Dwelling with God

Introduction

Outside Chronicles recently just released the 2024 winter hiking challenge.

Once upon a time, I loved hiking and getting out on the trails.

When I saw this challenge, I felt excited, and then I started looking at the pile of textbooks for the next semester...

… should I get a head start or hit the trails?

Dennis, on the other hand, was nudging me to study… Not out of responsibility but out of anxiety.

We learned long ago when I go hiking for a planned 4-mile hike and 2 hours; you had better believe we’ll end up hiking 4 hours and maybe 6 miles...

Perhaps the adage is true… men aren’t good with directions. Indeed, we aren’t good with trailblazers!

I tend to get lost, and I have remembered a couple of times when I’ve been hiking alone and gotten lost...

...or maybe even on the right trail, but the sun is beginning to fade, and I am still far from the trailhead…

...a real sense of anxiety and fear sets in…

Our Gospel reading of St. Luke describes the family of Jesus traveling to Jerusalem to observe Passover and their return to Nazareth.

In ancient times, families traveled in caravans for protection and to reduce costs.

Just imagine this massive crowd of people traveling together through mountains, valleys, grasslands, and hills.

Oftentimes, the group would have been segregated, with the men scouting or leading upfront.

I envision the children playing with their cousins and friends in the middle of the pack… Perhaps moving from the front of the group to the back of the group between their parents…

I imagine the women were traveling in the back of the caravan, caring for the vulnerable who couldn’t travel as quickly...

From my experience, women are better placed upfront because they have a more keen sense of direction.

But here we are imagining this caravan of travelers… Mary imagines Jesus is enthralled with Joseph, which has kept him from coming to the back of the caravan for a visit…

Joseph imagines Jesus is being entertained by cousins or being a dutiful son and helping his mother...

There is no reason to suspect that Jesus isn’t in the caravan…

It’s not until the end of the day when the caravan regroups into family units for a meal and to sleep...

Only then do Mary and Joseph realize that Jesus is not among the caravan.

The light is fading; they have no idea where Jesus could be…

They are frightened and anxious…

A million questions are popping into their head of what could have happened…

There is a real sense of the unknown brewing...

I, too, can relate to that feeling of being lost on the hiking trail, with the sun fading quickly and my car being what feels like miles ahead...

Sometimes, we are physically lost... But there are times when we see a corporate way of being lost…

Over the last few weeks, we have heard about the slaying of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare.

There is something systematically wrong with the healthcare system in the United States.

Actors from the government, insurers, and providers are responsible for the pain and suffering of innocent people across our nation.

It’s a significant issue demanding attention, justice, and reform.

Healthcare is not just a human right—it’s a divine right.

God wants us to be healthy.

God wants us to leverage the gifts of technology and knowledge given us…

God wants us to care for one another.

God does not want us to go around killing people, period.

Not for awareness...

Not to make a statement...

Not to take life and death into our own hands…

Reading and listening to the news reports and the outpouring of support for the killer who is being romanticized makes me question the identity of this country that I call home.

Have we lost our moral values as a nation?

Can we not speak against corrupt systems without killing, without sinning?

These actions are creating an anxiety that we have lost our identity as a nation.

We have not read the entire passage from Samuel—you just got a snippet. But allow me to briefly summarize what is happening before we see Samuel ministering before the Lord.

Eli and his two sons are present in the temple complex. These sons were scoundrels… Skimming offerings dedicated to the Lord, sleeping—perhaps even forcing women into sleeping with them…

Not exactly the behavior you’d expect of priests. There was corruption in the House of the Lord, a corrupt system.

Yet we have Samuel, who ministers before the lord and “continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people.”

This scripture demonstrates that Goodness can survive in the presence of evil, and the believer must seek it out and nurture it.

This gives me hope that despite evil acts being done and evil systems oppressing ourselves and our neighbors, God is present and working through the world.

There is this real sense of being lost physically in the woods or along a caravan route…

There is a sense of being lost corporately as a national identity or priesthood...

But there is just one more sense of being lost: personally...

Friends, we are inching our way towards the end of the year. Congratulations!

This is often when we reflect on the goals we have set for ourselves, our accomplishments, and our growing edges.

Sometimes, these growing edges can create self-doubt or a sense of insecurity…

We might question our path forward into the next season of our life.

I also recognize that in all of these reflections, we often meet with friends and family who share their reflections.

While we celebrate the accomplishments of those we love, I acknowledge that sometimes, comparing ourselves to those around us can also bring out our insecurities or self-doubt.

Our Gospel reading doesn’t tell us how Mary and Joseph felt when Jesus responded: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

All we’re told is that they didn’t understand. I can only imagine a sting in Joseph’s heart—he is human, after all...

I can only imagine the pain that Mary must have felt…

This response, I imagine, would have created self-doubt and anxiety among the parents regarding their identity...

At the same time, there had to have been a mixture of joy as Mary remembered the words from the Angel Gabriel: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”

The joy she must have felt for Jesus as she realized that he was growing

into his called purpose...

his divine purpose…

his sacred purpose...

I imagine some of you felt that way when you became empty nesters. The cries at the college dormitory, and the joy of seeing your kid growing into their purpose.

Taking that next step… But even in that joy is that loss of identity or maybe not a loss, but a need to find…

…to find that next step for ourselves as our child moves on…

…or as the job that took up 40 hours of our lives retires into the sunset...

There are moments when we might feel physically, corporately, or personally lost. When this occurs, the text tells us to dwell with God.

