Sermon Tone Analysis

|  HOMILETICSONLINE |

 

| Deep Chairness/Isaiah 43:1-7/   |   1~/7~/2001*Designer desk chairs are hot, no doubt about it.

But in the face of relentless attacks on our well-being, we need support for our souls - not simply for our backsides.*/[Interactive

idea: Place a comfortable chair near the pulpit, in view of the congregation.]/

\\ \\ Behold ... the chair.

\\ \\ The seat of success in our high-tech economy.

\\ \\ Right along with food, shelter, clothing, and high-speed Internet access, the chair is becoming one of life's necessities.

With all the time we spend sitting these days - in front of a computer, a work station, a desk or a table - a comfortable chair is clearly a key to a quality existence.

\\ \\ /[Take a seat in the chair.]/

It's got to be the right height.

Gotta have good lumbar support.

A top-grade cushion is nice, as are some armrests and a little rocking action.

You want a comfy place to sit as you manipulate your computer mouse, keyboard, laser printer, scanner and the like.

/[Exit chair.]/

\\ \\ But where do you go in your quest for \\ comfort?

\\ \\ Some folks are looking to a company called Herman Miller, a crafter of master seats.

There's no comfy padding on their Aeron chair - just polyester mesh, woven into a unique design that is light, flexible, mobile, resourceful and utterly resilient.

Posed like a damselfly on its off-center mechanical core, it is leveraged, restless and always ready to serve.

It is an example of what the seat scientists of the 21st century call "deep chairness."

\\ \\ A competing firm, called Humanscale, makes its padding from a silicone-like substance called TechnoGel - a material that spreads weight with uncanny gentleness, thanks to its gelatinous buoyancy.

The Humanscale chair has a waferlike seat that goes way beyond mere "cushioning."

One user said it's "like sitting in a puddle of your own flesh."

\\ \\ Of course, seats this sweet are anything but cheap.

The Aeron will cost you somewhere between $750 and $1,100.

Humanscale's no-frills price is a mere $985.

\\ \\ In the grand scheme of things, seating comfort is not, of course, a world-class problem.

Sure, it has made the front page of The Wall Street Journal in an article on padded church pews, and an episode of "Will and Grace" was devoted to the invention of a subway seat cushion, but there's little chance that many people have butt comfort very high on their agenda.

\\ \\ One might even ask the question that if we're willing to spend that kind of dough on cushion comfort, what would we be willing to shell out for peace of heart, mind and soul?

\\ \\ In today's text, the prophet Isaiah has no interest in high-tech chairs, but he is addressing a people who are in dire need of deep comfort.

They're a people whose despair is driven by truly earthshaking concerns.

Their nation has been broken and scattered.

Their homeland, community and families are in danger - even their very lives.

God says that when they pass through raging waters and walk through scorching fires, his presence will be with them.

He will protect and restore them, for he is the one who has created and formed them - he is the LORD their God, the Holy One of Israel, their Savior.

\\ \\ "Do not fear," says the LORD.

"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine" (43:1).

Here is deep comfort for a hurting and hopeless community.

\\ \\ It's easy to forget, as we fuss about our new economy nuisances - you know, posterior pain and other problems of privilege - that our neighbors may be experiencing real agony.

\\ \\ People are passing through "the waters" (v. 2) - through the raging and overwhelming rivers of divorce, death, depression and job disillusionment.

Think of the couple whose marriage grows colder and colder, and then shatters like a block of ice ... the young parents who lose a cherished child to a killer cancer ... the retiree who becomes isolated, depressed and then suicidal ... the computer techie who makes a stupendous salary but who absolutely dreads the thought of going to his cubicle each day.

\\ \\ Others are walking through fire - through the flames of family conflict, spousal abuse, financial difficulties and life-threatening disease.

Picture the frustrated father locking horns with his defiant teenager ... the twentysomething wife who shows up at church with strange bruises and a chipped tooth ... the young professional who has maxed out his credit cards and can't seem to pay his bills ... the middle-aged man who is slowly wasting away because of AIDS.

\\ \\ These are our neighbors, people feeling pain as they pass through the waters and fires.

They're not turned on by the tantalizing TechnoGel technology that turns an office chair into "a puddle of your own flesh" - instead, they want simply to keep their flesh in one piece, out of the searing flames and the raging rivers that threaten them every day.

