why not let god introduce themselves?

Ninth Sunday After Pentecost ● July 21, 2024

Riot Mueller, Guest Preacher © 2024

You can view the full worship video recording at:

https://youtu.be/w3udSptLIto?si=-ojjy_8i1Bxd6Vtu

Scripture Readings: 

Matthew 5:1-9, 14-16, 26-27, 30-34 (The Message Translation)

The reading text is provided at the end of this sermon.

When was the last time you let God introduce God’s self to you?

For me, this introduction started a long time ago. I would not say that I was raised in the Church, but I certainly was raised around the Church. I was raised Catholic and my family went to mass most Sundays -- mostly to socialize and get dough nuts--until we go old enough to make an intellectual enough cause not to go. My childhood relationship with God was a mish mash of children Bible stories and Bible nursery rhymes that made little sense to application to my life, and honestly sounded corny to me. Jesus loves me because the Bible tells me so. But I was Catholic so I couldn’t tell you which Bible verses those were. 

I did not understand God. God felt far away and not relatable. I was raised Catholic so I was working with a white, bearded sky God who lived in the clouds -- he was old, punishing, did weird and violent things to families, kids and women, and two things I knew for certain is that He DID NOT want you to curse or masturbate. Not that I knew what masturbation was getting sexual education from a Catholic school. 

It felt like the things I was interested in were things that I could not talk to God about. The things I was going through were to be kept secret from him. I tried so hard to find God people -- I sought out Catholic Campus groups and tried to return to the faith in college but I felt like such an odd man out. I didn’t want to talk to these folks -- my perception of them where that I would have to hide some of my troubles and burdens from them too-- just like God. I could not tell them that I was interested in experimenting and growing and changing in all kinds of ways and I did not know who I was. 

So I went out on my own and tried a million different ways to find purpose in life. I worked at Greenpeace, I went to festivals, I traveled around, I disconnected from old friends and family, I tried over working, I tried getting wrapped up in other people’s lives and desires, hoping I could catch some of the run off life I saw other people living. I read, read, read, I moved to New Orleans and started learning about Black liberation movements in a different, closer way. 

I met folks in prison and tried to build relationships with them and got together with other folks who wanted to bring light to the injustice of the prison and policing system in Louisiana. But there was always something missing. I always seemed to be surrounded by in fighting and drama, I semed to be drawn to power and prestige and lose interest in people when there was an ask of commitment or closeness that wasn’t rooted in some kind of addiction to excitement.

I thought I had not been thinking about God with a capital G in years. But I found myself constantly thinking and feeling, there HAS to be something better than this. I saw that some people were not living in constant chaos, excitement, fear, dread, confusion, exhaustion and sickness from overworking and under caring for my basic needs. 

Another piece of my life long story of God introducing themselves is through Nature. I am from downtown Seattle, as most of you know, and one thing it is is a gorgeous place. The evergreen state. Lush. Mountains. Seas, lakes, rivers, streams. So I always had some knowing that something big is going on. Whatever is happening in the world to make the moss grow THIS lime green -- there had to be something that is bigger than humans. Cause I saw us humans -- myself included -- making the choice over and over again to destroy the earth, to destroy each other and yet still, every morning and every night the sun rises and sets and gives us an art show that no human has ever been able to recreate. 

How is that possible? Little did I know I would commit my life to studying these questions, reading what other people have to say about it, listening to elders and offering my own two cents from time to time. 

So this is the mindset that I enter into Step 3 of the Al Anon 12 Steps. Step 3 states that, “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God.” 

Making a decision to turn my will and life over to God came at a moment when it was quick and simple for me. I think of a song my friends and I used to sing, “through desperation, we found freedom, through freedom we found love, through love, we found devotion, through devotion, spirit found us.”

It was through desperation-- me saying, “God wants to have my will and my life?” Sure buddy! You take it. Things aren’t going so great over here anyways -- I am miserable and I do not know why, I am trying to live a better and better life, to get more successful, to have meaningful relationships in my life, to have stable, safe and comfortable housing and I keep messing one thing up after the next -- and I don’t even know how!

So, we make a decision. The prophet Joel says, “multitudes and mulittudes in the valley of decision.” All of us live in the valley of decisions. We make so many decisions every single day with varying degrees of impact and intention. But then there are others that keep you up at night. One of my spiritual directors says, “move towards things that feel good. Not good like, I get a dopamine hit and then am worried, sad, made again. Things that feel like your deepest good.” It is one thing to “turn over” my coffee order to God and let him handle that -- it is another thing to turn my entire will and my entire life over to the care of God. But the spiritual process asks us earnestly how well the present management of our lives is going. 

There have been times of desperation and chaos in my life in which the answer is -- my present self management and self will is not going very well. I keep trying the same things over and over again and expecting different results. I am afraid to change because something new or scary or big may happen that I will not be able to handle. So I am going to stay here in this loop because at least I know what to do with this loop.