Let's spend the next few moments discussing what it means to dwell with God.

Be Obedient to God

To dwell with God is to be obedient to God.

I want to invite you to visualize that caravan we talked about earlier.

Take the crowded airports we see around the holiday season and place them on roads traversing mountains, valleys, hillsides, pastures, and deserts…

No airplanes, no cars… Carts, Donkeys, maybe chariots? Walking, I am sure....

Now imagine traveling with this caravan for 91 miles over a few days...

It would be no small feat and would require planning.

The law of Moses required pilgrimages for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. I imagine not all Jews were able to observe this law.

However, for Jesus and his family, the text tells us that every year, his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of Passover.

Jesus and his family obeyed God in observing the law of Moses.

Luke is drawing this out for an important reason. Luke is establishing a continuity with Judaism for us. Jesus was mainly brought up in the moral and ritual life of Judaism.

Now imagine a church where things are running counterintuitively to how you thought they should.

Offerings are being misused…

The building isn’t open to ministry; it’s been turned into an entertainment hub for members only...

The community isn’t sure if it’s a brothel or a house of God...

All these things are popularized—and you can’t help but wonder in the back of your head.... is this normalized?

Are we normalizing Eli’s sons' behavior?

Are we normalizing the killing of healthcare CEOs in the name of equity and justice?

Samuel is growing up around these disgraceful influences. However, we recognize here that in verse 26, we’re told that despite all of this… Samuel remains obedient to God and “grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and the people.”

Navigating a world that competes for our time to tend to our daily devotions, attend worship, and search the scriptures can rock our sense of identity. I am sure it was difficult for Mary and Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem year after year...

Navigating a world that conflicts with our values, especially when societal norms drift away from biblical truths, can be difficult. Just as it must have been for Samuel in a temple filled with such sin…

Despite all of this, we must be intentional and purposeful in our obedience to God. We need to make time to...

Read, reflect, and pray on our daily devotions.

Attend church to worship God in the community.

When we obey God, we dwell in a presence that affirms our identity… where we can grow in wisdom.

Wrestle with the Scriptures

In addition to being obedient to God, we also learn from the text that we need to wrestle with the scripture.

Just imagine the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem. Picture New York City, but during the holiday season, the population swells.

You have food stall vendors casting off aromas that whet your mouth…

There is lively music, making your heart leap with joy…

Games keep children entertained… they are reunited with cousins and meeting new friends...

We are told that Mary and Joseph searched for Jerusalem for three days, looking for him. Do they find him:

At the arcade?

At the candy store?

At that cousin with bad behavior, but is the cool kid?

No… we find Jesus in the “temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”

We find Jesus in the temple because this is where he is doing God’s work.

Jesus is engaging the teachers in the law, learning how it’s being applied in the context of the people's daily lives during that time.

Jesus must search for this knowledge despite the emotional upheaval it’ll cause for Mary and Joseph because Jesus is compelled to align himself with God.

Our scriptures are divinely inspired by God, offering timeless truths and principles relevant across cultures and historical periods.

However, that doesn’t mean that we don’t wrestle with scripture. There are harrowing stories that make us feel uncomfortable.

It doesn’t mean we skim over them—it means...

we ask questions...

we engage others in conversation—Wesley might call this Christian Conferencing...

we wrestle… intellectually; I am starting to get arthritis in my thumbs… so a thumb war is out.

On a more serious note, this scripture tells us that Jesus recognizes the need to seek knowledge, which is why he is found in the temple.

When we feel lost, we’re called to seek knowledge. To seek knowledge is to dwell in the presence of God and regain our sense of identity.

Serve Others

To dwell in God is to serve others.

Our Old Testament lesson begins with “Samuel was ministering before the LORD.”

What does it mean to minister before the Lord? Indeed, in this context, it meant performing duties at the Tabernacle, including assisting with sacrifices and maintaining the sacred space.

In our tradition, we serve others through prudential means of grace… In particular, our acts of mercy, such as:

Visiting the sick, the homebound, and those in nursing homes

Feeding the hungry

Driving someone to a medical appointment

Doing good in every way possible by living our faith in action

Through our baptism, we are made anew and called to live in Christ.

This doesn’t always happen instantaneously; more often or not, it’s a process. A process of where we grow into Christ and who we are to become.

John Wesley would have called this process sanctifying grace.

And when we open ourselves up to these acts of mercy… to serving our neighbors...

We create an expansive space to experience extraordinary experiences of God’s grace.

How many of you can testify to your heart being strangely warmed when providing hospitality at Covenant Table on Mondays or Abundant Table on Sundays?

How many of you can testify to the warmth you felt when you did an unexpected kind act for a neighbor?

When you feel lost, or the world around you is burning... Dwell in God by serving others.

You’ll be reminded of who you are and who dwells in you...

Conclusion

This is the first time I said dwells in you…

This entire sermon has been about us dwelling in God to regain a sense of who we are when we feel lost physically, corporately, or personally.

The truth of the matter is that it’s a two-way street.

God dwelled among us in Jesus to experience our pain, suffering, and losses.

Through the resurrection, the Holy Spirit dwells within us today.

But we must also dwell in God, where we find joy, hope, and identity.

Sometimes we get lost… God is always there, extending grace towards us.

God is always working in us so that we may respond to this grace.

However, it requires a response. There is that gift of free will...

We need to be intentional in our response to dwell in partnership with God by

Being Obedient

Wrestling With the Scriptures

and Serving Others

In the name of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.