February 22, 2004

Last Sunday of Epiphany

Can’t Touch This?

     Show of hands…how many of you are big fans of rap music?  Gee…looks like some of you need to get with it!  Maybe we should have a rap concert here - what do you think, Nathan? 

     OK…maybe not. 

     Even if you’re not into rap music, you’ve probably heard of some rappers like Emenem, Little Bowwow and 50 Cent.  No?  How about M.C. Hammer?  He was big back in the 1990’s (kids consider his music to be “oldies” now).  There’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard his biggest hit, “Can’t Touch This”.  Basically, the lyrics of the song amount to M.C. Hammer bragging that he’s better than everyone else - typical of a lot of rap music.  He brags that he’s so great that no one can come close to his rapping ability.  He’s the man.  You can’t get to his level.  You can’t touch this! 

     Yeh, he’s a little stuck on himself.  I mean, who does the guy think he is, God?

     Funny, how greatness is so often associated with distance.  King of the hill, top of the heap, “A” number one (these are Frank Sinatra lyrics by-the-way), no room for anyone but Numero Uno at the top – you can’t touch this!

     It might come as a surprise to M.C. Hammer and old Blue Eyes that God’s the One at the top of that heap.  Omnipotent, almighty, enthroned in splendor, God rules over the universe.  Now, who could touch that?

     Bibles stories like those we heard this morning may leave us asking this question.  Who could ever hope to approach the awesomeness of God?  Aren’t these strange stories of God speaking from the mist of a mountaintop, of people glowing with divine light about a God so great and mysterious, so distant from human experience as to be absolutely untouchable?  After all, people in ancient times believed if one but caught a glimpse of God they’d drop dead!

     Stories like these may give us that impression, but it’s not an accurate one.  When we pull them out of context (as people so often do) we can easily miss the truths they reveal.  So, let’s take another look. 

     When Moses went up the mountain to meet God, the Hebrew people were looking for salvation - from the Egyptians, the wilderness, from obscurity.  When Moses came back down he carried the Ten Commandments, the guide for how the people were to live in a loving relationship with God and each other.  He came down with the assurance that they were God’s people through thick and thin and that God would see them through to the Promised Land.  Many believed God was distant, living in the inaccessible heights of mountaintops, but Moses came down with a different story.  God was concerned about them, every step of the way and would act on their behalf.

     When Jesus took Peter, James and John with him up a mountain, he met God, too.  Like Moses, the encounter filled him with the radiance of God’s greatness.  Moses and Elijah appeared and God spoke from a cloud.  But when this brief and powerful encounter passed, Jesus and the disciples went back down the mountain with Good News for God’s people in that day. 

     Like earlier Hebrews, the people of Jesus’ day were looking for salvation.  They wanted to be saved from the Romans, from powerlessness and obscurity.  Jesus came down to them and summed up the Ten Commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.”  He came down with the assurance that because he was with them, God was with them, every step of the way, all the way to the cross and resurrection.  He would teach them and heal them and give them salvation.  God’s greatness would not distance them, but would be there for them in Christ.   

     Isaiah prophesized that the Messiah would be called Emmanuel, a name which means “God with us”.  In the 17^th chapter of John, Jesus elaborated on this in prayer,  “Holy Father, protect the faithful in your name that you have given me, so that they may all be one as we are one.”  Elsewhere he said, “Abide in me as I abide in you.”  Unity with Christ means unity with God – God with us.  Even when Jesus was in resurrected form he beckoned the disciples to come near, “Put your finger in the scars of my hand and side and believe.  Touch me.  Touch eternity.  You can touch this.”

     The Bible tells us God is love.  Jesus embodied God’s love.  Where love is, by whatever name, there, God is.  Jesus said, “When you do this for the least of these my sisters and brothers, you do it also for me.”  Where love touches human need, Christ touches human need, God touches human need.  Therefore, God is as close as our next expression of compassion - caring, understanding, listening, guiding, supporting, healing, love.

     Today we celebrate God’s touch on the lives of some very needy people in a very troubled place.  Together, we have sponsored four houses for four impoverished Haitian families.  This is a simple act and yet it is one of great consequence.  The lives of those who receive these houses will be forever changed.  This is our touch on their lives and God’s touch through our hands.  God is that close.  You can touch this.

     Later this morning we will gather for a Roundtable discussion.  We will think about the future together and dream and plan and pray that God will show us the way.  And God will be our salvation.  God will walk with us each step of the way.  We can count on this, count on God’s being close to our need and through us, close to the needs of others.

     The reason Jesus came into the world was to bring home the fact that God is near, that God’s greatness is not above us, but for us, even within us. 

     By faith, we go to the mountaintop and step into the presence of God.  And when our faith is visible to others, we shine with the divine light of God’s wonderful love. 

     You can touch this.  Expect great things in your church.  Expect great things in your life.