GOD EXPOSED
November 27, 2005

TEXT: Isaiah 64:1-9
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence —as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.

We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.

TEXT: Mark 13:24-37
But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.

A few weeks before I was to begin my pastorate here at St. John’s, I received a phone call from a couple who asked if I would perform their wedding at the Kutztown Airport. There was one hitch, however. They wanted me to administer the vows while sky-diving. I told them I would meet them half-way—they could jump and I would wait for them on the tarmac. I was not about to follow Jesus by coming out of the clouds.

I remember my first commuter flight from Reading to Philadelphia. Allegheny Airlines was noted for their harrowing, white-knuckle landings, and it didn’t help my confidence any to see the technicians removing shrubbery from the landing-gear of the aircraft I was to board.

However, once aloft you gain a different perspective. You’ve heard the expression of "not being able to see the forest because of the trees." I noticed how thick some of the wooded areas were below, how green the trees were, and what things seemed close were in reality miles away. But on the ground you wouldn't be able to see fifty feet in front of you because of all the limbs and bushes. And with that I realized how short-sighted we often become, not only in our vision, but also in our thinking. By focusing on what is immediately in front of us, we don’t see the larger picture. Our horizons become limited by our short-sighted vision.

This is especially true when it comes to the spiritual dimension of our lives. We become so caught up in the practice of our religion that we fail to see why we are practicing our religion. We had a dog once and whenever I would fill his food dish, I would point to it and tell him to go eat, but he was more interested in watching my hand rather than where my hand was pointing. What often happens in worship is that we get so involved in the elements of worship that we fail to see the object of our worship, which is the realization and appreciation of the presence of God. We cannot see and feel the presence of God because of all the clutter and busyness with which we fill our lives.

Advent marks the time of anxious waiting, a time of anticipation, of eager longing. No, not for the celebration of Christmas and all the things with which we surround our observance—the parties and gifts and musical festivities and family get-togethers. Advent is when we hear anew the words of the prophets proclaiming the revealing of God. It is a time when God is exposed to our lives and we realize that we have not been abandoned by our Creator.

Isaiah prayed, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence.” Jeremiah said that the days are coming when no longer will people say, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know God, from the least of them to the greatest.”

God will be revealed without any assistance from those who claim to speak for God in our own day. We must endure the idiocy of people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who consistently come down with “foot-in-mouth” disease. Falwell proclaimed that the tragedy of 9-11 was God’s judgment on the sin city of New York. To attribute the actions of terrorists to a loving God is a gross perversion of the Christian gospel.

And Robertson, who once advocated the murder of a foreign head of state, more recently declared that the town of Dover, Pennsylvania was going to hell because they voted out school board members who were in favor of making intelligent design part of the science curriculum. Of course, when Hurricane Katrina struck the heart of the Bible Belt, there was no response from either Falwell or Robertson to indicate that this might be the judgment of God.
The point is that we must be careful with prophecies. Scripture can often be interpreted to support a particular point of view. The question that all of us are hungering to have answered is, “What does God want us to do?”

For starters, God wants us to recognize his presence in the world and in our hearts and lives. Isaiah said that the heavens are ripped apart so that we could see God. Jesus tells us to "watch" or "keep awake." To watch means to endure, remain steadfast, or to use a modern expression, "Hang in there." Keep going even when it seems you can’t go any farther. We live and move in the expectation that life is going to get better.

Advent is also a season of anticipation, the time when we look forward to the "Son of man coming in glory." I remember a billboard that said: “God is coming—and boy is he mad.” Of course that’s a joke. God is already here. What is coming is the revelation of God’s presence, the realization that God is within us, that God is working in the world through us.

I believe that God is revealed through all of the world’s religions, that each path contributes to the recognition of the divinity that is present in the life process. When we take this larger view and see the unfolding of the universe, we realize that there is intentional design to creation, that life does have a purpose, that each of our separate lives fits into the larger tapestry.

I like the Sanskrit word “Namaste” which literally means to “bow” or “honor.” It’s fuller meaning is:

I honor the place in you where God lives
I honor the place in you which is
of Love, of Truth, of Light, of Peace,
when you are in that place in you,
and I am in that place in me,
then we are One.

It is another way of saying that God is in you and God is in me, and when we realize that, we become one. Jesus was intimate with the presence of God within him and recognized the divine is each person, that is why he referred to us as all children of the same Father. When all people come to that realization, then God’s intention will be fulfilled and God’s Kingdom will come.

In the meantime, let us work so that God’s presence can be seen in us and in what we do. Let Christ be born in each one of us--and the world will change.