can we just work it out

if we scream & shout

 



The Holy Gospel according to St. John the 1stChapter!

The number one reason folks come to church for the first time, surprise-surprise, is that they were invited.

But I'd be willing to bet that isn't the reason why those who stick around do, why they stay, why they abide...

 

Now, I have to tell y'all, I'm pleasantly surprised at how the exercise of daily reminding ourselves we're children of God is going.

It isn't at all like the Holy Spirit exercise we tried ;-)

I've heard the sentence brought up in conversations,

I've heard reflection about the best place to post this reminder,

I've heard how well the exercise is going

and I've even heard that this exercise isn't uncomfortable, but comforting for a few of you.

That's great!

In fact it makes me think that we should carry this exercise through the year...

With how well reminding ourselves that we're children of God is going in mind, let's push our exercise, our experiment a little further...

Let's push this exercise further because the trouble with our little experiment is that for many, this six-word sentence is not simple,

it isn't easy to say

and it isn't comforting;

instead for the many who still haven't found what they're looking for, this sentence is terrifying, it sounds like a lie, it's guilt-inducing, it's impossible, it can even be painful.

Most likely, though, tragically this sentence and its sentiment, are foreign and meaningless to all those who haven't found what they're looking for, who haven't found where the Word dwells...

 

After all we all know, we can see for ourselves that we live in a moment in history when fewer and fewer people go to church;

we live in a moment when everything is allowed but nothing is forgiven,

we live in a moment of uncertainty and anxiety,

we live in a moment when any number of messages about our worth is constantly bought and sold for those who are looking...

 

In other words,

we live in a time when the message that God's claims, names and calls broken people like us isn't being shared,

but instead messages of worthlessness and meaningless are incessantly broadcast and lived out...

In fact, if you'd like to deepen your "I am a child of God exercise," when you watch TV, when you read the news, when you watch how folks treat one another, ask yourself, "what message is being sent."

When we do that, I worry we will find that many messages are messages of worthlessness and meaninglessness...

As we've been contemplating during this sermon series, in this world filled with messages of hopelessness and meaninglessness, the incarnation matters because it reveals that in the face of all those threats, we're beloved children of God,

that in this world of brokenness and uncertainty God comes to claim and call us.

But, you know, those aren't the only reasons the incarnation matters...

 

As we noted earlier, the number one reason folks come to church for the first time is because they were invited,

and that's true;

but I'm willing to bet that a simple invitation isn't the reason why folks keep coming to church.

No I'd bet, and I hope you can all relate too, that folks come back because they've found something,

they've found the teacher, they've found where the truth abides,

that they've found, finally, what they're looking for...

And today's gospel, truthfully, gives us a glimpse into the lives of folks who keep coming, why they abide in the church,

and it is a depiction I imagine we can all relate to, in one way or another...

See, in the Gospel it's always Peter who is, kind of, the spokesperson for all the disciples,

he is probably one of the most famous disciples.

And today we get to hear about how he made his way into this cohort of disciples;

but it isn't how we'd expect.

It isn't that Peter was some determined searcher. No, Pete finds his way in simply because he is lucky enough to be Andrew's brother...

What happens is that this other disciple we don't hear much about, Andrew, invited Peter to come and see what he had found,

that's how it all started.

 

Through this not well known disciple, Andrew

doing something terribly simple and ordinary, an enormous chain of events is initiated...

See, all too often we imagine sharing the faith as this huge monumental thing,

or we imagine as it being painful.

Perhaps some of you even have experiences like one I had; when I was that age when you try to figure out faith, and all that.

I had grown up with this strict and angry God;

as I thought about everything that church taught, though, and I had come to the conclusion the pentecostal pastor I grew up hearing, couldn't be right.

So I'd go to difference churches, different Bible studies, all that trying to figure out what it was I was looking for, where the Truth dwelled.

After I'd gone to a few Bible studies put on by this one church, the leader asked me if I wanted to grab a bite and chat.

I thought that sounded nice so I decided to go.

The meal was fine and I guess the conversation was too, although I don't remember much about them.

