Dread and Hope: Where is God Now?

Sermon for Advent 1B 2008
Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19, Mark:13: 24-27, 32-37

Welcome to Advent 2008, the beginning of the New Year for the church. Traditionally the first Sunday in Advent has the theme of hope. With the scriptures we just read, we certainly need some hope. Both Isaiah and the Psalm are filled with doom and gloom. These texts were written in the midst of and out of the suffering of the people Israel, God’s favored people in the Hebrew scriptures. These people were really upset and tired of their suffering. Now, let me read a few headlines from our World news in the last few days:
*THE bodies of five Israeli hostages seized by Islamic militants were recovered on Friday from a Jewish centre in Mumbai after it was stormed by Indian commandos. Almost 200 people died in the 2 day attack.”

*A WAL-MART employee in New York state's Long Island died on Friday when a throng of shoppers surged into the store and physically broke down the doors.
*MORE than 500 people have died in a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. *The water-borne disease has killed "more than 500" and affected "more than half a million" people.
Is it any wonder that people today as well as in Isaiah’s time ask, “Where is God? Why doesn’t God do something?” Or as the prophet Isaiah says, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down so that the mountains would quake at your presence.” (64:1). “You have hidden your face from us and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.” (64:7b) Isaiah continues to beg God to turn away from his anger for this people’s sin, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are the 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.” (vv.8-9) The Psalmist also asks God, “How long will you be angry with your people’s prayers (80:4) and closes with a request, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts, let your face shine, that we may be saved. (v.19).

Have you heard anyone recently cry out, “Where are you God?” Maybe you have cried out yourself. Or have you ever prayed, but felt like you were only talking to yourself? Have you ever stood by the bed of a loved one who was suffering and prayed to God for help, but felt like God was far away? When we are suffering, or when someone close to us is suffering, we often wonder "Where is God?"

When I reflect on this question of where is God now, no writings touch me as deeply as that of Elie Wiesel in his book, Night, about his experiences in the Auschwitz death camp. He remembers one night when the guards were to hang several prisoners, including a young boy, before thousands of prisoner spectators. “The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lips. The gallows threw its shadow over him. This time the camp executioner refused to act as executioner. Three SS replaced him. The victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. "Long live Liberty!" cried the two adults. But the child was silent. "Where is God? Where is He?" someone behind me asked. At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over. Total silence throughout the camp. On the horizon, the sun was setting. …"

“Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. But the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive... For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. Behind me I heard the same man asking: "Where is God now?" And I hear a voice within me answer him: "Where is he? Here He is - He is hanging here on this gallows. . . "

I believe if we take a serious look at Jesus, our Lord who died hanging on a cross we begin to see that the answer to "Where is God?" is precisely this: God is with those who suffer. That's where God is. God is with our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe; God is with the family of the dead Walmart worker; God is with all those victims of the attacks in Mumbai. And it is in Jesus where we learn to look for God. I truly believe that we can find God in both joy and in suffering and there is no doubt in my mind that God is definitely right there in our suffering world. Besides the places I have already mentioned I’m sure that God is also in the Congo and the Sudan, where killings, kidnappings and rapes continue to cause a mass migration to refugee camps; he’s in those people that are suffering and dying with AIDS, especially in those countries whose government will not provide appropriate treatment; in the homes in our country where the economic situation is preventing parents from being able to pay the bills to say nothing of a commercial Christmas for their children; in the nursing homes where some elderly are alone and forgotten; in the mental hospitals and rehabilitation centers where the sick and addicted AND their families are struggling; on the streets of our cities where men, women, and children have no place to call home; in Iraq and Afghanistan where our men and women are engaged in war and with the citizens of those countries are being injured and killed. In our Gospel lesson Mark was addressing people that were afraid and desperate. The politics were such that their lives were threatened along with the life of Jesus. Then and now when people are scared and in chaotic situations, it is so easy, as Maren Tirabasi says in the Still Speaking Devotional, “to grasp for what Jesus calls false messiahs and false prophets.” She goes on to say, “Some of them have names--"perfect gift" or "vodka bottle," "too-busy-to-think," "credit card," "depression," "do-it-all," "photo-card family." Like Isaiah we want God to do something spectacular to prove that God is there and in control. Or, we grasp for something to try to make us feel better.

