Sermon Sampler (October 11th) - God where are You?

This past Sunday, I was away preaching at Chenango Bridge United Methodist Church. While I was away the two congregations observed Laity Sunday, and were in great hands. I've heard awesome stuff about both services and am hopeful of getting a summary of the sermon preached in McDonough posted.

As for my sermon, below you can find a brief summary of what the people of Chenango Bridge UMC got to hear.

Have you ever had a bad day? Have you ever had a really bad day...like on of those Country & Western bad days (dog died, car broke down, lost your job, sweatheart left you, etc.)? My guess is that all of us have had some really bad days, and probably some of us have had some really bad days really recently!

A man named Job, from the Bible is famous for his really bad day, that went from bad to tragic. Job lost his camels, his sheep, his goats, his cows, and all his servants in one day (think your 401k plummeted, your car broke down, and your roof sprung a leak)! That's the bad day part, what made it tragic was when all of his children were killed! It's in the midst of this tragically bad day, that Job begins to cry out to God, complaining about what's happening. In fact, Job declares that not only is all of this happening unjustly, but that God is nowhere to be found! By clicking on this link you can get the reader's digest version of his complaints.

It's not just Job that has such days, as we mentioned above, and so I would like to share the story of one of those days that recently happened for me and my family.

We were getting set for a late spring vacation. The plan was to go camping, and as we were packing the car I discovered we were missing sleeping bags for our children, a pump for our air mattress, and tent poles for our tent! It was off to the store to buy the needed items, and then on our way...or so I thought. Just as we finished packing the car and the kids, and pulling out of the driveway, I heard "I have to pee." Needless to say we needed to quickly unpack both children (because when one needs to go, so does the other), unlock the door, and utilize both bathrooms. With that disaster averted we were on our way.

Because I am not the best with directions (the joke goes that having grown up in Owego, I can't find anything without first going to Owego) we relied on our GPS. Unfortunately the GPS saw no problem with sending us over no less than 3 seasonal use only roads, including one with a "pot hole" larger than our car (literally)! After several detours, and some unkind words to the GPS we finally arrived at our destination.

I thought we were out of the woods, but no sooner had I unpacked the kids and the tent than it began to rain. Setting up a tent in the rain is no fun, and setting up a tent in the rain with the help of two children under 3 is even less fun. While setting up the tent, Crystal was on the phone with her grandmother (in the car, out of the rain). My wife was checking in on her grandfather who had been suffering from cancer. The conversation started out with "he's fine" progressed to "you can stop by tomorrow if you want" to "maybe you should come today." It was when we arrived that our day went from bad to tragic. The man who only a week earlier had been playing with my children, was now lying on a couch, unable to move and seemingly unable to recognize his own family.

It was at this point that my wife and I, like Job, called out to God, and felt profoundly alone. Why was God doing this? Why wasn't God at least there to comfort us? Why would God leave us all alone at such a bad time? These questions were not only Job's, and were not only ours, but are the questions asked by all of us at one time or another in the midst of pain and suffering.

I intend to answer these two questions, namely "why is God doing this?" and "why isn't God here to comfort?" The answer to the first question, is that God is NOT doing this. God does not punish us for wrong by bringing misfortune into our lives. God does not teach through object lessons. The reason why we have bad days, or why we must deal with pain and heartache is not because God is punishing us, but because we live in a fallen world filled with pain and heartache.

The second question for many is more pressing and more problematic. Why does it seem like God is never around when we are hurting the most? As people, we are imperfect, and unable to do everything...right? Likewise our senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing) are also imperfect and unable to register/acknowledge all the stimulus they receive. For example when walking through a park and talking with a friend, your ears will be bombarded with various sounds (think countless animals, other people, airplanes, cars passing by, etc.) in addition to the voice of your friend. Your ears can only handle so much, and so they filter out all that other stuff (we call it background noise). The same is true when we are in the midst of pain and sorrow. Sometimes we are so immersed, so overwhelmed by that bad day, that all we can see, all we can feel is the pain and the bad! The answer then is that God is there, only we are unable to sense God's presence.

God sent His only son Jesus, to die on our behalf. God did this because God loves us. The God who loves you is not only there when you're having that bad day, God is in fact hurting and shedding tears alongside you. It is often only once we've begun to work our way through the pain and bad of such a time that we can again begin to see God's presence in our lives. For my wife and I, it was much later that we realized if not for all those delays, and that rain, she wouldn't have had that conversation in the car with her grandmother. If not for the conversation lasting so long (again because of the rain and the slow tent setting up) we wouldn't have found out things were so bad. We were blessed with the opportunity to be there, and to be with family on such a bad, even tragic day. God not only went before us, but walked alongside us as we suffered and hurt, and God does the same for all of us...even if while in the moment it's hard to feel God's presence.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor John