Making a Home

Prayer

Disconnected

A news outlet had a long interview with the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy. Murthy is deeply worried about the social disconnect that he sees as epidemic in our society - that loneliness and isolation are a severe problem for us. So, as the Surgeon General, he has decided to take on this epidemic.

He’s a doctor - and what do doctors often do in order to combat an illness? They write a prescription. So Murthy has been hosting events trying to put people in proximity to each other, speaking to them about the “power of friendship”, and having people dressed as dancing unicorns handing out prescriptions for five minutes of social connection (Quantity: Endless. Refills: Daily). Which is a little ironic since unicorns, according to the myths, are supposed to be these shy, solitary magical creatures who are rarely seen.

Now, color me skeptical, as good as intentions as he might have, I don’t think his efforts are going to do much to solve the problem.

There are several sociologists that believe that it is the sacred that most deeply connects us - the sacred is the cement that holds communities together. One sociologist, Robert Nisbet writes, “It is community that gives to the sacred its most vital expressions everywhere: birth, marriage, death, and other moments in the human drama.”

In other words, the most vital, meaningful sacred moments in our lives - things such as births, marriage, death - these are community moments. These are moments where the sacred is expressed and shared in community. Why we gather to celebrate marriages and to mourn deaths - in community.

One of the things that many people are beginning to lament in our culture today are those places - such as church - where we gather regularly to share those moments, and where we connect on a regular basis, are diminishing. I watched an interview the other day, the person mentioned that though he was an atheist, thought that getting together every week as a community was something greatly missed in our culture.

And it should be no surprise to us in the church that this is the case - because we know (or at least we ought to know) that this was always God’s intention - God made us for connection - significant relational connection. It’s a gift (and really, what a wonderful gift it is - the fact that we’re losing this in our culture and that the U.S. Surgeon General sees the harmful impact of it, describes it as an epidemic, demonstrates that).

And it’s a gift because it’s a great help. To help us grow as followers, into life in Christ. Community is central to Jesus’ design for his church. He is the head, we are body, all members of his body. In the body, parts are all interconnected, body parts do not exist in isolation from one another (just the thought of that is disturbing).

And this brings us to what we want to look at this morning - Transparent Forming. This is our last essential space for discipleship, for what we’ve been talking about throughout this Advent series, what it means for us to become sons and daughters of God.

But, real quick, before we jump into that space, I want to take a moment to recap a few of the things we’ve covered so far in our Advent Sermon Series, especially the two quotes that have been instrumental for us.

First is our quote from C.S. Lewis, The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God. Lewis beautifully answers the question we’ve been raising in our Advent series, Why Jesus Came. The reason Jesus came was so that we might have new identities, rooted in relationship with God, we are enabled to become his sons and daughters.

And this enabling is not just in identity, but also in our character, our very person. Jesus enables us to become like God, to take on the family resemblance, like Father, like son. And this is where we started talking about the three spaces that we need to cultivate in our lives to make that happen.

We talked about Public Teaching, that we have to face front in order to learn about who God is, what it means to trust in him, follow him. Here’s where our second quote came in, from A.W. Tozer, What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.

Last week, we talked about why it’s so essential to create space in our lives for Divine Encounters, encounters where we come face-to-face with God, to not just know about him, but to know him personally, experientially - experience his love, his goodness, his guidance - to open our spirits to him, to his Holy Spirit working in us.

Today, as I mentioned, the final essential space, the one that brings us face-to-face with each other, Transparent Forming. In order to look at this one, we’re going to look at another story from the first chapter of Luke, Luke 1:39-45...

Deep Connection

Luke 1:39-45...At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

This story takes place right after Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel who shares with her the news that she will conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son, to Jesus, who will be the Son of the Most High, the one to reign over his people, the long awaited Messiah.

So the very first thing she does after the angel visit, is get up, get ready and hurry down south to a town in the hill country of Judea, which is about 3-5 days travel from Nazareth. And there she has this beautiful encounter, this amazing moment with her relative Elizabeth, where they are sharing the fact that they have been chosen to be a part of something that is far bigger than they can even begin to fathom in this movement.

