Sermon - The Ever Present God
Many of you may remember that feeling of distance and separation during the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine. If you were alone at home, you probably felt this even more. I know some people still feel it. Something became painfully clear during that time. We need human presence. We need closeness. Before Covid, some of us got by with the small encounters at work, shopping, or with acquaintances, but soon we came to terms with the reality that these aren’t good enough. We need real presence and intimacy. This sheds a different light on the essential reality of God’s incarnation and how we are called to be incarnational ourselves.
We may have become so used to the story of the virgin birth and the manger that we forget how amazing and special it is that God emptied himself so that he could be born a human, live with us, and be known by us. It is a practical historical fact that Jesus was born, lived, and was known, even after his resurrection. In part, this means that God in the fullness of wisdom knew that his presence was essential to us and the world, so he went above and beyond to make his presence a known reality. We are meant to know God: to actually know and experience his presence.
The simple presence of God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit means so much—more than we can really perceive. Simeon and Anna, only saw Jesus as a baby, a few days old, and yet they saw something in that little baby that meant Simeon could die in peace and Anna an 84-year-old woman would announce with glad acclamations the redemption of Israel. We can remember that a few days prior, Jesus’ birth was announced by the glory of an army of angels in the sky. The shepherds witnessed him to everyone who would listen. We look forward to next week as Kings and Wisemen travel massive distances just to see him and give gifts to toddler Jesus. At the same time, Herod will be so frightened of him that he commits a massive genocide. Then we hear today as a child, Jesus blows people away with his knowledge and ability to ask questions. We see in Jesus, even before he has the chance to grow up, the glory, the world-changing presence, the peace, the challenge, the redemption, the power shift, the new Kingdom, the worship, the hope, and the new wisdom and potential, yet all of this just hints at the full meaning of God’s presence with us. Now imagine this, we are still being offered that presence.
In fact, that is always what God wanted for humanity. We were always meant for an intimate relationship with God. You might remember the image of God walking through the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day in Genesis 2. You might remember Cain and Abel coming to him to sacrifice just outside of the garden. You might remember the numerous conversations with God, the burning bush, and the desire of Moses to have God with them in the promised land guiding them. I could go on. God has continually made himself known and though people reject him, he purposefully makes himself known through other means like a chosen and faithful people.
Our psalm today, psalm 16 written by King David, speaks to this beautifully. King David knows that through all his persecution and the glory of his kingship, God is actually his portion - God is the great reward. We see why - because when God is at our right hand - in the most honored position - we rest secure - we can rest in gladness and peace. More results from this as David tells us - in God’s presence is the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Isn’t that what we all want? The fullness of joy and peace. We have lived long enough to know that everything in this world just offers lesser fleeting versions of this joy and peace, so now King David is trying to tell us where we can turn to experience joy and peace in its fullness. Its source is very simple: the presence of God. Just try putting him in the place of honor, building that relationship with him, try reaching out and you will see. My whole life is a beautiful story of an ever-growing peace and joy as I come closer to God and hence closer to that fullness.
Now you may not realize it, but the fullness of God’s presence is here waiting for us. It is the Holy Spirit. The one who created order which led to life at the beginning of creation. The one who inspired the leaders, artists, and evangelists of old. The one who empowered prophets, priests, and kings. The Holy life-giving breath that sustains us every day. The fullness of that same Holy Spirit is accessible to us. Peter, on Pentecost Sunday, tells us that a relationship with the Holy Spirit starts simply with repentance and being washed. We need to turn away from the corruption of the world and our past and be washed clean. This is important and we should realize it. Here is a parallel example: if we know we are devastatingly sick, and that we will likely spread the disease, we shouldn’t bring it to others who don’t have it, right? It's the same with sin. This does mean, as Peter says, escaping from this corrupt generation, but that means living in this world in a way, where we ultimately live with God as our king - not following the whims and beliefs of this generation. God is trying to lead us to become a people without corruption, ultimately through a relationship with him. So repentance may be turning away from something, but it is also turning towards the particularness of God’s presence that we know in Jesus Christ - which then leads us to the Holy Spirit. If we want to know God’s presence more, we should ask, “Have we done this kind of repentance?” “And have we continued to do this kind of repentance daily in our lives?”
