josephholubsermons
December 14, 2008
Advent 3
Luke 1:39-56
Imminent Presence
A decade ago we were living
in Anchorage, Alaska, and one beautiful summer day I was invited to join two
of Marcia’s coworkers on a mountain hike that I had wanted to do for some
time, but I hadn’t got around to, so I jumped at the opportunity.
When we arrived at the trailhead in the morning we were greeted by a
sign that read:
“Warning! A bear has been
spotted on this trail the past ten consecutive days.”
Of course, the sign
raised our anxiety level, especially because earlier that summer a woman and
her grandson had been attacked and killed by a bear on a trail just outside
of Anchorage.
We were concerned, but
nevertheless we proceeded. We
had taken a few precautions like bells on our walking sticks to warn the
bears of our approach and cans of pepper spray in our day packs, for all the
good that might have accomplished.
The hike up the trail
proceeded without incident - no bear sightings or encounters.
We made it to the top of the beautiful pass that rested between two
stunning mountain peaks. It was
a gorgeous day and we drank up the serenity and beauty.
After some time and lunch at the top we started back down in the
early afternoon. We were
approaching tree line when it
happened!
In south central Alaska the
landscape above tree line is a bit different than in Colorado.
The altitude immediately above tree line, which is only about
3500-4000 feet, is often characterized by very tall grass, like five or six
feet tall by late summer, and it was August and the grass was very tall.
At that point the trail was like walking through a grass-
lined-canyon. It was then I
heard it! I heard a sound that
was unmistakable. Even if you’ve
never heard this sound before, when you hear it you know exactly
what it is. It was the
sound of claws scratching on bark, and it was coming from just a
short distance away, just beyond the boundary of the grass-lined trail, but
because of the grass, we couldn't see.
We froze in our
tracks not wanting to be heard!
Then we sort of tipped-toed past the spot, convinced that the bear
was just yards away, working his claws on a tree or a log.
For reasons still unknown to me, at that point I found the temptation
to take a peek was beyond my ability to resist - so I did.
I took a peek. I stopped,
stepped off the trail and pushed the grass aside with both hands, as quietly
as possible – and low and behold
there he was:
a porcupine sitting on a large overhanging tree branch
scratching his claws. I had that part right.
We never did see a
bear on that trail that day.
But, needless to say, it was an interesting and fascinating hike.
The most interesting thing about it was the heightened sense of
awareness and expectation we had all along the way.
I am normally not a very observant person.
My default setting is BIG
PICTURE – not smaller detail.
But that day I heard every little sound; saw every
movement of grass and tree branch stirred by the wind; noticed every
little detail along the way - every little critter than crossed our path;
the birds, their songs, the sounds, everything.
And you what? Because of
my expectation of the potential bear-presence out there, I noticed
marvelous and miraculous things that I never would have seen otherwise.
I lived with a sense of expectancy, and as result
sensitivity to my environment.
For me, that whole incident
serves as a metaphor or a parable that I can apply to
Advent. Because I hiked that
day with an expectation of a (presence) "bear-presence" I saw and heard
things I would never have seen and heard otherwise!
I was more in tune with and sensitized to my
surroundings than ever!
There is
one concept of God that has dominated religious
consciousness for centuries, and that is the concept of God as an entity or
a person-like being who resides somewhere out there far beyond the
circle and realm of the earth.
This concept is no more apparent than with athletes who incessantly point
at the sky after making a great play over their opponent, as if God
willed their victory over their opponent.
This concept of God includes the idea that God, who lives outside our
reality, selectively breaks in to our reality at his choosing, or
perhaps according to or in response to our various beckonings, invitations
and pleadings. Now that's a bit of an oversimplification, but a pretty good
generalization of a concept of God with which many live.
But there is another
concept of God that is biblical, that many traditions over the centuries
have affirmed, lifted up, confessed and lived by
as their core faith. This
is the idea that God is imminent - God is present - God is right here.
God is not a person-like-being far away that we supplicate
into our experience. God doesn't have to be cajoled, enticed, persuaded or
sweet-talked into coming. God is
imminently present and everything and every moment is embraced by the
presence of God.
This is the God of whom
Paul testified in the Book of Acts, standing in front of the Areopagus in
Athens, looking at a shine dedicated to an "Unknown God," and then
testifying to the Athenians saying,
"It is in this God we live and move and have our being," a statement
that reflects the imminence and intimacy of God's presence.
I believe this is the God
that Elizabeth and Mary experienced in their bonding with one
another.
"The child leaped in Elizabeth's
womb," Luke writes. It
sounds to me like the kid merely gave a good kick.
But because Elizabeth was a person perhaps who lived with a sense of
expectancy, a sense of "God-presence",
she perceived it as a sign of God's imminence - God's presence right
there in their midst - a presence embracing them - holding them - bonding
them - affirming them – assuring them - supporting them - empowering them.
Luke connects the birth of John and the birth of Jesus by
bonding together the two mothers.
What fuller expression of God's intimate and imminent presence can
there be than the birth of a child?
The birth of a child is not
a description of God breaking in as a powerful being from outside the realm
of the earth. But it's a
description of a vulnerable God who emerges from within; who is seen
and experienced in the most tender and vulnerable places of life and
in the most vulnerable people.
Luke portrays Mary, an
adolescent peasant woman who had no or little status in the culture, as a
social prophet in the line of Isaiah.
God emerged through Mary and designated her voice as a voice
proclaiming the kingdom of God - the same kingdom that Jesus would later
embody in his life and ministry.
Luke wants us to see Mary as a metaphor for where and how God emerges in the
world. Do we dare look into the
eyes of the oppressed, the poor, the marginal and disenfranchised of our
time and see and hear see their voices as prophetic challenging us to
bring in the compassion and social justice of the kingdom of God through our
lives.
"...he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of
their hearts... brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up
the lowly; he has filled the hungry.. and sent the rich away empty." (Luke
1:51b - 53) That's a
description of the kingdom of God in this world that Mary announced, Jesus
announced and embodied and that you and I are called to announce and embody.
My word today is that
Advent is not merely about waiting for God's arrival in some
dramatic, pretentious, brazen, flamboyant and grandiose way, but God
arriving in the ordinary, in the vulnerable, in everyday and mundane ways.
Christmas is about God emerging in through an old woman, a peasant
teenager, a vulnerable baby, and lowly shepherds.
Advent is about looking for
and expecting God to emerge and be born in the ordinary moments,
circumstances and people of our days.
This last Wednesday evening at confirmation, one of the youth,
knowing I was scheduled for shoulder surgery this next week simply asked me,
"Pastor, are you scared?"
That was a God moment for me - not only because she
cared enough to ask; not only that she was concerned; but also
it was a simple question that cut to the chase and helped me identify and
process my anxiety of which I was trying to suppress.
The older I get the more I
see that life is pregnant with God-presence waiting to emerge and be
born. The question then becomes,
"Do I live my days in that expectation
and open my heart to it?"
It's about having the eyes and the ears and the sensibilities to perceive
the God who is already here; in every wisp of wind, in every breath of
oxygen inhaled that gives life; in the snow and rain that water the earth
and regenerate life; in the sorrowing, lonely, needy face of your neighbors
near and far; in the question and concern of a young teenager; in the lives
of peasants and poor.
Make Advent and every other
season of the year about the miracle of each moment and live with a sense
expectation and anticipation that God is present and never is not.
You may be surprised at
what you see and experience.
Amen.