But it is through desperation that we get freedom. In freedom, we find love -- of ourselves and other people -- and this leads to devotion and in this devotion -- Spirit finds us. Meets us in the open space of our hearts and pours into us dreams, desires, hopes, joy, stability, serenity and love that we did not even think we could have. 

“You’re blessed when you're at the end of your rope. 

With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you.
Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less.
That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners
of everything that can’t be bought. 

You’re blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. 

God is food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
You’re blessed when you care. 

At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared-for. 

You’re blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. 

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. 

That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.”

WOW, this definition of what God has to offer is starting to look pretty good. God is providing a level of nurturance, care and love that is beyond our wildest expectations. God is showing us that when surrender is done willingly, real power enters your life. Miracles happen. Things that once seemed hard or impossible now come easily as we feel this sense of God that is eternally guiding us. People around us may notice that we are more confident, more trustworthy. 

Now I want to give a word to my siblings in the room who have been through some truly horrific times. The Al-Anon suggested closing reads, “Whatever your problems, there are those among us who have had them, too. If you try to keep an open mind, you will find help. You will come to realize that there is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too great to be lessened. We aren’t perfect. The welcome we give you may not show the warmth we have in our hearts for you. After a while, you’ll discover that though you may not like all of us, you’ll love us in a very special way—the same way we already love you. Talk to each other, reason things out with someone else, but let there be no gossip or criticism of one another. Instead, let the understanding, love, and peace of the program grow in you one day at a time.”

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. This is a faith journey. And my maturation of self grows as my maturation of understanding who God is grows. When I first turned my will and my life over to God -- I did it in a way that was like “fine, you are bigger than me, take this, I am a mess up anyway.” Those were childish ways. We all have internal confrontations and they do not go away when you make the decision to turn your life and will over to God. We get an example through Jesus who also struggled to do God’s will -- why? Because it was not always the easy way. Jesus expressed his struggle in prayer -- “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the group and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Hopefully, we grow and mature in our faith and we continue to let God show us who God is. May, surrender move towards a joyous acceptance of God’s will.

This week in the blurb I tasked all those who wanted to spend some time in this form of seated empty listening for God’s introduction. So I figured I needed to do it since I was the one who asked you to. Yesterday, as I sat in 7 minutes of not so silence with different noises of roommates and street business surrounding me. All of that faded away. And I found moments of emptiness. And in that emptiness I heard a voice say, “you are okay.” The goodness it felt to hear those words are likened to the biggest, warmest hug of a loving mother or grandmother. Some old stinking thinking crept in and I whimpered some energy of asking for forgiveness, “I am so sorry I have not been back here to be with you in awhile, it has been hard, I know better and I should be doing this more often…blah blah bakh ablah blak” the tape goes on…I am not okay….

The voice returned so sweet, “I know honey and I love you, you are okay.” I did not even know that I needed to hear that. But God did. My willingness to submit my will to God’s grows in direct proportion to my understanding of God and my total faith in God’s understanding of me.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.”

Why this message? Why today? What is urgent about this? What is radical? Well -- the thing is. I need you. I need every single person under the sound of my voice to begin to get to know what God thinks about you.  Make the choices to let God show you the plans God has for you. We are in the valley of decisions: and the valley looks pretty messed up right now. We are facing wars, global climate change, institutionalized racism, transphobia, homphobia, racism and mysoginy. The scripture asks you to do something radical. Something that media and phones and self hatred are try to block us from: Even with all of this death and destruction going on: Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.

The good news. The good news is that even though my and our choices and life experiences may have brought us pain, hardships, addictions, compulsions and self defeating behaviors. Gods will for our lives brings us hope, healing and peace. God’s plans are good. 

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.”

Matthew 5:1-9, 14-16, 26-27, 30-34 (The Message Translation)

When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what Jesus said:

 “You’re blessed when you're at the end of your rope. 

With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you.
Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less.
That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners
of everything that can’t be bought. 

You’re blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. 

God is food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
You’re blessed when you care. 

At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared-for. 

You’re blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. 

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. 

That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family. Here's another way to put it: You’re here to be light, 

bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. 

We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 

If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine! 

Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Abba in heaven. 

Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? 

If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers - most of which are never even seen - don't you think God will attend to you, take pride in you, do the very best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don't know God and the way God works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how God works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

*********************

An excerpt from the book How Al- Anon Works for Families and Friends of Alcoholics

Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.

“Whether we have a well-defined relationship with God or a vague sense of some intangible force, choosing to turn our will and our lives over to God’s care doesn’t automatically make all of our problems disappear. We have simply made a decision. But by doing so, we have opened a door for help and stepped out of the way. We only deepen our commitment every time we surrender anew.