I had a pretty good story (I thought) to point out the paradox that we most often find the descending God when we are at a low point. The story did not work (see Move 2, e. 3 below). I think that the sermon has a sort of serious tone at that point, so the story did not come across. At one point, I had the story at the beginning of the sermon, and probably should have left it there. Earlier in the sermon I think the congregation would have been receptive to the humor in the story.
If I had done that, then I could have used that paradox as a way of getting into the sermon, which probably would have worked better. One of the challenges in preaching about a book topic is that it is hard to get away from using the same sequence of points that the book uses, even when there might be a better away to present the sermon.
I thought this was a difficult concept to conceptualize, or at least part of it was. The idea that God descends to us works well; the idea that we need to follow Christ by adopting a descending way of life ourselves is more challenging, particularly when we are comparing ourselves to the example of Jean Vanier. Part of the problem is that we should not be comparing, but when the example Nouwen uses is so hard to imagine for my own life, it makes it difficult to connect the point he makes with my own life.
“Jesus: The
Compassionate God” March 16, 2014;
Lenten series; Philippians 2: 6-11; Isaiah
64: 1-4
Introduction: “I get the feeling that, under the
blanket of success, a lot of people fall asleep in tears” (Nouwen, 43).
So writes Henri Nouwen.
We hear his words and recognize their truth. It is often the case, that in the midst of
our climbing the ladder of success or achieving our highest goals, that we find
ourselves lying awake at night or staring out the window of our car as we drive
down the road, wondering why we feel so alone.
As we continue reading through Henri Nouwen’s Letters to Marc, we are invited to reflect on how Jesus, the
descending God joins with us so that we will never be alone.
Move 1:
God's love for us is discovered in the coming of Christ.
a. Nouwen shares the story of a minister preaching a sermon with a “Huge
round window of stained glass” in the background.
1.
The minister notes that the stained glass window “is a work of art made by
human beings. But unless God’s sun
shines through it we see nothing’” (39).
2. We can build a successful life; we can
accomplish many things, but unless we have God in our lives, then our
loneliness will carry the day.
b.
We need God in our lives.
Move 2:
Christ comes toward us by descending.
a. We look to the biblical text and see Jesus coming toward us and
making decisions to join with us.
1. Being born of a human
2. Even though at twelve Jesus could question
the authorities at the Temple, he stayed at home
until he was thirty;
3. Even though Jesus was without sin, Jesus
joined with the sinners being baptized at the River Jordan. We remember that
John the Baptist did not want to baptize Jesus because he did not feel worthy
to do so, but Jesus insisted, and in so doing he joins with the sinners.
4. Jesus descent culminates on the
cross when Jesus cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “Only
then do we know how far God has gone to show us God’s
love.” He hangs from the cross,
submitting to the power of the world and dying with criminals by his side. “For it is then that Jesus has not only
reached his utmost poverty, but also has shown God's utmost love” (45).
4. Jesus continually “opts for what is small,
hidden, and poor, and accordingly declines to wield influence” (44)
- AS the early church sought to understand how
God has moved toward them in Christ, they developed a hymn that is
captured in Paul’s letter to the Philippians that we read this morning.
1. How is Jesus’ descending way described?
2: Jesus emptying himself out for us.
- Notice that as Jesus empties
himself out for us and invites us to do the same, he invites us into a new
community.
1. a community that is not based on ones wealth or success, but on one’s
willingness to share their lives with one another.
2. Jesus was not a “masochist in
search of misery,” but he was descending as “the way to new fellowship in which
we human beings can reach new life and celebrate it together” (42).
3. At the core of who we are lies
this question: “Am I really loved?” (43).
4. Not a new question. We hear the prophet Isaiah asks something like that in the passage we read. "God, will you tear open the heavens and come to take care of me?"
4. God answers that question with, “Yes, you are loved so much that my son
Jesus empties himself out for you and invites you into a new life and new
community.”
e. . The
descending way of Christ is both a mystery and a paradox.
