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"God Has Many Faces" Sermon Preached By Rev. Richard E. Stetler - February 10, 2005 Exodus 24:12-18; Matthew 17:1-9
The lesson from the Hebrew Bible, also
read for us this morning, featured an experience that was equally
spectacular. Moses and Joshua had climbed Mt. Sinai. While they were
there, the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence descended on the
mountain. Upon being spoken to by God, Moses entered the cloud and
stayed 40 days where it was recorded that he received the Ten
Commandments. These episodes are among the astounding
stories found in the lore of our collective faith journey, stories that
were passed on for thousands of years among the faithful. How can they
empower our lives today? How can we use these ancient testimonies of
God’s revelations to energize how we perceive God’s activity in our
personal lives? When we remember that God is a being
who comes to us, it should give us pause to reflect on these questions.
How do God’s presence, instruction and guidance come to us? Sometimes
the form of guidance is spectacular. Not everyone, however, is
given instruction through a burning bush, or by a star that appeared in
the East or by a blinding light accompanied by the voice of Jesus as
happened to the Apostle Paul while he traveled to Damascus. How has
guidance come to the majority of us? What would happen to the way we think
if we began to understand that everything requiring a response from us
is a face of God? Think of the implications of such a thought.
Rather than responding to someone’s insensitivity as a personal attack,
such an episode could be instantly transformed into thoughts that would
serve us. Suppose we have a colleague at work that
is overbearing, critical and repulsive. In fact, many in the office
have labeled him or her “a toxic personality.” Such people are out
there and most of us would prefer not to be around them. Suppose this
person is another face of God. Our responses always reflect who we are
and nothing more. For example, a kind person sees an opportunity either
to make a friend or to find a more congenial environment in which to
work. A hurt person knows only defensiveness, withdrawal and daily
pain. A young mother came to me two years ago
and said, “Shirley Bickel has asked me to teach a Church School class.
I’ve never taught anything in my life. I don’t think I can do it.
There must be others in the church who are more experienced and would do
a better job.” I answered, “Suppose there is a teacher inside of you
that would surface if you gave her some practice time” She stuck with
it and is still teaching for us. Children adore her. Was this request
from Shirley another face of God?
Why would I suggest these
possibilities as different forms of God’s presence? Does our skill
at expressing loving energy result from our experience of group
discussions, sermons, inspiring worship services, reading books or from
heeding the lessons from a chosen mentor who is coaching us? Remember,
the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, as spectacular as it
was, did very little to give the disciples the skills of courage and
confidence when later they had to face the Jewish authorities and the
Romans. Think about this! How do we acquire the
skill of patience? How do we develop the spirit of kindness, generosity
and peacefulness? How do we become excellent communicators? Who helps
us learn the value of forgiving every offense every time? Do we think
others can teach us these things by their testimonies, reading the
Scriptures or by our studying various aspects of faith? Such things do
not work. They are guides to spiritual development but they cannot
put us in possession of such skills. We do not strengthen our body’s muscular
structure by having someone tell us about lifting weights, aerobics or
running. We can be well read and recite many wise ideas, but the
real revelations from God quite often come in the areas of our greatest
weakness, i.e., those areas that cause us the most pain, revulsion and
fear. As we reviewed our lesson, we noticed that
Jesus was the confident one among the four. It was the disciples who
threw themselves face down on the ground. Rather than seizing the
moment to stand with Jesus, they hid. How many times do we miss
seeing God’s guidance because we despise or are afraid of the source of
instruction? Our anger and fear often prevent us for perceiving
correctly. We can feel neglected by God when we
observe how others appear to be successful in every relationship and
endeavor. They are very involved in the work of the church. They are
constantly looking for more ways to serve. They appear happy all the
time. They handle criticism with grace and recover quickly when they
stumble in their decision-making. We conclude that such people
“have it all together, while I’m still a wreck.” What we observe in such people comes
from a world that is invisible. What we cannot see are the internal
battles of character that were fought for and won, where people chose
forgiveness rather than holding on with a smoldering bitterness, where
they chose patience rather than resentment and where they developed
understanding rather than judging others with condescending attitudes.
They learned that God comes in many forms and they chose the road less
traveled. Their decisions made all the difference in how they energized
and learned how to express themselves. We become true students of life when we recognize that every circumstance, relationship and environment has the face of God in it, pointing to our inner world as an infinite vault that contains our true wealth. Once we understand that it is our purpose to develop our one-of-a-kind nature, we will discover that we cannot grow by staying inside our cocoons of security. We will never grow by refusing to engage life when aspects of it confront and challenge us. Courage never develops from remaining in
comfortable places or by retreating. We must learn to breathe new
meaning into our hurt feelings, disappointments and fears. We must learn
to interpret when a door has closed, when symbols are causing us to
reconsider our working environment or when we have engaged in excuse
making instead of making a decision. We retreat into uninformed responses only
because of our lack of skill and not because of what is standing in
front of us. Our potential can be unleashed when we recognize that
our pain and fears are nothing more than sources of guidance. Once
we understand this, we will be transfigured and become the bold
disciples Jesus invited us to become. THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER We thank you, God, for creating within us the ability to make mercy, peace and kindness visible. We would enjoy a visit from you, a visit that conforms to our image of a still small voice or a miracle. How often we miss seeing you because of how we perceive you coming. You might be the one who angers us so we might develop patience. You might be the one who tempts us so that we might strengthen our integrity and character. You might come in the form of an unanswered prayer, a need from a friend or a spouse who is testing our resolve to stay in our marriage. Help us listen for your message coming to us within unexpected experiences, strained relationships and awkward circumstances. Amen. THE PASTORAL PRAYER
Loving, faithful God, our lives often reflect
our being on a seesaw, just like the ice of last Sunday and the
Spring-like temperatures of today. May we not judge our lives in terms
of “good days” and “bad days” because all of them have a message of
guidance for us.
Thank you for helping us discover our
confidence to step into the rapids of life, knowing that we no longer
need to fear the sounds and the pull of the currents. Thank you for
teaching us how to release to you the outcome of our forthcoming
surgical procedure, our pressing business decision, an issue in our
primary relationship or our choice for life’s next adventure. You know
what it is we need to learn. And you know how blind and resistant we
are to seeing guidance when it does not come packaged as we would like. Help us move beyond judging “the right” and “the wrong” aspects of life, so that we think in terms of how best to serve, how best to make a difference, how best to redefine our discipleship so that our lives might represent your presence and not our own. Inspire us to play big, to wear more smiles, to bring more laughter and to spread more joy, while we seek those who appear to know only their shadow-side. Give us patience and perseverance to make your spirit visible. We pray these thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, who taught us to say when we pray . . . |