Audio recording Sermon manuscript: In many situations in life we are able to disassociate ourselves if we really want to. We can leave. It might be hard to leave, but if things get bad enough we can do it. If our work gets bad enough, we can quit. If our church does things we don’t like, we can quit going. If our marriage gets dysfunctional enough, we can get divorced. If our own children get unruly enough, we can cut them off from our lives. These are terribly dreadful things, and hopefully we never have to do it. But the option is there if we ever really need it. Having the option of getting out of a situation gives us a lot of peace and comfort. There are some situations, though, where we are no longer in control. These are the most frightening situations for us. Not being able to get out of a life-threatening situation is very scary. Not being able to get out of a terminal illness is very scary. These things can be so scary that people will deny the reality of the situation right up until the end. They will hold out hope that somehow, someway, they will regain control of their lives and leave behind whatever it is that is threatening them. What about our relationship with God? Is God someone we can leave behind? Is God someone we have the freedom to disassociate ourselves from? The way that we all think by nature is that we can. Ideally our lives will be such that we can just be glad that God is who he is and we are who we are so that we can peacefully coexist. This is how we are with our other relationships in life. Hopefully they go how we want them to go, then we won’t have any problems. But sometimes there are problems. Then what? We’re not unreasonable people. We’re willing to negotiate. And so we might negotiate with God. “I’ll do this, God, if you’ll do that. I really don’t like the situation I’m in, so please get me out of it, then we’ll go back to our happy relationship.” With this understanding of the situation we still have our rights. We have our say. We hope that God will come around to our way of thinking. We can take this one step further. We still believe that we are in control when we essentially tell God to take a hike. If God does or says something that we really don’t like, we can say, “Well, if God is like that, then I don’t really want to believe in someone like that.” There is a belief that God is kind of on the hook. We can threaten to leave him if he doesn’t do what we think. We act as though he were just another one of the relationships that we have otherwise. We don’t want to have to disassociate ourselves from our work, church, or family, but if it gets bad enough we will. Then God will be sorry. Well, not really. That’s not how it works. If it did work this way, then God would not be God. You would be God. You would be the one in control. You would get to decide whether God’s words and actions are acceptable. You set the tone, and it’s up to God to decide whether he has the good sense to agree with you. The fact is that you aren’t in control. You can’t disassociate yourself from him. You can’t leave the situation. This is always a very uncomfortable position for us human beings to be in, as I’ve already mentioned. We don’t like being in a situation where we can’t get out. We can see this with Isaiah’s experience in the temple in our Old Testament reading. God revealed his glory to Isaiah. He was high, and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the immense building. Strange creatures appeared to him, angels, called seraphim. The word “seraph” means “to burn.” These burning ones had six wings. With two they covered their face. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew. One called to the other and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Saboath! Heaven and earth are fully of his glory!” Their voice was such that it shook the doorframes. The building was full of smoke. Imagine that you are seeing all of this. It would be one thing if you were sitting there with a bowl of popcorn