In our Judeo-Christian heritage so often we have looked for God in the wrong places. We have tended to look for God among the powerful and mighty instead of the poor and suffering. Maybe when we all learn where to find God and commit to being there with God, then that Christmas prophecy of Isaiah will come to fulfillment: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness--on them light has shined. For unto us a child is born; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:2,6)

Let us remember on this first Sunday of the Advent season that Advent begins in darkness. This morning we lit one candle on the Advent wreath to express our hope in the growing light of Christmas. But Advent begins by recognizing the darkness in our world, with the hope and expectation that there will be a new day. We have all been celebrating God’s coming in Jesus on Christmas for many years. But will he come again this year? Will he come to those who sit in darkness who yearn to see a great light? In Mark we are told to keep alert, to keep awake—“for you do not know when the time will come …in the evening or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn. So what I say to you I say to all keep awake.” (excerpts from13:35-37).

If we believe that the baby Jesus is God incarnate, the Christ, and that he is the light of the world, a light that has come to shine in the darkness and darkness cannot overcome it, how does that make a difference to those who sit in darkness now? I suggest that the whole story of Christmas teaches us to look in unexpected places—a baby born to two poor people in a barn in tiny Bethlehem. Who would have expected the Messiah, God’s own self to be born homeless, wrapped in a rag, and laid in a manger among the animals! So whenever we are wondering where God is, perhaps what we need to do is to remind ourselves of where to look. So in these next four weeks, instead of asking each other, “Are you ready for Christmas?, we need to start asking each other: “Are you ready for Christ?” Will you come with me to find him and join our light and love to his in helping to heal this hurting world? If so this will indeed be a Christmas to celebrate! Amen and Amen!

Talents, Faith and Fear

1st Thessalonians 5:1-11, Mt. 25:14 to 30
Sermon for 11-23-08

This is our third parable from chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew. Today’s reading comes in the middle of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids, a story about being ready and the Sheep and the Goats where Jesus tells us to minister to the “least of these” and we will be ministering to him. I decided to save “the Talents” for Stewardship Consecration Sunday as I assumed it would be most appropriate for emphasizing the giving of our money and our gifts of time and talents.

Our letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, the oldest of all the NT scriptures sets the stage as he describes the Christians’ belief in that time that the day of the Lord, the end of the world, or some would say the second coming of Christ—which Paul believed would happen in his lifetime--would happen unannounced and everyone needed to be ready, be awake. None of us likes to be faced with the unknown. I think Paul was saying that whatever happens, our life and our world is in God’s hands and will unfold in God’s way. In the meantime we need to live in joy and confidence and encourage each other to not worry about timetables as whatever happens we will be alive in Christ.

Parables are tricky things, ideas and stories that are open to many different interpretations. Let me start off with telling you the traditional interpretation of this parable. The talents that are described are huge sums of money, multimillions of dollars, more than most of us today and certainly in that day would ever see. The Master, who is usually seen as God has given each of his slaves a certain amount of Talents and then goes away. The first two invest the talents and greatly increase the Master’s wealth; the third slave buries the Talent given to him. When the Master returns, each slave shows what he has done with the wealth given to him. The two that increased their wealth were greatly praised; the one who only buried his wealth was chastised severely and even thrown into the “outer darkness”. The moral of the story would be that God has given us all talents and money and we are to multiply those gifts and return them back to God. You can see why I thought this would be a good Stewardship scripture, motivating all of you to give back to God, so that God could say to you, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things so I will give you even more and you will come share the joy of your master!” Sounds good, doesn’t it? Hopefully such an example would encourage you all to give generously to the Church, God’s agent here on earth. However, because it didn’t ring true for me that God would be such a harsh master, I was eager to see other interpretations.