Elizabeth, even in her old age, is now six months pregnant with her child. The child she carries will be named John, as in John the Baptist, the one who will go before to prepare the way for the coming of the Savior, the Messiah, Jesus.

Who is the child that Mary is now carrying. She herself is now barely pregnant, she comes to Elizabeth having conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, still a virgin.

This sense of something bigger happening only increases as they greet one another. Elizabeth, upon hearing Mary’s greeting - is filled with the Holy Spirit. And the baby in her womb leaps. Just think about that - a six month old fetus, in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth, and as soon she hears the voice of Mary, who is carrying the Messiah in her womb, he starts leaping for joy. A six month old fetus, leaping for joy. This passage alone should demonstrate to every believer why abortion is such a horrific act.

But it’s not just John in the womb, but Elizabeth herself, filled with Holy Spirit, bursts out with a word of praise (Luke says “in a loud voice she exclaimed” - it’s like she can’t hold it in! “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! You, you - of all women - are blessed.

Elizabeth, so blessed herself, and yet she is humbled by the fact that Mary, mother of her Lord - would come to visit her. She knows that Mary should be honored by all of Israel. She recognizes, too, Mary’s beautiful, humble, faithful response of obedience to the Lord, to the word that the angel had given her.

Think about what’s going on here. This is a moment of two women who love and obey God, and they are sharing together, rejoicing together, over what God is doing in and through them. It is a shared joy over recognition of God’s rich, rich blessings, outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them.

It is a humble, grateful joy - because they noticing it and celebrating it while it’s happening, recognizing in this moment what God is doing - look at what God is doing! We are so blessed! And they are rejoicing over it together.

Type of moment that would have been almost impossible not to share together, not to rejoice over. I’m sure tears of joy were streaming down their faces as they shared this moment together.

I want us to consider a question - why did Mary take this trip? Why didn’t she just stay in Nazareth and be helped and supported by her family? Why did she leave with such a strong sense of urgency? It’s clear from the story that it’s the very first thing she does - verse 38 finishes with “then the angel left her” and then, verse 39, “At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.”

Mary must have been a whirl of emotions, absolutely overwhelmed - how could she not be? She was just visited by an angel with a message from God. And not just a hello, how are you doing kind of message. She is going to conceive a child while still a virgin. The child who will grow up to be the Savior of his people (and though she didn’t know it, the Savior of all mankind).

How could anyone even begin to make sense of that? What would you do with it? We get some sense of her response from her song of praise in Luke 1:46-50, a song she breaks out into in the presence of Elizabeth: And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49  for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

From the deepest parts of who she is, she is rejoicing in God - my soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. She’s overwhelmed with humble gratitude that He has chosen her, that she is genuinely and uniquely blessed. She knows this is a historical moment - from now on all generations will call me blessed. She’s the woman fortunate enough to bear the Messiah.

But there’s no doubt that in the midst of this rejoicing, this humble awe and amazement, there was fear and worry and concern rising up within Mary. She knows she is an a terribly difficult social situation.

With all that going on it makes perfect sense that Mary would go to Elizabeth. The angel told her that by God’s power, Elizabeth was pregnant, too. She’s the one person who would understand, the one person with whom she could share all this. Who would be able to receive her, support her, offer her grace, celebrate with her, rejoice together.

Transparent Forming

This is exactly what we mean when we talk about Transparent Forming - to be with people who “see” us, because we have allowed them to, we have been transparent. And that these people will be for us, for our good (and we for theirs, it goes both ways) - so that together we would be formed toward Jesus, toward becoming more like Jesus, the sons and daughters he has enabled us to be.

Lisa Johnson describes it this way - Transparent Forming, she says, happen through small groups (face-to-face), who build trust with each other enough to be transparent, intimate and accountable for the purpose of growing into maturity in Christ. Or, as C.S. Lewis puts it, to enable us to become sons of God.

