and then you will understand why he felt a deep and poignant humility in the realm of things. Here he was, a Jew named Saul, a High Priest of his faith tradition, he detested Christians and wished to kill them for they threatened his notions about life and the realities of his religion that he knew so well and came to count on. He resented Christian ideas because they threatened him so Imagine it, can’t you? Haven’t you ever been Saul? Asked to redefine your ideas about life and reality? It is hard work- and it is work that God knows we can’t do alone So we don’t have to- because we can pray - we have forgiveness in Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit That means we have God’s promise that God will never abandon us but can and WILL take action. And he did for Saul - He encountered the risen Christ in a blinding light on the road to Damascus. For three days he was without sight, fasting. It was not until a Christian stranger named Ananias came and healed him in the name of Jesus, that his heart was turned from hate to faith and he was baptized and ate. And then, he was re-named, Paul What about you, have you been given a new name by God? Has God stepped into your life and blinded you so that you felt that what you thought you could see you no longer could see Has God restored your vision with new eyes to see the world as a child of God?

Someday I would like to share with you my own personal journey with God, but for today I just want to get the point across that there is indeed a deep and poignant humility within me I feel like Paul sometimes, so aware of my own limitations Just this week-end I attended Convocation at Bangor Theological Seminary There were so many well educated and brilliant people that gave sermons and spoke so eloquently I felt like Paul, I felt like the ‘least worthy’ of all of the apostles Have you ever felt like Paul? But then I knew that this was O.K. We will all feel like this in God’s amazing light It doesn’t matter who you are If you are human you will have to confront your dependence on God You will have to confront your powerlessness and your vulnerability and your need of God’s love and guidance and discipline etc... Etc... Etc...It is O.K. to be less than God for that is in the truest sense all that we can ever be. And yet we must understand that we are loved with an immeasurable love and that God doesn’t wish us to feel a deep and poignant humiliation in his light, but a deep and poignant humility a humility that recognizes our dependence on God and a humility that is not too proud to give honor and glory to God; our source and creator. In our world, a world that is too often blind to God rather than blinded by God, Let our prayers today be for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters of the world Let us pray that we are blinded by God’s light rather than by the razzle dazzle of a world that too often deals in deception. Let our blindness teach us the error of our seeing; as we reflect in that still and dark place where God speaks to us in words that need no ears to be hear and shows us things in pictures that we do not need eyes to see. Let us stand together in our blindness; Though perhaps not fully seeing, together in the warmth and security of God’s healing and guiding light; Let us find hope in that warmth and as we come to recognize ourselves for who and what we really are; THE CHILDREN OF GOD! Let us know that there is great joy to be found in the deep and poignant humility that comes from truly knowing our God who has been reveled to us so incredibly, so eloquently and so gracefully in the person of Jesus Christ. May every one of us, like Paul, have an experience that informs us of our God. May each and every one of us get closer to Jesus as we travel on our own unique road to Damascus. And may each of us contemplate with a deep and poignant humility the gift of life that we have been given. Glory to God in the highest AMEN!