Pastor Jonah preached Hebrews 4:16a. He said that if God is found in a stable, who knows where you might find him next. Lector: Lindsey Blair
Pastor Jonah preached Hebrews 4:16a. He said that if God is found in a stable, who knows where you might find him next.
Lector: Lindsey Blair
I went to Maine last Summer, and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.
I wish I could explain to you everything that happened to me there. But I can’t.
One day, we went to Acadia National Park and bought our tickets to drive up Cadillac Mountain. I wish I could explain to you what it was like, but I can’t. Not really.
Cadillac Mountain sits roughly 1500’ above sea level, which truly makes it feel like a mountain in Maine. A slow winding drive leads you to a large horse shoe parking lot.
You get out…and then…it’s there. The Ocean. Maine and her rugged coast line.
Before I had any chance to take it all in, I noticed my children beat me to it.
This picture I’m about to show you…it’s not staged. They did this themselves.
Photo from Maine
They held each other and soaked in a view that I wish I could explain to you…
The air was chilly, the wind tasted like the ocean, there was a kind of silent awe amongst all the tourists catching their first glimpses, and my children were holding each other.
I had two distinct thoughts immediately after taking that picture.
The peace, the calm, the hope, the gratitude…I so wish I could explain to you what it was like, but I can’t. Not really. Not fully.
What you can’t tell from that picture is that the Summit of Cadillac mountain spreads out in a downward slope filled with cracks and drops
Moments after I took that photo, the children began running.
I thought they were going to run off the cliff. The wind was whipping. Dogs barking.
Then it started raining. It became scary and chaotic.
I became anxious, and God left that place.
Maybe you hear that phrase…god was in that place…and you’re skeptical.
I understand. But it’s also why I love Christmas.
God is in the place where our breath catches and our souls stir
God is in the place where an unexplained silence falls over everyone.
And God is in the places where chaos and storms interrupt that peace.
I know this is true, because if God can show up in a stable…well, he can show up anywhere.
If God can show up where it wasn’t safe for him…you know they could have drowned that little baby boy just as easily as they crucified him later…well, he can show up in the scary and dangerous places, too.
If he can show up as the son of a peasant girl, he can show up around the poor and the hungry and the lonely and the anxious and…you know, the more you think about Christmas, the more you just might become convinced that God just might show up anywhere.
I wish I could explain that to you…but I can’t. Not really. Not really.
But I know God was there on that mountain in Maine, and he was there in the wind and then in the rain.
Christmas reminds us to be filled with the expectation of hope.
It reminds us that there is no place where we can be safe from the presence of God
There is no place he is not willing to show his face. And I can’t help but wonder if we started showing up places with the expectation that the same God who showed up in a stable might just show up there, too.
And maybe that’s some of what it means to come boldly to the throne of our God.
Boldly, like a child coming to his father. And if this little baby was Lord at his birth…then he’s Lord everywhere and all the time. So…come to him. Expect him. Look for him.
If God was found in a stable, who knows where we might find him next.
Let’s Pray
Lord, how we waited for you, and how we still wait. Be born again into our world. To the violence of our world, bring your peace. Where there is pain, where there is loneliness, bring your comfort. Where there is no hope, come, thou long-expected one, with healing in your wings. Surprise us with the hope that you bring, fill us again with the expectation that wherever we go, there you will be waiting. Where there is boredom, fear of failure, and temptation too strong to resist, where bitterness has grown in our hearts, come, thou long-expected one, with healing in your wings. Where we have no words to speak our needs, where shame has brought low and guilt has shut the eye, grant us the gift of your face again. We don’t know who we are, not fully, and neither do we know you. But we know you have a love beyond knowing, and only you, maker of heaven and earth, have the power to make all things new again. Come, Lord Jesus, desire of nations and every longing heart. Come, Lord, and come quickly. Amen.
-Prayer adapted from Frederick Buechner’s The Face in the Sky sermon from Secrets in the Dark, p 25