God insists (John 13.31-35)
Rarely do I do any kind of shopping with my whole family, and almost never on purpose. But, occasionally, circumstances will put us together in a Meijer, or a Target, usually on the way home from somewhere when we suddenly realize that one of us needs something for tomorrow. Often this realization takes the form of one the kids saying, “Oh, by the way, I need khaki pants for the band concert tomorrow night.” “What about pair we bought a few months ago?” “They don’t fit anymore.” “When were you going to tell us about this.” “I just did.” A few years ago, we stopped at a Meijer on the way home from a Wednesday evening dinner at the church Michelle used to serve. I can’t remember what the reason was—somebody obviously needed something for the next day—but what happened was what tends to happen on these rare occasions.
There are five of us in my family, and each of us seems to have their own agenda as it pertains to a given store. My agenda, on this occasion, was shoes. And so I wandered over to the men’s shoe department. Years ago, I had scored a serious deal on some running shoes—I paid twenty bucks for a pair that ordinary ran about sixty or seventy. I was beginning to realize that my old Fila’s were quickly wearing out, and so I thought, maybe Meijer will have something for me—maybe even a deal like I got last time. So, I got caught up in looking at every shoe of the type that they had, agonizing over prices—none of them were anywhere near as good as the twenty dollars from a few years before—and trying to convince myself that forty dollars would still be well worth the investment.
And, suddenly, I realized that twenty or thirty minutes had passed, and, realizing that the four others in my family had their own separate agendas, I had a pang of anxiety about where they might be, and I even had the somewhat unrealistic worry that they might be suffering from a reciprocal anxiety—wondering where I might be. So I grabbed the forty dollar shoes, feeling a little guilty about giving in to that price, and went looking.
That feeling of looking for someone and not knowing exactly where to look. Of knowing that they might be moving around, and so as soon as you get to where they are likely to be, they might have already moved on, possibly looking for you. By then I’d learned how not to panic in these situations, but, still, it always made me feel uncomfortable.
These are some of the thoughts I have as I try and put myself in the place of Jesus’ disciples as they listen to him on this last evening with him. Jesus says that they will look for him, but he will already have moved on. He will be gone, and they will not be able to follow him where he goes. The reference here is to the cross, and to the great barrier of death beyond which they cannot go to find him. And this is the heartbreak of this passage. Throughout the gospel of John, and indeed in all the gospels, we find Jesus announcing that the kingdom of God has come, it has arrived in his person, in his presence. Throughout, we find Jesus performing miracles and signs, and offering blessings, and healing and teaching, and it is the vitality and the strength of his physical presence with them, his words, his touch, the appearance of his face and the sound of his voice, that empowers their discipleship, and their witness.
And so, of course they will seek him, or at least feel lost in his absence. I don’t know if my kids felt lost at all without me. As I say, by then I had learned not to panic when separated from them in the store. I had ways of reassuring myself that they are more than likely just fine—they were getting a bit older now, after all, and more independent; the store was a self-contained space and eventually they would be found in it. So, as I reminded myself of these things, I was able calmly to go looking for them, and for Michelle. I found her first because I knew exactly where she would be. She was lost, as I had been, in what she was looking for, and didn’t have a clear idea where the kids would be. So, I walked around and found each of them, one by one, and found that there were not worried, either, because each of them was lost in what shewas looking for.
Sometimes we can be lost without knowing it. We can become so distracted, as I was looking at those shoes, that our hearts and minds settle into a kind of forgetfulness about our loved ones, or about things that are genuinely important. The disciples may or not have had that problem after Jesus had gone, but I think that for the modern-day disciple, that is more and more of an issue. We can get so caught up in the tasks at hand, in our day to day interests, the shoes that we need, or the dress, or the mechanical pencil; the bills that need to be paid or the yard that needs to be mowed or the vacation that we are planning, that we are distracted from the more pervasive questions that haunt our lives, the more basic longings and hopes that call to us to a better life.
But sometimes we look away from the rows of shoes in front of us because we are struck with a thought or a feeling. We notice that we are alone. Something happens—an illness, a loss, a broken relationship, a crisis. The disciples’ leader and friend was crucified, and that for them meant nothing less than that the very presence of the kingdom of God had evaporated, left them wandering around in the store, forty dollar shoes in hand, wondering why they had thought that shoes, of all things, were so important after all.
Throughout Scripture, and especially in the New Testament, we find promises of God’s presence, so often given in the face of such powerful signs of God’s absence. Enslavement. Exile. Oppression. Injustice. Imperial domination. Appropriation of wealth and the fruits of labor by the wealthy. Crucifixion. Persecution. Martyrdom. Flooding. Illness. Loss. In all of these situations and circumstances of life for the people of God, the forces of evil seem relentlessly to win. The prophets announce the coming of God’s reign of justice, wholeness, and peace, and yet the words are continually ground up in the teeth of reality, in the machinery of raw, inhuman power.
The disciples will not be able to find Jesus. The absence of God, so palpable throughout human history, again makes itself felt.
