Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Today I want to talk about where we meet God and where God meets us.
I think all of us are familiar with the idea that God is best met in special times, times in which we go to special places, most often by ourselves, and dwell in silence.
Most of us have felt specially blessed when we have been able to spend time away from the bustle and hustle of daily life and to actually go up on a mountain side and look around and see nothing for miles and miles but clouds passing by and hills and valleys receding into the distance.
The scriptures tell us that this is what Jesus did.
Others have the sense feeling when they go deep into the woods where they can hear nothing but birds singing in the trees and the sound of their own breathing, still others contemplate by a river with the eddies of water swirling by, carrying leaves and bits of wood to a destination hundreds of miles from where they sit.
For some - like my wife - it is the beach - an ocean beach where the waves roll in one after another, pushing and pulling the gravel and sand and making whispering rattling sounds punctuated by the noise of the waves crashing and breaking on the shore.
I like going out at late at night and staring up at the stars and the moon and the planets.
All of us have our places of refuge, our places where we go to meet God and to allow him to minister to us in the midst of the beauty, and the quiet, and the loneliness.
We have a great sense of peace in these places, we can think - or even better - we can let go of thinking, and just sense the wonder and beauty of the moment, and then, sometime later, we return to our normal world, feeling more refreshed and stronger than we were than we left it.
This kind of retreat is marvellous - it is one of the ways - one of the important ways, in which we meet God.
Others ways exist of course - ways which involve other people - ways which are not quite as quiet - but which bring us into God's presence none-the-less.
Anyone who has ever seriously prayed with a group of fellow believers about matters that are of deep concern to them or those that they are with - anyone who has sat in a chair and had his or her brothers and sisters in the faith lay their hands on his head and shoulders and intercede for him, - anyone who has gone to church for a number of years and kept his or her ears and eyes and heart open during the hymns and sermons and readings, - anyone who has ever heard the scriptures read and then interpreted by a close friend has - as is promised to those who do these things - met God.
The interesting thing about all these encounters with God is that we are often seeking them...
We do something special,
We expend effort,
We set aside time,
We go somewhere that is different or out of the ordinary,
We seek out privacy - or the company of certain people,
We - as the old hymn goes - take time to be holy.
And that time makes us holy -
Whether we feel it or not -
Whether we are immediately aware of it or not,
Whether we have a fantastic emotional experience
or simply come away feeling that we have done "the right thing"
we have sought God and we have received from God.
We have met God.
But - what about where God meets us?
If we search for God - and I believe we all do at one time or another. If we search for God in special times and places - Where does God search for us? Where does God meet us?
A lot of us you know - do not think we have met God unless we FEEL that we have met him.
We gauge the success of our search for God, our meeting God, by whether or not we feel certain things.
We judge whether or not we have met the Lord, by whether or not we gain a sense of peace, by whether or not we have an emotional high - an emotional rush, by whether or not we have the Spirit send those marvellous chills and tingles up and down our backs.
And by those criteria - most of the time - even in those times when we seek God out in the special places and in the special ways we know about - we fail to meet him.
Life is not, after all, full of special times, full of special moments. Life is full of other stuff, it is full of routines, of ordinary things:
we work, we eat, we sleep,
we play and relax,
we suffer and feel pain,
we sorrow and grieve,
we are insulted and injured,
we struggle and fight against trials and tribulations.
In these ordinary times we are as well in ordinary places,
at home,
at work,
in hospital,
visiting with a friend,
driving in our cars,
standing in elevators,
or sitting in an lobby or a meeting room.
What about these ordinary times, and these ordinary places, these times when we are not taking time to be holy, and those places where we do not expect to meet God but are actually getting on - or trying to get on - with living our lives?
Well - those are the times and the places where God meets us...
There was a TV commercial I watched while I was on a trip that played a fair bit a few years ago that I really enjoyed.
