EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Dec. 2, 2018.
I wonder … when is the last time that you saw God?
It’s not a trick question. … I really am curious when the last time is that you saw God. … But while you think about it, I thought I’d share a couple of the most recent times that I saw God.
The first one that comes to mind happened yesterday morning during my clinical shift at Sanford. … I was called to a room where the patient was struggling with a tough medical diagnosis, and also from just being away from their familiar surroundings.
The patient, you see, was blind, and they’d received some challenging medical news. So, in addition to the tough news, the patient’s only family here in Fargo -- their blind spouse and their guide dog -- had not yet come to visit that day.
I mean, just imagine, being blind in a hospital and receiving some tough news. That has got to be terrifying, doesn’t it?
By the time I arrived in their room, the patient was extremely distressed over their prognosis, about missing their spouse and dog and their distance from God in recent years.
And so I spent a good hour talking with them. And then late in the visit, in walked their spouse and their guide dog. … And let me tell you, I don’t know that I’d ever seen a happier dog … or a happier human. The bond the two of them shared was nothing short of God-filled.
After sniffing me out, the dog immediately climbed upon the bed and excitedly snuggled into their owner. There were wet kisses and whimpering and vigorous tail wagging.
This was one pup that had missed her owner. … But beyond being lonesome for her owner, you could see the worry in this poor dog’s eyes.
You could only imagine what this dog, who was specifically trained to lead and protect her owner at all times, was was thinking on Friday night when her owner wasn’t home, and when she had to go on the big adventure to the hospital without her owner. ... This must have been quite the disruption for such a loyal guide dog.
And when you looked into her eyes, you could see the soul of this intelligent and compassionate creature, and you could see a story of worry and concern for her owner.
And in that moment, that was the first time that I saw God yesterday.
The next time I saw God, I happened to be walking down the hallway on the Critical Care floor when I spotted a familiar face waving from the length of the hallway and pointing to another person and then back at me.
It was one of those instances when I knew I should know who was waving at me. My mind knew her, but I was drawing a total blank from where.
And despite being stumped, the closer we got to each other, the more vigorously she waved and pointed between this other person she was walking behind and me.
Finally, when we were about 20 feet apart, I could see the woman’s big, mile-wide grin, and it dawned on me that she wasn’t pointing me out to someone. … She actually was pointing someone out to me!
And then, at once, it all clicked! … I finally remembered the woman from a trauma call I had responded to last Sunday. She was the best friend of a woman who had suffered a heart attack and was brought into the ER.
What made the incident most tragic was that the patient was a young mother who was in great shape -- she was a runner -- and had no business suffering a heart attack. But when she came into the Trauma department last Sunday, the prognosis wasn’t good. After some initial work by the trauma team, the prognosis had bettered to grim, but let’s just say that we were all prepared for the worst. Even her family, I think, truly feared it.
But after several hours of being with the family on Sunday, I realized that they had graduated beyond needing me at that point, and I made the decision it was time for me to step out. … I had done what I could do, and now the family was entrusting their loved one to the medical team.
So imagine my surprise yesterday, when in that hallway, the realization struck like a thunderclap that this woman that I know remembered was wildly gesturing to the young mother who had come in to the ER, unresponsive and with a massive heart attack.
There she was, up and walking! … With the aid of a wheelchair and two nurses, she was out to take a cruise through the hallway to begin build her strength.
As we came upon each other, the young mom pleasantly smiled at me and had no clue who I was, but the friend that remembered me introduced me to the woman’s husband and said, “He was the chaplain that I told you about!”
He and I stopped in the hallway and had a wonderful conversation, and he profusely thanked me for being there for his family on Sunday night.
As we stood in the hallway, I couldn’t take my eyes off his wife, whom six days earlier I was certain her family was going to have to say goodbye to her.
And that was the second time I saw God yesterday.
There were other times, of course. … But now I am curious about the last time you saw God.
Because I think these are exactly the kind of moments that Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel reading.
In the opening line of today’s text, Jesus says, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars …” … And of course in this passage he is talking about the signs we will see before he returns for the second time.
But just a few short lines later, he tells the story of the fig tree, another kind of sign.
“Look at the fig tree and all the trees,” Jesus says. “As soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.”
And in the next line, he drops his coyness and tells us that it is just these kinds of signs that will tell us that summer is already near. … Or in less literary terms, that when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
I think Jesus, being Jesus in this passage, knows our human condition. You see, when this Gospel -- and the rest of the New Testament for that matter -- was written in 1st century, the writers and most Christians, in fact, were convinced that Jesus was coming back to see them, to gather them up to take them to the kingdom in their lifetimes. … They were convinced that Jesus would only be gone a short while, and then he’d be back.
They just happened to be wrong by a couple thousand years.
To be fair, we as humans just have a very tough time being patient … AND we can be a tad self-centric, can’t we? …. So when Jesus ascended into heaven in 33 AD, it makes a lot of sense that his followers absolutely believed that his return was right around the corner.
But I suspect that Jesus knew better. … I suspect that in this speech, Jesus was trying to prepare us for a long, long wait. … But also knowing that we are a fickle people, who struggle with the ability to keep the faith without tangible evidence readily presented to us, he suggested a very simple way for us to keep in mind that Jesus is coming back, that we will meet our God and we will go home to our inherited kingdom.
But, until that day, all the proof of the kingdom lay all around us if we should just open our eyes.
Just look at the trees around you, Jesus says. … Can’t you see that every spring when they bud out, it’s simply a miracle, and therein lies proof that the kingdom will come. … Proof that our summer as believers will come.
Again, Jesus being Jesus, and knowing how easily we can lose our faith, knowing how we as a people tend to focus on the spiritual winter that we are currently stuck in, versus the spring and summer that are just around the corner in God’s time.
Sure, his message tells us, there are some very difficult times we live through here in this earthly existence. Much of it is going to seem as if we are living through a perpetual spiritual winter.
But if we look closer. If we keep the faith, and open eyes, we can see those trees sprouting their green, green buds all around us.
We can see God in the eyes of a loyal and loving and very worried yellow lab guide dog.
We can see God in the miraculous recovery of a young mom, who suffered the very fluky explosion of a vessel behind her heart, and yet a mere six days later she was up, pushing a wheelchair down the hallway, making progress and determined to return home to her loved ones.
And, so back to my original question: When was the last time that you saw God? … In the winter of your faith, where is it the last time that you saw the fig tree branch sprouting a green, green bud? … Where did you look and absolutely see the hand of God at work? Visible proof that our Father is present, right here on this earth, guiding and influencing our lives, and the lives of others.
Because, in today’s Gospel, Jesus promises us this very thing. That if only as believers we open our eyes and look around us, we’ll see the tangible proof that our Lord and Savior … our champion … is right here with us until that day the kingdom is delivered.
There is no need to be afraid. Jesus didn’t abandoned us here on this lonely planet. God didn’t forsake us when we crucified his only son. … There will be a spiritual springtime, and when that glorious day happens, it will be unlike anything that our imaginations can handle.
But until then, God gives us his signs. He gives us glimpses into that kingdom in the everyday stuff that surrounds us. … If only we are prepared to see it.
God is present all around us, each and every day. He is present in the signs that he sends us, if only we look to find them.
And that is the Good News for this First Sunday in Advent, my friends. … Amen.
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