But we shouldn’t forget the immediate context of this passage. Right before, Jesus has served what we have come to call the last supper with his disciples and has washed their dirty, shoeless feet. Among them were two disciples, Judas and Peter, who would repay his kindness with betrayal and denial. As the Roman swords drew near, they would either collude with them or run away from them. None would face up to them, except Jesus alone. Still, what manner of love is this, that Jesus, who must face death alone, still serves, still feeds, still loves. Even as he is being left in solitude, Jesus reaches out in love.
Philosopher Jack Caputo recently wrote a book about God, called by the interesting title “The Insistence of God.” God, Caputo tells us, doesn’t so much “exist” as “insist.” That is to say, we need to understand God not as a power in the world that determines how everything will be, kind of like a Caesar writ very large, but as the relentless insistence, the irrepressible call, the unending beckoning to the people of God to live into the ways of love. God is real for us not as a controlling power, Caputo says, but as an insistent love, a love that continues to serve, and to feed, to empower, to liberate, to embrace.
Part of what calmed my anxiety when my kids were running loose in a Meier is my assurance that I would not stop looking for them. And, in turn, if Michelle should have found them first, I knew that she would not take them and leave me alone. Even as I felt their absence as I woke up from my revelry among the shoes, I knew that I was connected to them through love.
And so, God is connected to us. We cannot search for and find Jesus, because we cannot go where he has gone. But no matter. Jesus is present with us as the one who still feeds at the table, and in so doing enables us to feed each other. Jesus is still present with us as one who serves, and in so doing enables us to serve each other.
God is known, God’s presence is felt, God’s reality is demonstrated, not by miracles or by deeds of power or by mechanisms of control or by signs of success. God is known as that which God really is—love. By this, they will know that we are Christ’s disciples—by the love that insists on finding us, by the love that insists that it be shared. In the name of God, our creator and redeemer. Amen.
EASTMNSTER UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
May 19, 2019 – 10:45 A.M.
Reverend Thomas James
5th Sunday of Easter
As we join together today to offer worship to God, we welcome all who share this worship with us. If you are here for the first time we invite you to return again. Please take a moment to fill out a welcome card that may be found in the cardholder at the back of the pew.
CONCERNS OF THE CONGREGATION
If you have concerns, prayer requests, or need to convey information to the Session or Deacons please use welcome card in the pew.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
Now, let us greet each other saying: “The Peace of the Lord be with you” and Response: “And also with you.”
PRELUDE
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Alleluia! Christ is alive; let all the people praise him.
People: Let all creation sing with joy. Alleluia!
*HYMN……….”All Creatures of Our God and King (verses 1-4)……………15
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of mercy, your command to love one another across all differences opens us to new horizons, yet we often respond with fear and judgment that hinders your goal for humanity. Forgive our sins, we pray, and give us a true repentance that leads to life for all creation. We pray in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
*ASSURANCE OF GOD’S FORGIVENESS
*GLORIA PATRI (#581)
NEW TESTAMENT (Pg. 1085)…………..…………………………Revelation 21: 1-6 Response: “Thanks be to God”
MUSICAL MESSAGE………………………………………………………………Skyelar Raiti
GOSPEL (Pg. 938)………………………………………….…….…………..John 13: 31-35
Response:“Thanks be to God”
SERMON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “God Insists”
*THE APOSTLES’ CREED (Pg. 35)
*HYMN.……………..…..…….”Live in Charity (4 times)”……..………….……….….205
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER
OFFERTORY
*DOXOLOGY (#606)
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
*HYMN……………….……”In Christ There is No East or West”…………………318
*PASTORAL BENEDICTION
*CONGREGATIONAL BENEDICTION. . . . . . . . “Tune of Edelweiss”
Lord of life, Lord of love walk forever beside us. Day by day, show the way with your vision to guide us.
Striving to follow your will and way nothing can divide us. Lord of life, Lord of love walk forever beside us.
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UPCOMING DATES AND INFORMATION:
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May 19 – May 26
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Sunday May 19 ………………………. 9:30 am……………..Sunday School
10:45 am…………..…………Worship
Wednesday May 22……………….. 11:30am………….Martha Circle Meeting
Sunday May 26 9:30am……………Sunday School
10:45am……………Worship
PWCT Meeting will be held May30th at 6pm. with Ruth Circle to follow.
Just a reminder-starting June 2nd Worship will begin at 10AM
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SAVE THE DATE
Eastminster’s 125th Anniversary Homecoming on Sunday, September 29, 2019. More details will be forthcoming.
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Counters for May
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THIS WEEK – May 19
Kirk Team
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NEXT WEEK – May 26
Thayer Team
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HEAD GREETER FOR MAY
JACKIE HOLZHAUER
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CHURCH FAMILY PRAYER CHAIN
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Looking for a church family?
We would love to have you here at Eastminster. Please call our Secretary Jenny, and she will be happy to help. 419-691-4867.
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Are You in Need of prayer? Please call our Secretary Jenny, and she will see your “Prayer Requests” are answered. 419-691-4867
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Rev. James has started a blog with sermons and other
information from the church. You can check out the information at https://eastminstertoledosermons.blogspot.com
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If you need to contact Rev. James you can do so by either e-mail (tomjames811@gmail.com) or his cell 1-248-990-3041.
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