Now, if the very idea of this is making you a little uncomfortable (or maybe even a lot, very uncomfortable), you’re not alone. I think that’s the ordinary response of most people. It certainly has been mine. It’s important I think to acknowledge here that this is not a risk-free proposition (much the same as with Divine Encounter). There is risk in opening up to each other - We can (and do) wound each other all the time, intentionally and unintentionally. We can experience condemnation, judgment, rejection. Someone won’t listen in a way that’s helpful. Offer bad counsel.

But the greater risk is not doing this. To stay isolated in our faith was never Jesus’ intention. He made us for one another, to love one another, to be one as he and the father are one - in fact, he explicitly prays for that very thing on the last night together with his disciples, that they would be one. It is the heart of Jesus that we would come together as one, in unity - community.

Genuine love, to be for each other, cannot be from a distance - in the same way that we cannot grow in faith and love of God without making space for him, encounters with with him. Likewise, if we don’t open up to one another, if all we do is present an image of what we think that person will like - how are we really loving each other? Genuine love requires our genuine selves.

And we miss out on the gift of community that God gave us - how wonderfully encouraging it is to have people who are with us and for us in the midst of our struggles. How much more we learn when we get to hear from fellow believers, what they’ve learned about God, what they see in the Scriptures, from their experiences. To have people who are willing to hold us accountable - what a gift that is. I can come up with all sorts of excuses not to follow through on even my best intentions, but to have someone who is gently reminding me, who’s going to ask me about it, so helpful. Moments of joy are so much richer when they are shared, when we rejoice together.

I started this message talking about the U.S. Surgeon General and his attempts to combat what he sees as an epidemic of loneliness. What a tragedy that so many people today are so disconnected. God has so much better for us - in Jesus’ coming to us, enabling us to become sons and daughters of God - that means not just a whole new family identity, not just taking on family resemblance, becoming like Jesus, it means a home.

This comes from Ronald Rolheiser, in his book, The Restless Heart: Finding Our Spiritual Home in Times of Loneliness … We need to find a still point inside a community of faith. We need to find a home…finding a home is not, in the end, so much a question of finding a building, a city, a country or a place where we feel like we belong. More deeply, finding a home is a question of finding another heart or a community of hearts wherein we feel at one, safe, warm, comfortable, able to be ourselves, secure enough to express both faith and affection…There is an answer to that loneliness, a new home inside that community of faith.

That’s the home - the heart - that Mary found with Elizabeth. That’s the home that God wants for us - right inside our community of faith, with one another - so Jesus can make us more fully his.

Let me close with this, some thoughts about creating those spaces for Transparent Forming. Again, this is where our Spiritual Disciplines come in - those habits, rhythms we build into our days and weeks so we have space to grow in ever-deepening relationship with one another. We want to have spaces that we’re learning (Public Teaching, facing front), where we encounter God (Divine Encounter, facing God), and finally, space where we’re building relationships that help us grow into maturity in Jesus (Transparent Forming, face-to-face).

Interesting question to ask yourself - if you had an experience anywhere close to Mary’s or Elizabeth’s - who would you go to share it with, to talk about it with, to process it, to celebrate it? My hope and prayer is that there’d be several people (at least) within our church included in that list.

There’s a number of ways to cultivate this in your life, one being our Spiritual Formation Group that meets on Wednesday evenings. We’ve structured that time a bit so that there’s time for teaching, studying the Bible - and time for sharing about our faith and life together.

It can also happen one-on-one, find another person with whom to cultivate a deeper relationship. This takes time and intentionality to cultivate. But it also takes this (both of these do) - willingness to share openly. To talk about your life of faith, your struggles, your doubts, your joys - and a willingness to listen well - receive, support, encourage, keep accountable.

So, those are my prescriptions for you - sorry, no dancing unicorns to go with them. But they’re not really my prescriptions - it’s what Jesus has for us. The Son of God a man to enable us to become sons of God - to give us full forever life in a forever family in a forever home. That’s Why Jesus Came.