\\ \\ What concerns them is surviving.

Not sitting.

\\ \\ Perhaps the same is true for us.

Maybe our own quest for comfort goes beyond "deep chairness" as well.

Along with all those in crisis around us, we are challenged to dig deep into this passage from Isaiah - a passage that promises to give us a way through fires and waters, as well as a shot of strength and comfort in the face of trouble.

\\ \\ The good news is that we begin in a privileged position.

Not a bad place to start.

God created you, insists Isaiah.

He formed you.

He called you.

He redeemed you (v. 1).

No matter how bad life gets - no matter how many divorces, deaths, disillusionments and disappointments we face - nothing is going to change this connection we've been given.

We can't be pulled down from our position as created, formed, called and redeemed children of God.

\\ \\ Raging water can't do it.

Neither can fire.

We can't even be dragged down by a psychotic boss or an abusive spouse.

"You are precious in my sight," says God through the prophet, "and honored, and I love you" (v.

4).

That's a permanent commitment, from the Creator of all that is, in heaven and on earth.

\\ \\ So many men and women have counted on their relationship with God to sustain them through a variety of raging storms, and they haven't been disappointed.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Phil Berrigan wrote journals while in prison, speaking convincingly of the power of prayer and love to overcome the power of fear.

Although he wasn't a Christian, Mahatma Gandhi was able to walk alone into incredible violence between Hindus and Muslims in India because he was convinced that Jesus walked with him.

Sister Helen Prejean - whose story is portrayed in the movie Dead Man Walking - discovered that she could go into death row, develop a relationship with a convicted murderer, face all the recriminations that flowed from that relationship, and then accompany him at the moment of death.

All of these people stayed in touch with the Awesome One who had created, formed, called and redeemed them.

\\ \\ But is this connection enough?

Perhaps not.

A relationship alone doesn't have power to protect us.

We also need the assurance that God is taking aggressive action in our lives.

\\ \\ That's why the promise in Isaiah is so powerful: When you pass through the waters ... the waters of divorce, death, depression and disillusionment ... I will be with you, says the LORD.

When you pass through the rivers ... the rivers of failing marriages, dying children and despair-filled days ... they shall not overwhelm you.

I will be with you to bring you new love, new life, new opportunities, new hope.

\\ \\ God is an active God, not just a passive presence.

When you walk through fire you shall not be burned ... even if the fire is conflict, abuse, bankruptcy or disease.

God is always working to bring peace out of violence, good out of evil, and life out of death.

Although we will certainly feel the heat, and may even get singed, with God at work in our lives the flames shall not consume us (v.

2).

\\ \\ But that's not all.

Sometimes we ourselves can act as channels of God's amazingly active involvement in human life.

At times, we can reveal the power and presence of the LORD to a neighbor who is in danger of destruction.

When Sister Helen Prejean asked the condemned man if he wanted her to be present at his execution, he said yes.

She went on to tell him, "At that last moment, Patrick, look into my eyes and I will be the face of Christ for you."

\\ \\ /[Back in the chair.]/

The quest for comfort always ends here: In the presence of the God who creates, forms, calls and redeems us and who works actively and aggressively for good in our lives.

The ultimate good is not deep chairness, but instead "deep faithfulness" - the deep faithfulness of Almighty God.

\\ \\ So, in the end, where do you really want to sit? \\ \\ In a puddle of your own flesh?

\\ \\ Or in the lap of God? \\ \\ *Sources:* \\ McGinnis, James.

"Go Out Into the Deep."

Weavings, March-April 1999, 42-43.

\\ Sterling, Bruce.

"The Hot Seat."

Wired, July 2000, 196ff.

----

*Commentary* Isaiah 43:1-7 is an oracle of redemption, one of the finest examples of classical Hebrew poetry and one of the best-known and best loved prophetic utterances.

In its theological compass, it combines, in a brief scope, a sweeping panorama of both time and space.

Redemption for Israel involves Israel's past, present and future, and not Israel alone.

Salvation is a matter of cosmic dimensions.

\\ \\ The text is cast in classical prophetic mode, using a style and language that had its roots in the earliest days of Israelite prophecy and poetry.

The passage is composed of six synonymously parallel cola (vv.

1b, 2, 3, 4c-d, 5b-c, 6), introduced by a rubric (v.