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The Nearness of God “Seek the Lord while he may be found; Call on him while he is near”. Isaiah 55 : 6. “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near”. Matthew 3: 2. Today we continue our series on Isaiah 55.
The chapter as a whole is rich in metaphors. It was originally addressing the Israelites in the 6th century BC who were forced to live as exiles in Babylon and who were longing for a messiah who would save them and take them back home to freedom. However, this passage still has great relevance for us today, especially at this advent time, as we wait for Christmas when we celebrate the coming of Jesus, the Christ who sets us free with his Gospel. The chapter has been put together in a very clever way and its structure offers us a pattern for worship. We find here a call to worship at the start ( “ come all who hunger and thirst”); followed by an affirmation of God’s faithfulness in his everlasting covenant v3; leading into a call to confession ( today’s passage); and then finally, a proclamation and a sending forth (the passage set for next Sunday). Today we will look at Isaiah 55: 6-9. This well-known passage invites the wicked to forsake their ways and return to the God of all pardon whose thoughts and ways are much nobler than human ways. Also it offers those who repent of their sins, the assurance of God’ s mercy and pardon. In this sense it sits well alongside our Gospel reading for the day where John the Baptist invites people to do much the same. “Repent and be baptised.” But there is one word that jumps out at me in both passages, the word near. John speaks of the kingdom of God as being ‘near’ and Isaiah speaks of calling on God while he is ‘near’. It is this concept of the nearness of God that I wish to explore today. What does it mean when we say that God is near to us? As we think about God, we realise that the Bible offers us two ways to view God : 1. God most high, in all his glory, the creator of the universe, the omnipotent, omniscient God of power and might who is judge of all and ruler of all. 2. And God most nigh, the intimate presence of God that resides within us; is in the very breaths that we take; incarnate in our every day existence and so much a part of who we are and what we experience, that at times we forget that he is even there. Both these images of God are reflected in Isaiah 55 but it is God most nigh, the nearness of God that is referred to in the passage set for today. The idea that if we look for God we will find him, if we call on him we fill find that he is near. It is this nearness of God that I would like us to hold on to, today for I believe that it is the realisation of the nearness of God in our every day lives; in our everyday experiences that sanctifies our lives, makes them holy, brings comfort in our pain and meaning to our existence. It is the holding on to the nearness of God that gives us life. Recently I came across a wonderful little book called “Sleeping with Bread” by Dennis, Sheila and Matthew Linn. They tell a lovely story that illustrates this very point. During the bombing raids of World War 11, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much, could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night, the bread reminded them, “Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow. All is well.” As we reflect on the meaning of Christmas, this advent. I would like to suggest that this notion of the reassuring nearness of God is what Christmas is all about, is in fact, the central message of the Christmas story, God incarnating, intimately present in our every day existence. As we hold on to that knowledge by day and night we too are reminded that no matter what is going on in our lives, All is well for God is present in our lives, the bread of life feeding and strengthening us through all we are facing. The prologue to John’s Gospel makes this very point. We read there that Jesus came as a light that shone in the darkness. The Gospel writer doesn’t say that his light shone into the darkness, but that the light shone in the darkness. Christmas is all about the nearness of God. Christ, God made human, is born into our world, enabling us to find God inside of what is commonplace, God most nigh. Seeing God most nigh is all about finding God inside ordinary life. This is Isaiah’s challenge to us: To seek the Lord because he is to be found; to call on him because he is near. Christmas tells us that God is inside our ordinary life and it is our job to seek and to find him there. But that’s not always easy to do. We frequently find ourselves in a world that is darkened by bitterness, hatred, violence, corruption and exploitation. How do we find God in the darkness of the human condition? The problem is even more complex, it is not just that we see darkness outside of ourselves, but often it seems that the darkness is within us also. The problem is not just what we see but how we see. What we see is very much coloured by what we feel and think at any given moment. Philosophers express this phenomenon in the following way: “Whatever is received, is received according to the mode of the receiver.” What this means is that we don’t see only what is outside of us, but we see what’s inside of us and project it outside. This is why both Isaiah and John the Baptist encourage us to repent, in other words, to re-orientate ourselves, to turn away from the darkness towards the light, for the light is near and the darkness we experience is more often than not, the darkness of standing in our own shadows. “Turn to the Lord “ says Isaiah and “you will have mercy, free pardon, light. Turn to the Lord says John the Baptist for your saviour is near. This is illustrated in a wonderful way by the story of a very overweight Buddha who was sitting under a tree. A soldier walked by and said to the man, “You look like a pig!” The Buddha responded “And you look like God!” Surprised the soldier asked him: “Why do you say that I look like God?” The Buddha replied: “You see, we don’t see what’s outside us, we see what’s inside and project it outwards. I sit here all day and think about God and when I look at you, that’s what I see. You on the other hand must be thinking about something else!” Our view of the world is linked to our attitudes, our thoughts, our feelings and our virtues. They form the prism through which we see and understand the world. The message of Christmas is this, that just as God was so close to Mary that he offered to inhabit her very body and be born into her world through her, so God is near at hand for each of us offering to be the prism through which we see the world, offering to incarnate our very beings and to be birthed into the consciousness of our everyday lives, if only we would turn to him and give him permission to do so. On a practical level, seeking God most night means repenting, turning from that which is life diminishing and turning towards and pursuing those experiences which are life enhancing, life enriching and doing more of them. So in what your do in your life How you answer the phone How you help a stranger How you reconcile a relationship What advice you give your child How you respond when someone offends you, Seek to do that which is life enhancing, life enriching, and you will find God most nigh, present and active in your life. Let us take a few moments to reflect on this, let us pray: Be still, aware of God’s presence incarnate in our lives…. Help us Lord to find in the knowledge of your incarnate presence in our lives, the joy of the coming of the Christ child, the wisdom of the Gospel and the life that stretches to eternity.”
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