Groping for God. John 14: 15 21; Acts 17: We don t often put those two words together: Groping and God. And yet that phrase is so descriptive

Transcription

1 Groping for God John 14: 15 21; Acts 17: Groping for God We don t often put those two words together: Groping and God And yet that phrase is so descriptive of what we do in our faith journey. We like to think we are searching for God. We like to think that we are studying our Bible trying to find God Going to churches to find communities in Christ, Checking out mission sites to see evidence of H. S. But the reality is that we re tired with all the stresses life throws our way And we have already expended a lot of energy looking for Good schools for our kids, good houses to live in, good hospitals, That when we get down to our faith journey We are searching for God but we don t really truly even know How to search for God and frankly it s hard to recognize God When we do find him. Think of the ancient Jewish community s search for the Messiah And yet when Jesus comes into their midst they are so rigid in their understanding that they couldn t accept a suffering servant as Christ.

2 We re a little bit like that too don t you think? We have our preconceived notion of who Jesus should be: answer man, Healer of all things emotional and physical, the only way, ultimate judge, the avenger of wrongs against us, our buddy But the reality of Jesus and his message and his person Are so different suffering servant, lover of the unloved, the one crucified not just for us but for the world including me, he challenges the comfortable and comforts the challenged, he is not the God who solves all our problems but he is the presence of God standing with us, walking with us every step of the way. Lo, I am with you always to the close of the age. (Matt. 28:20) And at the end of the day, we re more like Mary at the tomb Or Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, We might think we re searching for God, but really The best we can do is to grope for God in our darkness And the good news is that while we re groping for God, God is searching for us, revealing Godself to us, becoming us, So that we might be able to know God more fully and completely In the person, words, and life of Jesus Christ.

3 We don t find God..GOD FINDS US! I love the 139 th Psalm O Lord, you have searched me and known me, you know when I rise up and when I sit down; you discern my thoughts from far away, you search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my mouth, you know it completely. The Psalmist is consistent and completely true. God is the one who is truly searching for us. We are at best groping for God. And that s ok since God is actively searching for us and seeking us out. And the Gospel of John is clear about how God does this.. We know God personally through Son and Spirit. This poses a problem in that the days of Jesus on earth are long gone And the Holy Spirit cannot be seen according to John s Gospel: The the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. So how do we find this invisible God in a world that is all about You Tube videos, face time communication, Facebook picture posting In the letter of John it says: No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4: 12) That s why Jesus says : If you love me and keep my commandments

4 It s all about love. Receiving God s love in Christ. Sharing God s love in the power of the Holy Spirit. Telling people of that love we encounter in the word of God.. Living that love as we encounter others in the world. By this all will know you are my disciples, If you love on another. (John 13: 35) It is that easy and that hard! When we try to love our way into the kingdom it is hard. There is a limit to our love, we call it compassion fatigue. When we have helped and helped and helped And we have basically depleted all that we have And the next request comes in for food, attention, Or housing or counseling or some expression Of tangible love that we can share But there s nothing left in our tank; And we are back to groping for God. Or perhaps were in that hospital room and the surgery has gone As well as we had hoped and we have prayed and prayed and we are exhausted and a little bit cynical about prayerthe best we can do it to grope for God;

5 Or maybe we ve been injured in our experience with the institutional church, The church hasn t been there for us in crisis or offered the wrong advice Or spoken a hurtful or unfeeling word and we don t know where to turnand we are reduced to groping for God on our own; I love what Paul says to the Athenians in Acts 17: We grope for him and FIND HIM though indeed he has not been far from each one of us. (Acts 17: 27) We are much more like the Athenians that we like to admit. We do worship many material things things we can see and show to others They seem to give our life meaning when we post on Facebook And get 44 hits (as I did last week). People out there care! Or we seem to worship our sports stars and build grand stadiums for them And then struggle to find funding for programs like Medicaid; Or I have whole collection of crosses that I love to wear each day, but I don t think that s really what Jesus meant when he said: Pick up my cross and follow me. We like the tangible evidences of God that we can see and show to others And yet the real evidence of God in our midst is the love we share. The world cannot see that evidence but we can because God abides in us. Amen