Patiently
Waiting for God’s Presence
Christ
Church, Poughkeepsie
The Rev.
Richard Witt
5
February 2005
Last Sunday of Epiphany (A)
Exodus 24:12, 15-18
Philippians 3:3-14
Matthew 17:1-9
The
yearning for God’s presence can be greatly discouraging when God presence is not
readily apparent to us.
This
morning I wish to speak about patience as we search for God’s presence and
deliverance. I will not profess to be an expert on patience - in fact I speak
about it because I so yearn for it.
Today we
have two of the great passages of Scripture - pillars of the history of our
faith community. Passages
about patience and deliverance.
1.
In
the passage of Exodus we see Moses, having led Israel out of bondage - going
forth up the mountain and receiving the Ten Commandments > God’s wisdom for
a focal point for the liberation of life
2.
In
the Gospel of Matthew, through the transfiguration of Jesus, the disciples get
a glimpse of the glory of Christ and a connection to God’s presence throughout
history as we witness Moses, Elijah (as the head of the line of prophets) and
Jesus together.
While
there is much to be said from these passages a simple phrase jumped out at me
from the reading in Exodus:
The Lord said to Moses “Come up to me on the mountain and
wait there. . .”
Wait.
Moses and
the people of Israel had just spent years in the desert after escaping the
bondage of Egypt. There had been all
sorts of trials and tribulations and we can imagine that tensions were flaring,
fear was rising and doubt abounded. In
the midst of this Moses is told to come up the mountain and to wait. He waited
for six days.
God tells
us to wait as well - to wait for the Holy presence to be revealed - and
sometimes we have to wait awhile. And as
we wait other forces compete for out attention - sometimes they are fear,
sometimes they are outside forces, sometimes our own ego . And the more these forces gain an upper hand, the more it becomes difficult
to trust in God’s presence let alone have the patience to look for God’s
presence.
When I
had Cancer a few years ago - I had a bad experience the first night after
surgery when the mixture of narcotics and the sudden realization of my
mortality came crashing upon me. The
last thing I wanted to do was be in the dark.
For I felt terribly alone (In spite of the wonderful presence of my wife)
From that point on I dreaded night time. In the midst
of this period my wife said: “ you know night is a
part of God’s creation as well and that a part of our journey is to be go
through both the light and the dark.” I
couldn’t really hear her at the time, I couldn’t really hear much at the time
because the fear had too great of a hold.(but somehow
her words stuck) Shortly thereafter I
heard folks talking about their spiritual growth in the midst of their cancer -
and that seemed impossible to me. (But
somehow these words stuck) And then I talked to friend who had had cancer 15
years previously and he told me that it took him seven years to get to the
point where he was able to get over his fears and I remember thinking I am not
going to take seven years to get through these fears (though his words remained
with me)
A short
time later a member of the Ministry staff was diagnosed with colon cancer. He
was told that he had just a few months to live. That was three years ago. Through Pedro I have learned a great deal
about patience and faith.
The first
is to Keep the focus on Jesus. Pedro often told me that the times he gets
into trouble are when he loses his focus.
He is a most hopeful man - His hope lies not in his immortality (though
he really does not want to die) but rather in the power and wisdom of Christ.
While Pedro has many doubts and a great number of fears, somehow he stays
rooted in Jesus. The essence of patience
is rooted in hope and Jesus is all about hope.
It is an energizing hope that God is present, that life has meaning and
that peace is to be found. This focus,
this faith has kept Pedro going through these years. His nurse said he is like a cat with nine
lives.
This
focus has enabled Pedro to not succumb to the fears and the negative energy and
in turn, as a wonderful gift, it has many others of us to be inspired and
strengthened.
The
second thing that I have learned that has been a tremendous boost to my
patience is to be active in praying, especially the listening part of
prayer. A key part of this is to let
go. As Pedro says there are some things you
can’t control and so you have to let go and be with where the Spirit takes you.
Usually
when we open ourselves up all sorts of possibilities arise that we had never
thought of. As I was trying to write this sermon about patience and getting
very impatient with it, my son Asa walked by and said: “Dad, take a break” When
we let go, then we are able to pray and be open to God’s voice in prayer. Now sometimes it takes a long while for God’s
voice to come through. I overheard the
other day about a Quaker congregation that has been unable to come to consensus
about an issue for many years - And until they come to consensus about this
issue they keep praying and waiting for God’s word to be spoken.
The last
piece that I have learned from Pedro that I will leave you with today - is
to be active in looking. This seems to be an odd thing to say around
patience. But patience is not the
equivalent of being passive. Our patience lies in knowing that God is present
and that we need to be on the active lookout.
Patience is about the intention of looking for God, of being active in
living and honoring life. Moses was in the desert for forty years. They didn’t just go into the desert and sit.
A part of
this looking is what we choose to hold onto as we look out in the world. The other night I was in a gas station
waiting to get gas. Apparently the
person that was behind me felt that I needed to move up quicker than I was
moving - and so I got a stream of colorful language - which made me want to
find some creative way to get back at him - but I couldn’t think of anything in
time and then he was gone. As I was
walking into the station to pay for the gas I was still smarting from this
guy’s words. Inside the station some other guy took a look at me and said:
“That is a great sweater you have on!” I
was taken by surprise, but I saw that he was sincere and it changed my whole night.
We have
choices in our relationship with God.
When we choose to root ourselves in the Holy people about us, not only
does patience become much easier, but the appearance of God becomes clearer. Pedro is a Holy person, he is a saint. He has opened my eyes and given me a deeper
understanding to God’s presence. He has
helped me overcome some of my fears and helped me to focus. And as he has done this (
by just being himself) he has opened the wisdom of others to me as well.
Patience
it turns out is a mixture of looking and listening. It doesn’t mean giving up
and it means to keep going - knowing that something will happen, that God’s
presence will be revealed. And when it is revealed, even in the briefest
moments, then we will be strengthened and inspired.
For the
briefest of moments during the transfiguration God was revealed. The disciples had patiently kept their focus
on Jesus, they had been prayerful and they had lived actively in faith and in
turn they had been blessed. This enabled
them to continue on in life
I will
leave you with a prayer from Phillips Brooks:
Do not pray for easy lives.
Pray to be stronger men and women.
Do not pray for tasks equal to
your powers
Pray for powers equal to your
tasks
Then the doing of your work shall
be no small miracle
But you shall be a miracle
Every day you shall wonder at
yourself
at the richness of life
which has come in you
by the grace of God