Sermon 2/2/14
Hebrews 10:19-25
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Disciples:
Presence
“As members of the body of Christ and in
this congregation of The United Methodist Church, we will faithfully
participate in the ministries of the church by our presence.”
Many of you have heard me joke before that I consider a
mildly overcast cloudy day with a low probability of precipitation to be my
favorite weather for a Sunday. See, in my experience, you don’t want snowy
weather, of course – slippery roads always impact worship attendance. You don’t
want it to be too cold or too rainy either – hard to talk yourself out from
under the covers on a day like that, when instead, you can worship at Church of
the Divine Mattress. But you also don’t want it to be too nice out either.
Sunny, gorgeous, warm days aren’t good for worship attendance either, when
everyone decides they’d rather worship at the Church of the 18th
Hole instead. No, for optimal worship attendance, a mildly overcast day – not too
cold, not too warm, not to sunny, not to snowy, but just right, like porridge
for Goldilocks – that’s the perfect weather for everybody to show up for worship.
Ok, I jest, a bit(!). We’re in the midst of sermon series
on the 7 habits of highly effective disciples. We’ve talked about our life’s
thesis statement – our purpose statement. And now we’re looking at our life’s
supporting paragraphs, the evidence in our lives that proves our purpose. Last
week we talked about prayer, and today, we’re talking about presence. Not presents as in gifts –
that’s next week, actually. But rather, presence
– as in – showing up.
In some ways, this seems like the easiest one of all,
doesn’t it? Support the Church by your presence? Well, you’re here, aren’t you?
I mean, isn’t this sermon a bit like preaching to the choir? You’ve all come
today to be in this time of worship when you could be home fixing your food for
the Super Bowl, or recovering from last night’s ‘Cuse/Duke game. You’re here!
You showed up! Done, right? And indeed, I’m thankful that you are here, that of
all the things you could be doing, what you are doing now is gathering together
with a group of journeyers on the way, praising God, and trying to listen for
God’s direction in your life. That’s a part of showing up that means a lot. And
when we make the vow to participate in the ministry of the church by our presence, actually showing up to worship
and to ministry and mission events – that’s a very serious part of what we
commit to doing. But it’s more than that.
Today our scripture lesson is from the book of Hebrews. We
don’t know who wrote Hebrews, which is really more of a sermon than a letter.
But despite our not knowing who authored the text, we find in Hebrews some of
the most moving sections in all of the scriptures. You’re probably most
familiar with Hebrews 11: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen,” which the author follows with a beautiful
litany of how people responded to God and how we are called to do likewise: by
faith, by faith, by faith.
But here
in this section we find the author reminding us that because of the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus, we are able to draw even closer in
relationship to God. We are able to come into God’s presence without a barrier,
without a curtain that keeps us separated, as did the designs of the temple in
Jerusalem that kept people away from the holiest place where it was thought God
would dwell. Because of Jesus, we can claim the gift of being invited into God’s
very presence. The author goes on to tell us how we ought to come into God’s presence though: by seeking to have
a clean heart and a clear conscience, by holding fast to our faith, “provoking”
one another to good deeds and loving actions – I love that language, that idea
of provoking each other to do good – not normally how we try to provoke one
another, is it? – and by meeting together, encouraging one another as we
prepare our hearts and lives for God’s kingdom.
The
scriptures attest to the gift of God’s presence. I think particularly of the
recurring theme of thankfulness for God’s presence in the Psalms. Psalm 139 in
my bible is titled, “The inescapable God.” I love that. The psalmist asks, “Where
can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend
to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take
the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even
there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover
me, and the light around me become night’, even the darkness is not dark to
you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.” In
this case, the psalmist’s tone lets us know that sometimes he wishes he could escape God’s presence.
But it isn’t possible. God is always
with us. I’ve tried to stop in my prayers asking
for God’s presence, because that’s a given, unchangeable; and instead I’m thanking God for God’s presence.
