Where is God?

Jeremiah 2:4-13, Psalm 81; Luke 14:7-14

        The author of Psalm 81 collects himself late in the afternoon. He has attended worship at the synagogue. He read the Holy Word. He sang, “Sing aloud to our God; shout for joy to the God of Jacob. Remember it was God who brought us out of Egypt and into a place flowing with milk and honey.” He watched his fellow worshipers as they read the same text and sang the same song. There was no joy, no celebration and certainly no anticipation. The songs and prayers crossed the lips of the faithful few and fell quietly to the ground. It was a ritual, performed out of habit and executed without emotion.  

The Psalmist, with his head in his hand whispers, “Where are you God?” The answer he received gave little satisfaction. “My people do not listen to my voice. Their hearts are stubborn and so I have left them to their own counsel. O that they would seek my voice and walk in my ways. I would feed them with the finest wheat and satisfy them with the sweetest honey.”

The Prophet Jeremiah waits to be summoned to the court of the King.  Rumors have spread among the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the armies of Babylon have swept through Damascus and are headed south. Jeremiah knows the question he will be asked. “Where is the Lord? Where is One who stood against Pharaoh? Where is One who opened up the Red Sea and then swallowed the Egyptian Army in a rush of water. Can we count on God to stand between us and certain death?

There is no future in being the one who brings bad news. Jeremiah was asking the question of God’s absence long before the king, in an act of desperation, turned to Jeremiah. The prophet knew the word he would bring offered little hope to a people that could not see beyond the sunrise.

Where was God? This was a bold question to be asked by a people who changed gods more often than they changed shirts. Where was God? Where was their salvation? Jeremiah responded with an answer no one wanted to hear. God had gone to Babylon. God was waiting to bring them home from exile.

Sitting in a Presbytery meeting this week the words of the Psalmist and the prophet kept creeping into my head. As I listened to folks grappling with the role of the church in the midst of turmoil and distress I wondered if the motivation from both sides wasn’t more about the self-preservation of an institution than in seeking the guidance of God in our moments of turmoil. As we grappled with questions of compensation and property, I had the impression that God left the building long before the motion to adjourn had been recognized.

Where do we find God when we need God most?

In the gospel of Luke Jesus is invited to a dinner party. There seemed to be a discussion about where every one is suppose to sit. Jesus took this opportunity of confusion to entertain the crowd with a word of advice concerning heavenly etiquette.  “When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit at the place of honor. It is always possible someone more distinguished than you has also been invited. Better to take the lowest chair and move up than the highest and move down.”

When I first read this passage, my first thought was, “Oh no, another passage on humility.” I have found through the years sermons on humility are highly ineffective. Those who could use some humility assume the sermon is about someone else. And those with little sense of their own self worth take even more weight upon their already overburdened souls. So why not move from the obvious and pursue the difficult question asked by the Psalmist and Jeremiah. Where is God in this story?  Or to be more exact, where would God sit if invited to the wedding?

Sometimes Creedal statements do us a great injustice. In the Apostle’s creed we state, “Born of the Virgin Mary” (comma) “Suffered under Pontius Pilate”. If Jesus was God Incarnate, i.e. God among us, the life of Jesus deserves more than a comma in our declarations of faith.

What if this story is not just about table manners? What if Jesus is helping us to see more than a comma. What if Jesus is speaking about himself?  What if Jesus is telling us where God always chooses to sit?

The story of Jesus does not lack for powerful people. Caesar and Herod play dominate roles in the birth narrative. Caiaphas and Pilate are major players in the crucifixion. According to conventional measures these four men would not hesitate to occupy any seat of honor. Could Jesus have been referring to them when he suggested, “All who exult themselves will be humbled?” With the possible exception of Caesar Augustus, would we know the names of any of these men apart from the gospel accounts?

So where does Jesus sit himself? Where would one think that the Son of God should sit? Possible the earliest creed of the Church, long before the Apostles Creed, is found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It is in the form of a song, a song probably sung much like we sing our doxology today. It is about the life of Jesus in that comma that we talked about earlier. 

“Jesus, who was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. Being born in human form he humbled himself and became obedient, even to the point of death.”

Perhaps this is why I am so partial to the Brief Statement of Faith written in 1983. It also ventures into that “comma”. “We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God, who proclaimed the reign of God by preaching good news to the poor, release to the captives, blessing the children, healing the sick, binding up the broken hearted, eating with outcast, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe.”

Where is God? God is where God has always been, not at the seat of power but rather at the end of the line with those who still cling to the idea that they are not gods themselves.

God is here, inviting us to the table. If you are a sinner, come. If you are broken, come. If you are downhearted, come. If you are confused, come. If you are typically uninvited, come.

This is the table of the Lord. Immanuel, God with us, has issued the invitation to everyone.  Come, and      sit with God.       

Amen