Now some more background on an alternate interpretation of this scripture: The economy in Jesus’ day was an economy of scarcity in which it was believed that there was a limited amount of wealth so if any one accumulated more that needed, he was seen as depriving others. Many today shrug this off with, “No big deal! The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that’s just the way it is.” In Jesus day there was another economy also, an Honor economy. Honor too was seen as a limited quantity so if you accumulated too much honor, too quickly you were seen as greedy and grasping. From this point of view the master in this parable would be seen as not honorable but greedy. His great wealth would have been considered as obtained dishonorably and very possibly illegally. The first two slaves followed in his footsteps and did not confront him with his greed. Now the third slave who was called lazy actually did what rabbis advocated—if you received money from someone for safekeeping, you were to bury it in a safe place to make sure you were able to return it to its owner. Other scholars have suggested that maybe this third slave might have been challenging the motives and methods of his Master by refusing to participate in an unfair society, showing faith in the face of fear? (I wonder if any of you feel guilty about participating in our commercial society through owning stocks in corporations which support things such as guns, wars, unhealthy practices or products such as cigarette companies to just name a couple of the many harmful things that corporations make money on. It’s been a concern of mine for a long time and why I encouraged that our church endowments be invested in socially responsible companies.)

A third interpretation of this parable notes that Jesus is talking to his beloved disciples very close to the time they are to be parted by Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus has already told them enough stories about how the kingdom of heaven is big enough for all and how much God loves them, more than any of them could have deserved. This minister1 feels Jesus is now telling this story to give them courage, that they have been entrusted with something of enormous value and to make the best of it. This interpretation sees the third slave as one so fearful of what lies ahead that he’s paralyzed; he does not live his life fully because of his fears.

We are living in anxious and fearful times right now; the radio, TV, and newspapers remind us everyday of how bad off our economy is. However, we do not have to give in to that fear like the third slave. It seems his fear of the master may have been what immobilized him from sharing his gifts or producing something of value with his talent. His fear kept him from taking a risk. Those of you that have heard me preach for a while, know that I believe in a God that is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Faith in this kind of God allows us to be fearless in sharing and using our gifts. All of you sitting out there this morning have different tools, some have more financial resources; others have more time; others have more talents such as singing, painting, teaching Sunday school, decorating, reading scripture, cooking, praying, sending cards or notes, cleaning up from coffee hours and potlucks. We all have been given something to use and to give to build God’s kingdom. It’s important to me that Deering Community Church consider stewardship as containing all of these different things.
This year our goal has been for everyone to join the circle of giving. We hope that you will pledge money if you can, even a small amount; however, today as we consecrate our stewardship offerings, I want each of you to take the paper that was in your bulletin and write down what non-financial gifts you will be willing to share with us in the year ahead. Even if you have already given us a pledge card about money, please take a little time and prayerfully consider what else you are willing to do for this church. As I’ve said so many times before, no one has to do everything and everyone can do something. I know there are some of you that do so many things, they won’t all fit on the page. You can keep on doing all you want to do but please limit yourself to no more than two or three things on the paper. Be sure to sign your name as it’s a three way promise between you, Deering Community Church and God. Put these in the collection plates along with your pledge cards if you have yet to turn those in. And then we will consecrate all that this community of faith has to give in a circle of hands after the offering has been received.. May whatever fear you have be tempered with faith that God is good and that God loves you. May we live fully and courageously as we join hands in building a part of God’s kingdom right here in Deering. Thank you and God bless you for all that you do. Amen

Unto the Least Of These

Sermon for 11-16-2008
Scripture: Mt. 25:31-44

Sometimes our Gospel lesson today is called “The sheep and the goats” although I’m much more comfortable focusing on Jesus’ teachings about compassion and how whatever you do or don’t do to the least recognized persons you do or not do to him. The last part of this scripture, I believe, is the moral core of all of the teachings of Jesus; but what about the first part—the judgment part? It’s so hard for me to accept that at the end of our life God is going to judge us and separate us into the good sheep and the bad goats. Liberal minded Christian pastors are inclined to want to assure everyone that God’s love will always give them another chance and that in the end if they see the error in their ways they will be forgiven. Margaret Seymour and I have an ongoing discussion where she thinks my picture of God is much too sweet and light and not enough judgment. Even Don Johnson has been known to wonder if my assurance of forgiveness is one where I leave out true repentance. Some pastors, including me, often talk about the grace of God, meaning that we are forgiven and loved even when we don’t deserve it. One of our great Christian theologians, Bonhoeffer wrote about cheap grace—grace that is without discipleship, without the cross, without the incarnate Jesus. I’m always pleased to hear different points of view from this congregation; I really do welcome them.