I don't remember the meal or conversation because of what happened next...

On the ride home the leader said something about all the churches we were passing on our way back,

this was one of those churches where everyone is convinced they've got the truth and everyone is just wrong.

Suddenly, out of nowhere he said, 'what if that car didn't stop at the stoplight?'

I just looked back blankly.

Honestly, I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say;

so he pushed his point further,

"what if that car didn't stop," he repeated, "what if that car plowed right into us?"

I remember thinking that I've had the fear of hell pushed on me all my life,

thinking that I knew exactly where this conversation was going.

Then, sure enough, he said, "do you know where you'd go if you died right now."

Here I had gone to share a meal because I thought this person was interested in me;

but as it turned out I was little more than some heavenly statistic to him.

His witness, if you could call is that, had nothing to do with the promise that God claimed me, that I was a child of God;

it had nothing to do with God, it was all about death and hell.

Well, needless to say, I just bide my time until I was free from that car.

See, all too often sharing our faith is made out to be telling folks they're on a short-ride to hell,

as intimidation or shaming;

but the image that the Gospel shares is entirely different.

The Gospel depicts sharing our faith in more honest terms;

in more humane hues,

as something smaller, simpler and more humble...

What happens is that before Andrew goes and invites Peter,

Andrew himself abides with Jesus.

Then after this encounter, Andrew can't help but go and find his brother to tell him about what he's experienced.

Andrew tells Peter how Jesus turned and asked what he was looking for, how he and Jesus shared company;

and the rest is, well, history.

From doing something as simple, small and ordinary as telling someone you've finally found what you're looking for, Jesus' mission that changed the world begun.

More importantly to those three people, though, these two disciples and Peter get to encounter this God-in-the-flesh,

this God who knows them, claims them and calls them;

in the God who finds them, these three finally find what they've been looking for, they find the Truth, the Word...

This is something we can relate to,

and I think it says a thing or two about why this "I am a child of God exercise is going so well."

We're all on a journey, we're all searching;

and what that simple six-word sentence promises is that all of our searching is completed in the God who has searched out us to call, claim and name us.

 

You will notice, the reason Peter met Jesus is because indeed he'd been invited;

but it isn't why Peter stayed,

why he abided with Jesus.

Neither Peter nor the gospel writer say exactly why Peter stayed, but there are clues...

When Andrew brings Peter to this Jesus, this God in bones and flesh, Jesus looks at Peter and names him.

 

Here's the thing: the first question Jesus raised to Andrew and that other disciples is pertinent; "What are you looking for."

 

That question is pertinent because the truth is we're all looking for something;

you and me, all the folks who aren't here, your neighbor, your loved one,

all of us;

we're all looking for something...

That's why those messages of hopelessness and meaninglessness are so destructive,

because at the end of the day, as Bruce Springsteen puts it, we all need some reason to believe.

We're all searching, we're all looking...

Here is why the incarnation matters,

because what brings us back to this place again and again is that God who claimed, named and called us,

the God who takes on bones and flesh and declared "You are a child of God."

The incarnation matter because,

while we may not want to risk it,

the person you invite to 'come and see,'

will encounter the God who abides with them,

and that promise will make the world of difference to that person who's been looking for the truth,

the truth about the world, God and themselves.

As we noted earlier;

we live in a time when many don't go to church,

in a time when the dominant messages are hopelessness and meaninglessness;

but what the incarnation reveals is a promise contrary to all those subtle threats;

the incarnation reveals that God cares about people who are searching, people who know they need God, people who are most despised if there is no God.

 

What the incarnation reveals is that God looks upon us,

that God asks us what we're looking for,

that God calls us,

that God names us,

that God abides with us

and that makes all the difference in the world.

In this broken world we all must navigate, the incarnation reveals that because God has come to dwell among us,

our lives will make sense,

they will make sense to ourselves and one another.

But most importantly your life makes sense to God;

because God has known your life,

God has known the threat of hopelessness and meaninglessness,

and God has come into this existence calling, claiming and naming us who are searching and so destroyed meaninglessness, destroyed hopelessness,

destroyed, finally, death.

Amen