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!
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!
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 10:00 AM
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