So I’m not at all certain about the part of this scripture that condemns the goats, those that did not show compassion for the least of these and therefore will be cast into eternal punishment whereas the righteous ones will have eternal life. Maybe some of you wish that you had a pastor that knew all the answers, but then you probably wouldn’t be here if that was what you really wanted. There’s so much I don’t know; I struggle along with you to try to understand what God is saying, knowing that God is still speaking.

Yes, you have heard me talk more than once about Jesus saying that when you give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and so forth that you are giving it to him. Jesus claims to be in each of us, no matter how rich and famous or poor and marginalized. In this passage he is talking, however, about the “least of these”, those that are begging on the streets of Calcutta, those that are huddled together in refugee camps in Sudan, those brothers and sisters that do not have food to eat in Zimbabwe; the day workers from Mexico gathered on the corner, hoping to get some work; the men and women suffering and dying with AIDS; those that are in prison for all kinds of different crimes. These are the folks that most of the middle and upper class don’t think about; out of sight, out of mind. This part of the scripture is very clear to me. It’s not enough just to be compassionate to those around us; we are to go out of our way to show love in action to those that we might ignore because of their race, their social class, their mental illness, their addiction to drugs or alcohol to give you a few examples. Can you think of a specific person that you have seen or know about that might fit the example of “the least of these”; someone you try not to come face to face with? Is there anyone that can’t think of someone like that?

I want to tell you a story that I have seen on the internet several different times, most recently when Margaret sent me an email. Listen to see if it reminds you at all about what you may or may not have done. I’m going to tell the story in the first person as a boy who is a freshman in high school but it could be any of us in many different types of settings..

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.’

He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!’ He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.

Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous! Today was one of those days.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!' He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. ' Thanks,' he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends... I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.'

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.' I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and Dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize the depth of what I had done. Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse. God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.

What a great story! The boy says to look for God in others; Jesus would say, “When you show kindness to another; when you help out someone that is feeling down and out, you are doing that to me.” We sometimes think that religion is all about believing stuff and if we have the right beliefs we will be okay in the sight of God. Some of you may remember last week’s sermon about, “Are you Ready?” Our faith has a lot to do with being ready, being aware, opening our eyes and seeing what’s happening in our world and where we need to show that love Jesus taught us by both his life and his words. Jesus the Christ is all around us, in you and in me, in the homeless, the unemployed, the sick, the hustler, the alcoholic, in the person seated next to you. My prayer is that we can all open our eyes a bit wider and see those people that need a friend, those that are lonely and hurting. Remember that we are all God’s beloved. Would you turn to someone sitting close to you now and say, “You are God’s beloved” or “God loves you and so do I”. As we enter the holiday season, do whatever you can to share your blessings with others and remember to also be kind and loving to yourself. Amen and Amen

Are You Ready?

Sermon for 11-9-2008
Scripture: Amos 5:18-24, Mt. 25:1-13

Today’s Gospel reading is about bridesmaids, weddings, and oil for the lamps. To someone who doesn’t know about the customs in the time and location of this scripture, it may seem confusing; for example, instead of generosity, selfishness seems to be praised. Yet this parable is not about generosity at all. It’s important to remember first of all the Christian community in Matthew’s time was still waiting for Jesus’ return, although there had already been a delay, a delay that may have caused questioning and some falling away from the faith.

In that day marriage customs were very different from our customs today. The time for the wedding ceremony was not specified. Some sources suggest that it was actually considered smart to trick the guests by arriving at an unexpected hour. Instead of the bridesmaids escorting the bride, in Jesus’ time they were to wait for the bridegroom and then, with their lamps brightly shining, escort him into the wedding ceremony.

Before getting to my main point about being ready, let me share with you the common allegorical understandings of things in this story: the bridesmaids are the church—waiting for the Second Coming of Christ; the bridegroom of course is Christ; the wedding feast is the great and joyous occasion when Christ comes for his Church; the delay of the bridegroom is the delay of the Second Coming whereas the bridegroom’s arrival in the dark of the night is the Second Coming itself; the closing of the door is the final judgment.1

So I ask you, Are you ready? If you are like me, you have been asked this question many times. Are you ready to go? Are you ready for the dinner guests? Are you ready for Christmas? Are you ready? You may be thinking, ready for what? Are you ready for the Lord?