In Jesus, we find the one who is God’s presence embodied, God-in-the-flesh. God, already
ever-present, becoming one with us, because we still didn’t seem to get it –
God’s inescapable presence. In the gospels we see Jesus demonstrate the power
of being present. Yes, Jesus’
ministry was about his preaching, teaching, and healing. But I think one of the
most powerful things Jesus did was spend
time with people. He spent time with all kinds of people that most went out
of their way to avoid. And in these instances, it isn’t always the content of the conversation between
Jesus and the person that the gospel writers viewed as significant. It was the
very act of Jesus spending time with others that was powerful. It was Jesus
eating dinner with Zacchaeus. Jesus spending time talking to women as equals.
Jesus spending time in regions filled with Gentiles. Jesus eating meals with
Pharisees and sinners and prostitutes and tax collectors – Jesus honored them all with his presence, with
his time, with conversation, with relationship,
and made them feel, maybe for the first time ever, worth it. His presence was
powerful. And so is ours! Giving someone the gift of your presence is just that
– a gift you have to offer. A gift we too often withhold, intentionally or
unintentionally.
I think
of that commercial – I wasn’t sure even what product it is for and had to look
it up to find this image (bad job commercial!) but I knew the “plot” of the
commercial well. Schoolchildren are putting on a concert for their parents, singing,
while the parents, with iPads and smartphones and cameras and other devices try
to get the best shots and recordings of their kids performing. They get closer
and closer and push and shove, all to capture the special moment – all of them,
except, of course, the smug parents who have the cool technology that allows
them a high-quality zoom without leaving their seats. The question I’m left
with, though, is: was anyone actually listening to the concert? Don’t get me
wrong. I love photography – it is an art form. But if we’re honest, most of us
aren’t really photographers. I
encountered this commercial coming to life when I attended Sam’s kindergarten
graduation last year. Everyone, me included, was busy trying to record and photograph
the graduation. I wonder how much we missed in the process! I mostly remember
being frustrated with the kid who kept standing in front of Sam on the risers,
blocking my good picture. It definitely
isn’t just teenagers. And it isn’t just technology. Our dependence on our
technological devices is just the current way we avoid being really present.
Just the current way we put up a wall between us and everyone else. Everywhere
you go, you see people who are at an
event, with people, but they still
aren’t really present. Their
attention, their minds, their spirits are somewhere else entirely. There, but
not really there. Are you present in your own life? Are you present here? In
your relationship with God?
In my
last Doctor of Ministry class, the one I took over the summer, the professor
had us start each class by rating ourselves – in our notebooks, not out loud,
but just for ourselves – on a few questions. And the first question was always,
“On a scale of 1-10, how present am I
today?” It was a helpful question to ask. Some mornings I was ready to go,
excited. Some mornings I didn’t feel very present at first. But just asking the
question reminded me that I wanted to
be fully present to my classwork. Why would I bother spending money and time to
take a class for a degree that I don’t have
to have, unless I was going to be fully present for everything I was meant
to be learning? I wanted to be
present. And asking the question helped me remember that.
This week, I want you to ask yourself that same question.
Not just at the start of the day, but several times a day. On a scale of 1-10,
how present am I? You can start right now, in the quiet of your mind. On a
scale of 1-10, how present are you in worship right now? And then ask yourself
that question all week long. How present are you at work? At school? How
present are you when you’re driving? When you are at the store? How present are
you when you speak with your children or your parents or your spouse or your
friends? How present are you at meetings? At church? When you volunteer? When
you walk down the sidewalk? When you interact with a cashier? How present are
you when you talk to God? When God is trying to talk to you? How present are
you in your life?
Ask yourself that question, and see if you can figure out
if you are showing up to life. What areas of your life do wish you were more
present for? Can you start making sure that you are really present with your family? With friends? With those in need? In
the life of this congregation? In your relationship with God?
God is here. God is always
here, and here is always wherever you are. And everything God does is an
attempt to get us to show up too, to realize God’s presence, to be fully
present ourselves, to invite others to start showing up too. God is here. Are
you?
Amen.
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