Covenant United Methodist Church

Pentecost 22 Practicing the Presence of God Exodus 33-12-23

I may have told some of you this...when I was about 20 years old I made a terrible mistake. it was a mistake that cost me for about 5 years... I bought a new car...now that wasn't the mistake...the mistake was what I did next...I put a bumper sticker on my car...It read "Honk if You Love Jesus"...now I put on there to proclaim my faith, and as something that be kinda fun. I would get to find out about all these people in the world who loved Jesus...but it had a side effect... I would be traveling down the road just as happy as could be not thinking about anything in particular, not worrying about anything at all...and someone would honk...my immediate reaction was to look around to see if there was someone on the road that I had almost run into, or if I had forced someone into a ditch, or run a red light, or almost caused an accident...then I would remember the bumper sticker and it would take me about 5 minutes to calm down inside. now you think it would get better over time, but it never did.

There was also the moral part of the bumper sticker...someone would cut me off on the road or do something dumb as they drove and I had to smile and act like I was OK with it...now remember I was 20 years old too...my hormones are racing...how do you go parking with a girl when your bumper sticker says, "Honk of you Love Jesus"

I learned something in that 5 year period that I had the bumper sticker on my car...it is hard to live in the presence of God all the time...living in the presence of God is not easy...that is the reason that most of us can't do it all the time...Being in the presence of God takes work...

That is what our scripture lesson is about, so let us set the scene a little bit for our scripture...in the chapter before this we find out Moses goes up to the top of the mountain periodically to be in God's presence...this is a God he can't see and doesn't really know the name of... I mean God has said " my name is Yahweh" which means "I am who I am" this is what Moses tells the people of Israel..."Let's all follow I am who I am" and the people do as long as Moses is with them...basically Yahweh leads them around in circles for 40 years...When Moses is with them God seems to be with them, but when Moses leaves on one of his mountaintop expeditions they are all alone...on one occasion in the 32nd chapter Moses is gone for a long time and the people of Israel get real uncomfortable, so they say to Aaron "make us a God we can see and talk to and is present with us...so Aaron takes all their gold puts it together and makes this golden calf for the people to worship...Moses comes down from the mountain top and sees the golden calf and goes a little bonkers. He orders all the priests, the Levites to kill anyone who worships the calf and that is what they do...then a plague comes on the people and a lot more of them are killed off. The people of Israel turn back to this God who they can't see and they don't really know by name...

Our scripture is Moses confrontation of God over this whole idea that he is a loving God they really don't know, and really can't see...Moses actually argues with God in this segment... God says, I am with you and leading you and basically what Moses says is "well show yourself to me, prove to me you are present in my life prove to me that you are leading me and my people." ...and that is what God does... Moses goes up onto a mountain, and hides himself in the cleft of the mountain. he turns his back on God and looks down and God passes by, and whispers "I am with you" to Moses... this lets Moses and the people of Israel know that God is with them...now think with me a long time later...Jesus comes in the world and changes this whole scene...he will be called Emmanuel which means "God is with us." God is present with us all the time and the way we know is Jesus came into the world...but if you are like me then it isn't easy to remain in the presence of God...being in God's presence actually wears us out, it takes a lot of energy...so it is something we have to work at and get used to...

A longtime ago Diane Smiley and I talked about an interesting book...it was called "Practicing the Presence of God" by a monk named Brother Lawrence...what a great little book it is and it tells a great truth...you and I have to practice the presence of God to actually feel God's presence...now I don't know about you but I have some things I do to practice the presence of God...in the morning and at night I read scripture and meditate...I will read the scripture each day that I am going to preach on over and over again...then I will meditate on what I have read...Sometimes I use my imagination and act as if God is with me when I meditate...I will act as if God is moving into my heart, taking over my being, spreading God's love throughout me...but that still doesn't cover the time I am away from my meditation time...when I am having a hard time feeling God's presence during the day you might catch me clinching my fist...don't worry I'm not going to hit anyone...I am imaging God holding my hand...then there is the other thing I am learning to do...I repeat all day long either "Lord Jesus forgive me a poor lowly sinner" or "Thanks Father" as I go through my day. it helps remind me that I am not alone, God is present with me and lives in me...(sometimes I say "thanks dad" if I really need to feel close to God)...my point is that if you don't particularly feel close to God then know you aren't alone...and know that there are some things you can do to feel closer to God if you want..

God is close to you right now, and wants you to feel his presence, just like he did Moses in our scripture...God puts in the effort and so should we to make that relationship closer...God wants to help you when times are rough and wants you to lean on him...

I imagine a lot of you don't remember the 1992 Olympics...most of you don't remember the name Derek Redmond...only a couple of you probably remember that Redmond ran in the 400 meter race. he was way out in from after the first turn going down the straight away...then he pulled a hamstring, limped a few steps and fell flat on his face on the track...he got up skinned up and bleeding and began hopping around the track. the race had already been won but he continued to hop around the track...as Derek hopped around the track a big burly man broke free from security guards and went directly toward Derek. He rushed over to the young man and propped him up with his strong arms...Derek leaned on the man and lowered his head and began to cry on the man's shoulder... the man said "Derek you don't have to finish" and Derek said back "Dad I do to have to finish." With that Derek's father and Derek went around the last straight away and headed for the finish line...the crowd stood up and began to cheer...the guy who was way behind the group left an indelible impression on the crowd, with his will to finish, but even greater was the love of the father who stood by his fallen son and propped his son up after he had fallen...

That is what God does for us... God is always near us...God gives us a strong shoulder to lean on when we fall...God is the one who helps us toward the finish line even when we don't think we can make it...God is with us ...thanks dad...