June 4, 2006
“Sighs Too Deep for Words”
Acts 2:1-4, Romans 8:22-27, John 16:12-15
1. What I REALLY want to talk about today is how, in spite of our opinions and personal differences … God is constantly at work in our lives …
Lately, I have been writing about this in my newsletter article …
It comes under the concept of “Thin Places” – The idea of thin places is a new one … but it is actually an old one.
It comes to us from the ancient Celts in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England. It is both pre-Christian and ancient Christian. It starts with the idea of the heart … which, in the Bible, is the deepest level our spiritual selves …
The Bible refers to the heart over 1,000 times. It is a metaphor for the self … or the soul … the inner self … the center or core of our being …
“Serve the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deut 10:12)
“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart” (Psalm 9:1)
“Create in me a clean heart” (Psalm 51)
“Where your treasure is, there you heart will be also” (Mathew 6:21)
“May you be strengthened in your inner being with power through God’s Spirit, that Christ may dwell in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:16-17)
2. Because of our past history of the Bible when God was believed to be “Up” in heaven … and then with the dismantling of that idea of heaven by modern science … which proved that God is not “Up” – although we still think of it that way … because there is no UP …
In fact, according to Einstein, everything is relative … including time and space … a concept which is hard to grasp …
Methodist theologian Ruth Suchocki (in her book on prayer, called In God’s Presence) points out that today “we no longer live in human-centered universe. We are dwarfed by the vastness of the universe beyond ourselves, and we no longer have confidence that it was all created so that we ourselves might exist.”
And yet, we somehow expect that if we pray … God will be there, even at 2 Am in the morning.
“Isn’t this a little peculiar?” She asks.
Where does God begin … and where do we leave off …?”
Or, is it possible for God to flow literally right through us like the many electronic waves and cosmic particles that go right through our bodies … every second?
In other words … in this 21st century … do we need to rethink our concepts about God as somehow being “Up there.”
Is not, we might ask, God right here … continuously, every minutes … surrounding us … and seeking to make contact with us … in our very being … which we call the heart …?
3. The great monk and mystic, Thomas Merton put it this way:
“Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. It’s impossible. The only thing is that we don’t see it.”
But, as theologian Marcus Borg, writes: “Occasionally, we do see it.”
And the times and places where God somehow shines through or past the five senses … or within the five senses … are what we call thin places.
4. One of the great thin places in the Bible was of course …the Day
of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and many people …
Nowadays … many people have trouble with the idea of the Holy Spirit … perhaps because it was not discussed much back fifty years ago … in our religious education … and also because it has become the trademark of what today … we know as the charismatic movement … in Christianity … which centers around
Being born again, speaking in tongues … and other “gifts of the spirit.”
If you are one of those persons … then perhaps for you, this was or is the “thin” place where God broke or breaks through in your life.
One thing is clear, the idea of God as Spirit … of Jesus as a spiritual force … is all over the New Testament … and today we hear from three very different writers … Luke in the Books of Acts … Paul in the Letter to the Romans … and in the Gospel of John … all giving testimony to the presence and power of God which comes as an advocate … or counselor; as teacher and friend; as one who bears witness to the presence of God; and as the spirit of truth.
5. But, what I would like to suggest, this morning, is that God can come to us … in all sorts of ways … and probably has been making contact with you … even if you didn’t know it … all throughout your life …
In short, you have been and are much closer to God … than you realize …
For among … the ways that God comes to us are:
On top of mountains
Through the ocean
In worship and music and singing
Through sermons
Through reading the Scriptures
In art and literature and dance
In prayer both public and in worship
On special days – like Easter and Christmas
And through other people who may be special spiritual guides
6. Recently, in our mid-week EPIC worship service we explored
some of the “thin places” where God was especially close to us at some time in our life:
As I was preparing for this service I began looking around my office … and to my surprise I discovered that I had taken pictures of “thin places” in my life and put them up to remind me of those special moments, times, places, and people who brought the sense of God’s presence close to me.
I have collected them into a little insert … along with some other quotations which I added … to stimulate you to think about how God may have been close to you in your life …
GO through the booklet …show photos …
7. The idea of “thin places” may seem strange to you … but surveys show that at some time in their life … nearly one third or (47 million) Americans report that God our something greater than themselves seemed to be present in their life …
Such experiences do not last very long. We cannot bear them for they are two wonderful … and we cannot live in a permanent state of mystical consciousness.
Yet we try. John, Peter and James went up on the Mountain with Jesus. (Notice it often happens on a mountain) and they see him transfigured … and they try to build a shelter, so they can stay there … but it all disappears … just like the moment when the Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism … in the River Jordan … or when the disciples saw him at his ascension …
8. So, I am not suggesting that these moments are the be all and
End all … of our religious life ….
But, only that these are renewing moments … when God comes close to us …
And often there are things which interfere with God’s Spirit …
Like times when we are…
Hurting
Angry
Lonely
And Tired
In fact, we might call these “thick places” – where God seems far away …
Times when we must go on nevertheless … trying to live faithfully... caring for others … working for justice … in large and small ways … trusting that God is still with us …
And in our weakness; we have the reassurance that even when we do not know how to pray … the Spirit of God intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
And, that is the message … from Paul today …
Let us pray ….