1. “It is the way of suffering, but also the way
to healing. It is the way of humiliation, but also the way to
resurrection. It is the way of tears,
but of tears that turn into tears of joy.
It is the way of hiddenness, but also the way that leads to the light
that shines for all people. It is the
way of persecution, oppression, martyrdom, and death, but also the way to the
full disclosure of God” (46).
2.
“the descending way of love, the way to the poor, the broken , and
oppressed becomes the ascending way of love, the way to joy, peace, and new
life. The cross is transformed from a
sign of death into a sign of victory, a sign of despair into a sign of hope,
from the sign of death into the sign of life” (47).
3. There is a Story told about an older couple
named Morris and Sadie. Morris is in his
final days at the hospital, and Sadie was sitting by his side, which seems
appropriate, since she has been at his side for nearly sixty years of married
life.
Morris looks over at his wife Sadie at his side and says, “
“Honey, do you remember when we were young and just married and we opened
up our little store in the Bronx, but then the gangs came and drove us out? You
were right there by my side.”
“Oh, yes, I remember”
Morris went on: “Do you remember
how we packed up and moved to the West Coast, but then forest fires burned down
our business and our home. You were
right there by my side?”
“yes, Yes, dear, I remember.”
“And then remember how we moved
down to Miami after we retired and then I had my heart attack, and you were
right here by my side?”
“how could I forget?”
“And here I am (McConnell, 7), on
my deathbed in the hospital and you are right here by my side.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere
else.”
“Sadie, there’s something I’ve been meaning
to tell you.”
“What’s that, dear?”
“I think you’re
a jinx.”
The paradox – we most often find the God who
descends not when we are king or queen of the mountain, but when we have been
kicked off the mountaintop and are struggling.
Move 3:
How do we join with Christ in descending?
a. Nouwen shares how L’Arche, the
home for handicapped men where he is staying and working, reveals this truth.
2. Jean Vanier, the founder, had grown up in an aristocratic environment in
Canada, served in the navy, and then became a very popular professor St.
Michael’s College in Toronto.
1. When the success left him unsatisfied, he fell “called to another kind
of life: simpler, poorer, and more
centered on prayer and commitment to service” (40)
2. He thought about becoming a
priest, but instead discerned that he was being asked to return to France to
live with mentally handicapped people (40). Although he does not make this
point explicitly, it is informative for us to note the role in which another
person played in his spiritual discernment.
The reminder that being connected with others is critical to our
discernment process.
3. Vanier asked two men, Philippe
and Raphael, to leave an institution to join with him “in a simple life in
imitation of Jesus” (40).
3. His initial efforts grows into “a
worldwide movement with homes for mentally handicapped people not only in
Western Europe, but in Asia, Africa, and the Americas as well (41).
4. A difficult act to follow.
b. The best way to discover the
God who descends in Christ is through prayer
1. “God's way can only be grasped in prayer.
The more you listen to God speaking within you, the sooner you will hear that
voice inviting you to follow Jesus the way of Jesus.
- 2. The more we pray, the easier it is to
discover Christ in our own lives and to hear how Christ calls us to empty
ourselves for others.
d. Descending brings us into the
brokenness of the world.
1. the farther we descend, “the more your eyes are opened to the brokenness
of our humanity“(41).
2. Nouwen suggests that “We don’t mind paying attention to poor people from
time to time, but descending to a state of poverty and becoming poor with the poor
– that we don’t want to do” (42)
3.
And yet it is the way Jesus chose as the way
to know God (42).
4.
That comment of course,
challenges us to the core.
5. No easy answers, but the reminder that watch
of us has to find our own way to live out the descending way
Conclusion: A wise, old rabbi was once asked why so few people were finding God, especially when
so many people were looking for God. The
rabbi replied. “Most people are not
willing to look that low.”
Jesus,
the God who descends.
Resources:
Nouwen, Henri. Letters to Marc about Jesus: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World. HarperOne,
1988.
When the Wind Is Against You: Encouragement
for When Life Pushes Back, Stephen McConnell, 2013.
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