Last year, in the days leading up to the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord (Candlemas Day), I was scrolling the social media platform of Facebook. After all, we live in a world in which: if it is not found on Facebook, then it is not true. That is a rant for another time! Yet in my scrolling, I came across a joke which I found not only very amusing, but very centred in the plot and setting of the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord. One thing that I rarely do is use a joke when writing and preaching a sermon. Yet, this joke got me thinking.
The joke went something like this:
Little Johnny and his younger brother, little Stevie, were up to their antics and then some for young boys. Their father, with his patience running thin, approached his parish priest and asked if he could talk to them to improve their behavior.
The parish priest obliged the father’s request and met with the boys at the church following worship on a Sunday morning. The priest looked at the boys and said, “Where is God?”
With that, little Johnny left the church, running as fast as he could, followed by little Stevie. When little Stevie finally caught up to little Johnny at home in his bedroom, little Stevie asked, “Why did you run away?”
Little Johnny replied, “They’ve lost God and they’re blaming us!”
No, God is not lost, but rather God is found. God is found in human form in the babe of Bethlehem, born in the poorest of places, yet the greatest of kings. The time from when the last of the prophets spoke to the time when Jesus was presented in the temple was 400 years. People may certainly have thought that God just might have been lost. Yet when we least expect God to show up in our lives, that is the very moment that not only does God show up but God acts, and in a very mighty and a very powerful way! God uses a child to get our attention: God has come into our presence. I like how biblical scholars transliterate the verse of John 1:14 when it is said that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The word that can be used is tabernacle or pitched a tent: taken up residence among us. God is far from lost: God is found.
If you think you cannot find God, I give to you the words of a contemporary Christian song, written by Michael W. Smith:
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You
I want to see You
To see You high and lifted up
Shinin’ in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy, holy, holy.
This light of glory, shining out, is the very thing that the aged Simeon, holds in his arms in human form, the form of a baby. So may these lyrics, become our prayer to have our eyes opened, so that not only can we see God, but may we sing: “holy, holy, holy.” If you are looking for God, God is not lost, God is found, just open your eyes to see God with his tent pitched in our neighbourhood.
