Power and Presence (Third Sunday after Pentecost)

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One of our core beliefs as Christians is that God is everywhere.  God is around us, even when we can’t “see” God.  God is near us, even when God seems far away.  And God is working within us, even at those times when we can’t feel God.

But especially in times of great change, stress and turmoil in our lives, this basic conviction frankly doesn’t seem to be very helpful.  Particularly when I’m feeling like the world is falling apart around me, I want to see and feel God’s presence in my life in much more tangible and overt ways.  I want to actually experience God’s power and presence in my life, not just know it’s there somewhere.

And although I know better, what I often want when I hope to experience God’s power and presence is something:

  • Big and dramatic – really God, if you’re giving me a sign, then make it big and flashy, and don’t make me wonder what it’s supposed to mean…!
  • That makes a difference right now – I know some things take time, but right now things are really a mess and I want things to be different right away (like my favorite prayer, “God give me patience and give it to me RIGHT NOW!)…
  • Which I or someone else can simply sit back and be the recipient of – after all, many of the things that are tough in my life, and in yours, are things we really can’t fix; and so I want God to fix it for me …

I say that I know better than to expect these things because my life experience has taught me otherwise.  But also because when I read biblical readings like this morning’s Gospel text, Jesus is telling me that’s not how it works, either!

In today’s Gospel, Jesus begins a series of parables about the “kingdom of God.”  Often, that phrase “kingdom of God” sounds strange and mystical (partly because we don’t live in a kingdom) and many people think that Jesus is talking about life in heaven sometime after we die.

But here’s the thing about the kingdom of God whenever Jesus uses that term – the kingdom of God is something that happens right now.  It’s here among us in our regular daily lives.  And therefore, it really means experiencing the power and presence of God right now.

And so in some ways, we might read the beginning of the parables like this: “Actually experiencing the power and presence of God in your life is like…”, and then Jesus goes on to use seed language that’s also kind of strange to us because few of us have ever been farmers who scatter seed (the closest I’ve ever come to this is futilely trying to plant grass!)

And it’s more confusing still because Jesus uses seeds as a metaphor a number of different ways.  In the famous parable of the sower in Luke and Matthew’s Gospel, the “seed” is the Word of God; God is the sower; and the angels are the reapers.  We know this because Jesus says so!

But today’s parable is different.  The “seed” appears to be the whole experience of God in your life (that is, “the kingdom of God”) and the guy who sows and reaps is the one who experiences this power and presence of God. (After all, if God were the sower here, he’d clearly know how this whole process works, as opposed to this guy who, like us, is often clueless to exactly what’s going on in his life!)

So if this is the case, how does this farmer experience the “kingdom of God”?  Clearly, Jesus sets up different expectations from the ones I often hope for.  In this parable, the power and presence of God is experienced:

  • In small (even almost unseen) things – it’s like a seed; you could miss them if you weren’t looking for them; and after they’re planted, they go unseen for a while.  Yet, the first “sign” of the presence and power of God is a bunch of little things, not the big, bold, flashy things so many of us hope for…
  • Through gradual growth – perhaps if the farmer watches closely, he’ll see daily growth.  But it seems like there isn’t a big change from day to day.  Signs of God’s power and presence grow in this guy’s life, but it just doesn’t happen all at once…
  • By being willing to act at the right time – in the end, there’s an abundant harvest, providing the farmer with food and seed for the next year!  But it won’t do him any good unless he acts on the gift he’s been given; as Jesus tells the story, the grain, like God’s presence and power in our lives, is pure gift – Jesus doesn’t credit the farmer at all for the growing of the grain.  But the gift will sit there unused unless the farmer invests himself in what God is doing…

And so rather than expecting the things I so often want when I’m looking for the power and presence of God in my life, Jesus uses this parable to promise us that the power and presence of God really is there for us all the time.  And, that we’re more likely to see, feel and experience God’s power and presence when we, too, are open to:

  • Looking for the small signs around us – what are the little things that show you that God is actually acting and speaking in your life that you might not notice if you didn’t pay attention?  For me, it sometimes comes from the word a friend speaks to me that helps me keep stuff in perspective in a moment of stress.  That actually may be God’s way of speaking to me.  For me, it’s sometimes a momentary feeling of hope that I will get through the mess (even though I frequently lapse back into the stress!).  That may actually be the sign of the Holy Spirit beginning to change my heart.  And for me, it’s sometimes noticing the one or two good things that are happening in the midst of so many bad things.  And it’s not that God made that one good thing appear – it’s that God helped me to actually notice the good.  All of those things are like small seeds – but they’re actual ways of experiencing God’s power and presence in my life…
  • Gradual growth and change in our lives – and like the growth of the plants, it’s not always evident unless we pay attention.  But the power and presence of God in our lives sometimes is experienced when we find we have just a bit more stamina and courage to face the mess of life than we did a few months ago, and sometimes that’s only apparent in retrospect – maybe even getting through Covid has helped a lot of us feel the growth of God’s help and presence in our lives because we realize in retrospect that God really has helped us cope and change in ways we didn’t think we’d be able to …
  • Being willing to act on the gifts God gives us – Years ago, our youth and adults participated in a summer program called “Work Camp”… And the result among many participants was the realization of God actually working in their lives by making them instruments in the lives of others.  God was always there, but when they opened themselves up to acting on that promise, they felt and experienced that presence in new ways;  And, even personally, I’ve known for a long time that exercise helps me not internalize stress in my life.  And there have been moments that the experience of God in my life has been as simple as listening to the feeling of “get back and use the gym!” instead of just praying for God to take away the stress…!

It’s true!  God is always around us, even when we can’t “see” God.  God is always near us, even when God seems far away.  And God is always working within us, even at those times when we can’t feel God.

But Jesus points out in today’s parable that we’re more likely to actually “see” God’s presence when we’re open to looking for the little ways in which God is doing stuff in our lives.  We’re more likely to experience God’s presence when we’re open to noticing the gradual changes taking place in and among us.  And we’re more likely to actually experience God’s presence when we open ourselves to God’s call to actively participate in the opportunities God gives us, instead of just waiting for God to change things.

Amen.