The indwelling Holy Spirit is not just simply an encounter with God’s presence - because real encounters with God don’t just leave us the way we are - the Holy Spirit is transforming. We are anointed by the Holy Spirit for a purpose. Yes, first our new purpose is for a new relationship with God, but this also leads to a new relationship with everyone else too. A new relationship that always comes with a purpose. Simeon and Anna were filled with the Holy Spirit to wait, watch, and proclaim. The 70 elders of Israel were given the Holy Spirit to judge. The artist Bezalel was given the Holy Spirit to lead to inspiration and talent for the creation of the Tabernacle - the dwelling place of God. Peter and the disciples were given the Holy Spirit to proclaim wisdom and lead thousands to follow Jesus Christ. Those thousands were given the Holy Spirit to become a new kind of people and community that devoted themselves to God’s teaching, worship, practice, sharing, intimacy, and more. Do we know what the Holy Spirit has purposed us for? Have we been courageous enough to live into it? Or are we as Paul says quenching the Holy Spirit in us - like a fire smuthered by water? We know that God wants to dwell with us and now in us with his immense and bountiful presence, but are we living into that relationship?
This brings us to the important reality of who we are as followers of Jesus - we are meant to be filled to the overflow with the Holy Spirit. We are meant to be an important reality of God’s presence in this world. In a very real sense, we the church universal and its people, are an image of the incarnation: an image of Jesus’ life with us.
Obviously, this has some really important connotations. First, the marred image of the church is very grievous. The problem is not just that we say or do things that the world doesn’t agree with. That disagreement between us and the world isn’t surprising. Disagreement is what happened when Jesus spoke to the people around him and he told us that it would be the same for us. We are different from this world. God is pulling us out of the corruption of our generation as we already looked at. No, the marred image comes in the times when we have turned against other Christians, in the times when we have been unable to balance Jesus’ justice and mercy - especially for those inside the church. When we fail to speak of Christ and so we act for our own name's sake rather than God’s. Or when we don’t courageously follow the Holy Spirit’s push to step out, act, and speak. And especially when we fail to repent as well as forgive. In these examples, I hope you can begin to see that the image of the church isn’t marred by our failures, it is marred by our inaction - when we fail to turn back and move closer towards God and his people. It is a failure of intimacy, presence, and closeness - and a failure to be inspired by that closeness.
Our being Jesus’ body and presence in this world also means that people do come to know Jesus in us. They can meet Jesus through getting to know this community - through our speaking and acting for Jesus. Personal relationships are essential to this, but there is something even more special about meeting the faithful community of Jesus followers - this is one of the reasons Jesus sends out the disciples 2 by 2 and that the Holy Spirit creates this beautiful early Christian community that astounded the people of the day and sadly still astounds us. We as a community should continually be challenged to grow more into this image of Christ - what we see in Acts 2, but transplant this worshipful, sacrificial, intimate community to our time, place, and purpose. (Two stories from St. Monicas - subway and Hindu)
We know that presence is so important. In our sadly individualistic world, we should ask, how are we becoming present for those around us? How are we being and pointing to God’s presence with us? We know what God’s presence means and how it changes everything. Let us bring others to that same repentant knowledge of God with us.
Take a moment to think about someone important in your life. How has their simple presence changed your life?
This is an important thought experiment, because we can so easily forget how important simple presence is and how it can change lives. It also reminds us why God's incarnation and presence are so important.
God is with us. This changes everything. The more we realize it, the more we come to know him, the more that change is realized in us. The result: we become God's important presence to others.
Join us this Sunday as we explore the incarnation through the centrality of God's presence.
Covid presence
The experience of the Incarnation
What the sheer presence of Jesus means - even as a baby
God's presence From the beginning
The garden, right After, Moses, turning his face away from sin, remove it from us
Psalm 16 - my portion, rest secure, in his presence the fullness of Joy, pleasures evermore
The Holy Spirit - presence with a purpose
A new purpose for all people
Present to God vs. present in the world?
visible and vocal presence of God's people
To the world
To each other
His body and presence