I remember one of my mother’s friends, a deeply committed evangelical Christian, being so amazed that my mother and I did not believe in the Second Coming. She was a true believer that Jesus would actually return in the flesh and be in our midst as the man Jesus. Yet I say to you today that I do believe that Jesus Christ may come to you and to me at any moment. In fact I believe that the Christ, the incarnation of God, comes to us many times in our lifetime. Today’s Gospel reading ends with Jesus warning us, “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” If we are like the bridesmaids without enough oil for their lamps, we will not see him; we will not be able to receive him. I don’t know about you, but I know for myself, I want to be sure to be ready!

It’s so easy to get this parable wrong if we are not careful. We might see this story as a tribute to two core American values: individualism and meritocracy—getting what we get because we earned it. Here’s an example of the first value: individualism. The 5 wise bridesmaids say to the other five, “I’ve got my oil, so it’s up to you to get yours.” It’s that part of our culture that says we should look out for number one, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. In a broader sense it’s saying our nation is the only country that counts; do whatever makes us richer and forget about the other countries. The other value, meritocracy, says, “Everybody gets what they deserve. Because the wise bridesmaids worked hard to prepare, they are rewarded. The foolish bridesmaids, playing when they should have been working, got what they deserved.” This is a lot like saying those on welfare should not have a decent place to live or adequate medical coverage because they don’t work and therefore are lazy; if not they would have a job and could get what they need. Or we can extend this example to poor countries, saying they deserve their suffering because they didn’t make good decisions. Now all of this may sound familiar in our world; however, no way does it have anything to do with the Kingdom of God. This heavenly kingdom is a place of abundance; grace of God is about being blessed without deserving that blessing. As one article said, “the password for entrance into the kingdom has never been ‘try harder’.

So what can we do to be ready and how will we recognize the coming of Christ?

In our Old Testament reading today Amos tells us what not to do as we wait. He brings a complaint from God against the people’s worship. God complains that the people are just going through the motions and not thinking about what their worship means. God is unhappy with these indifferent people. Amos brings God’s words to the people, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies .... Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps" (Amos 5:21, 23). In fact most of the book of Amos tells us what God hates about the people’s hypocrisy and religious practices. So what should the people do? Amos quotes one of my very favorite scriptures to remind them and us of what is important, "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (5:24) In my mind this goes so well with Micah, a prophet that came a little after Amos. A few weeks ago we studied his words from God, that wonderful passage that goes, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Jesus says keep awake meaning for us to keep focus, not to be distracted from what Jesus has taught us. In the very last part of this chapter of Matthew, Jesus continues with words that help us know what we should be doing as we wait. Being prepared is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and those in prison. I’ll be preaching on this, probably my favorite scripture, next week. In this passage we will be judged as to whether or not we used our resources to fill the food banks, or cleaned out our clothes closets to provide others with something to wear, or worked for affordable health care for all, or made sure every prisoner had someone show up on visitor's day, and to bring it right here, did we greet the first time guest at church and say, 'here, this is a good place to sit, right next to me.' 2

So I’ve shared some scripture which I believe helps us to know what to do as we are waiting for the Christ and/or the Kingdom of God. Now I ask one last question: How will you recognize Jesus, the Christ? I believe that human beings are God’s language. God speaks to all of us through all of us.3 It may be a child without parents; someone who is hungry; someone with mental illness, someone who is your neighbor; an elderly woman in Hillsboro House, a visitor to our church; a group of people who are being persecuted; someone in need of justice. God moments come in different forms, but they do have something in common. They require our attentiveness to notice them.

Personally, instead of waiting for a Second Coming I prefer to think about how Christ has already come and is just waiting for us to recognize him again and again, in the most unlikely places and in the most unlikely people. And maybe the Kingdom of Heaven will be for us a great banquet. The big difference is that I do not believe that God ever closes the door on us no matter how late we are in recognizing God. Of course those many years when we are not aware, not ready, life may be pretty difficult for us. And then suddenly or after a long, slow journey, we realize that we do see the Messiah; we are filled with God’s presence. And we can’t stop singing! Alleluia and Amen.

1 Bruce Epperly, online sermon.
2 Thom Shumann, shared in a Midrash email.
3 Lindy’s Nuggets on Textweek.com.