A fellow is setting up a blind date with a young woman over the telephone. They agree to meet at a certain street corner at a certain time and then she asks him "How will I know you". He replies "I'll be driving a Volkswagon". The next scene is at the street corner. He is standing by this sleek looking car and she comes wandering along looking for him - and goes right by him because parked just around the corner from him is a classic BEETLE or BUG.
Do any of you remember that Ad?
I remember it because that is kind of like us when it comes to God - we expect to meet God in a certain way - and we often end up missing His presence in our lives BECAUSE HE HAS COME TO MEET US - but he has done so, he has come to meet us, in a slightly different way - in a slightly different form or place - than that which we expect.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,
Blessed are they that mourn - for they shall be comforted,
Blessed are the meek, - for they shall inherit the earth,
Blessed are the those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - for they shall be satisfied,
Blessed are the merciful - for they shall obtain mercy...
Blessed are the pure in heart...
Blessed are the peacemakers ...
Blessed are those who are persecuted falsely...
What these words mean is quite simply this -
Those who are living out their lives in faith;
Those who go about - seeking to do what is right;
Those who are able to feel their pain and express it;
Those who are trying to show mercy;
Those who are willing to accept insult and injury for the sake ofdoing what is right;
Those who seek to make peace;
Those who are walking humbly before God - are met by God.
God encounters them.
God inhabits them.
God strengthens them.
God rewards them.
They did not have reach out to God in some special manner, though that is what all of us are called to God, so that they might meet God. God comes to them, and meets them - where they are.
Some years back I knew a woman who was dying of cancer. She had struggled with the disease for a number of years. She went through radiation and chemotherapy and all the ills associated with both the disease and its treatment.
I asked her about how she felt about the whole ordeal and where it was surely leading her. She said that it was very difficult at times, she knew she was dying, but even so she felt an astonishing amount of peace and joy. When I asked her if she was scared of what was coming she replied "Why should I be afraid? I believe in God. I know where I came from and where I am going."
She was blessed and she felt it - and others knew it - even when they could not accept what she was suffering.... Blessed are the pure in heart.
I met a woman not so long ago who was the victim of child abuse. She had no real anger left, she understood what had happened - she did not like it - but she prayed for her father that he might prosper, that he might learn, that he might love better. At the time I met her she was helping her brother work on his relationship with her father - and she was helping.
She was a peace maker.- and she was blessed. God was with her. God met her in what she suffered and gave her a vision of himself..
I meet a lot of people who have lost someone - a lot of people who mourn.
The ones who do the worst - are the brave ones - the ones who refuse to let it get them down, the ones who "carry on" with a stiff upper lip - never seeking help, never seeking to understand what is really going on in their hearts..
The ones who do best - are the ones who feel their loss and express it, the ones who cry and get angry, the ones who really sense their loss and can talk about it. Always they are comforted, always - after the days in the tomb - they find new hope and new life
Blessed are they that mourn.
Similar things can be said about all the beatitudes. Similar stories can be told.
God meets us in ways we do not expect, at least those of us who think in the way of the world, rather in the way of God.
He meets us in our weakness, in our grief, in our hunger for salvation, in our attempt to do what is right, in our pain and suffering when we are persecuted.
He meets us in the cross that we share with Jesus.
Paul writes: about this in his letter to the Corinthians - he reminds us that God has chosen the way of foolishness - because in wisdom the world does not acknowledge God that he has chosen the way of weakness, because in strength the world does not accept God.
The proof that God meets us ultimately is found in us -
That proof is not found in our great visions and great moments of religious ecstasy, though these are wonderful things; It is found
in our growth in understanding,
in our increase in love,
in our acceptance and faith in the midst of continual tribulation,
in our doing of justice,
in our love of kindness,
in our humble walking,
Peace I give you, said Jesus - not as the world gives it do I give to it you.
We can go to meet God in many special ways and places and that is good - but know and celebrate this - God comes to meet us - in all ways and in all places. And all he asks us of us as he comes is that we trust and believe in his name. Praise be to him, now and forevermore. AMEN
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