“Sighs Too Deep for Words”
Acts 2:1-4, Romans 8:22-27, John 16:12-15
1. What I REALLY want to talk about today is how, in spite of our opinions and personal differences … God is constantly at work in our lives …
Lately, I have been writing about this in my newsletter article …
It comes under the concept of “Thin Places” – The idea of thin places is a new one … but it is actually an old one.
It comes to us from the ancient Celts in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England. It is both pre-Christian and ancient Christian. It starts with the idea of the heart … which, in the Bible, is the deepest level our spiritual selves …
The Bible refers to the heart over 1,000 times. It is a metaphor for the self … or the soul … the inner self … the center or core of our being …
“Serve the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deut 10:12)
“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart” (Psalm 9:1)
“Create in me a clean heart” (Psalm 51)
“Where your treasure is, there you heart will be also” (Mathew 6:21)
“May you be strengthened in your inner being with power through God’s Spirit, that Christ may dwell in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:16-17)
2. Because of our past history of the Bible when God was believed to be “Up” in heaven … and then with the dismantling of that idea of heaven by modern science … which proved that God is not “Up” – although we still think of it that way … because there is no UP …
In fact, according to Einstein, everything is relative … including time and space … a concept which is hard to grasp …
Methodist theologian Ruth Suchocki (in her book on prayer, called In God’s Presence) points out that today “we no longer live in human-centered universe. We are dwarfed by the vastness of the universe beyond ourselves, and we no longer have confidence that it was all created so that we ourselves might exist.”
And yet, we somehow expect that if we pray … God will be there, even at 2 Am in the morning.
“Isn’t this a little peculiar?” She asks.
Where does God begin … and where do we leave off …?”
Or, is it possible for God to flow literally right through us like the many electronic waves and cosmic particles that go right through our bodies … every second?
In other words … in this 21st century … do we need to rethink our concepts about God as somehow being “Up there.”
Is not, we might ask, God right here … continuously, every minutes … surrounding us … and seeking to make contact with us … in our very being … which we call the heart …?
3. The great monk and mystic, Thomas Merton put it this way:
“Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. It’s impossible. The only thing is that we don’t see it.”
But, as theologian Marcus Borg, writes: “Occasionally, we do see it.”
And the times and places where God somehow shines through or past the five senses … or within the five senses … are what we call thin places.
4. One of the great thin places in the Bible was of course …the Day
of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and many people …
Nowadays … many people have trouble with the idea of the Holy Spirit … perhaps because it was not discussed much back fifty years ago … in our religious education … and also because it has become the trademark of what today … we know as the charismatic movement … in Christianity … which centers around
Being born again, speaking in tongues … and other “gifts of the spirit.”
If you are one of those persons … then perhaps for you, this was or is the “thin” place where God broke or breaks through in your life.
One thing is clear, the idea of God as Spirit … of Jesus as a spiritual force … is all over the New Testament … and today we hear from three very different writers … Luke in the Books of Acts … Paul in the Letter to the Romans … and in the Gospel of John … all giving testimony to the presence and power of God which comes as an advocate … or counselor; as teacher and friend; as one who bears witness to the presence of God; and as the spirit of truth.
5. But, what I would like to suggest, this morning, is that God can come to us … in all sorts of ways … and probably has been making contact with you … even if you didn’t know it … all throughout your life …
In short, you have been and are much closer to God … than you realize …
For among … the ways that God comes to us are:
On top of mountains
Through the ocean
In worship and music and singing
Through sermons
Through reading the Scriptures
In art and literature and dance
In prayer both public and in worship
On special days – like Easter and Christmas
And through other people who may be special spiritual guides
6. Recently, in our mid-week EPIC worship service we explored
some of the “thin places” where God was especially close to us at some time in our life:
As I was preparing for this service I began looking around my office … and to my surprise I discovered that I had taken pictures of “thin places” in my life and put them up to remind me of those special moments, times, places, and people who brought the sense of God’s presence close to me.
I have collected them into a little insert … along with some other quotations which I added … to stimulate you to think about how God may have been close to you in your life …
GO through the booklet …show photos …
7. The idea of “thin places” may seem strange to you … but surveys show that at some time in their life … nearly one third or (47 million) Americans report that God our something greater than themselves seemed to be present in their life …
Such experiences do not last very long. We cannot bear them for they are two wonderful … and we cannot live in a permanent state of mystical consciousness.
Yet we try. John, Peter and James went up on the Mountain with Jesus. (Notice it often happens on a mountain) and they see him transfigured … and they try to build a shelter, so they can stay there … but it all disappears … just like the moment when the Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism … in the River Jordan … or when the disciples saw him at his ascension …
8. So, I am not suggesting that these moments are the be all and
End all … of our religious life ….
But, only that these are renewing moments … when God comes close to us …
And often there are things which interfere with God’s Spirit …
Like times when we are…
Hurting
Angry
Lonely
And Tired
In fact, we might call these “thick places” – where God seems far away …
Times when we must go on nevertheless … trying to live faithfully... caring for others … working for justice … in large and small ways … trusting that God is still with us …
And in our weakness; we have the reassurance that even when we do not know how to pray … the Spirit of God intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
And, that is the message … from Paul today …
Let us pray ….
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