Reflections on "Jesus: The Hidden God" Colossians 2: 1-3; I Corinthians 2: 6-13

WE continue in Henri Nouwen's book Letters to Marc, which has been our Lenten study book.  This week we reflected on "Jesus:  The Hidden God."

Best part of sermon was probably the introduction!

Nouwen noted in this chapter that God is at work in the people who pray for him that he never knows are praying for him.  If I did the sermon again, I would probably build a section around that thought.

The text below is probably not as close to the actual sermon as usual.  I didn't have the sermon prepared as well as I like, so I was free-lancing a bit more at both services.  Not free-lancing in a good way like when I really focus on a point in the sermon presentation, but free-lancing as a sign that I was still trying to sort the sermon out as I was preaching it.

“Jesus: The Hiddenness of God” April 6, 2014; Lenten series; Colossians 2: 1-3; I Corinthians 2: 6-13

Introduction: “that’s as far as my arm can reach….everyone is just going to have to squeeze in.”

“Hurry up and take the picture!”

“1, 2, 3 – cheese!”

“Are you going to put that on FB? If so, be sure and tag me.”

“No, I just Snap chatted it”

‘Oh, I thought you were going to Tweet it!”

“Wait till everyone sees where we are and what we are doing right now!”

One more photo with faces squeezed into the frame has hit the world of FB, Twitter, or Snapchat.

A question for our world today – can an event really happen if it is not posted somewhere in the world of social media?

Or better yet? Can an event even take place in private?

We live in a world where public expression of the story seems to be more important than the story itself – almost as if the story is created just for publication, or the event does not really happen unless it is made public.

Move 1: In contrast to that worldview, Henri Nouwen invites us to reflect on the hiddenness of God (a reminder that we are studying Nouwen’s Letters to marc as part of our Lenten journey).

a. As Nouwen describes God, he depicts a God who “Prefers to work in secret” (68).

1. Truthfully, Nouwen has not convinced me that God values hiddenness for the sake of being hidden.

2. Rather God works in hiddenness because being hidden or not being hidden does not matter to God.

3. the bottom line - it does not matter if God's action are public or not because it is the act itself that matters, not what the world knows or thinks about it.

4. It is the saving grace of God at work, not the publicizing of it that matters to God.

5. If a life is changed and it is never announced to the world, it matters just the same to God.

b. We see the hiddenness of God in the hiddenness of Christ.

1. Let’s face it – in the world in which he lived, Jesus was a pretty obscure person.

2. yes, we know about him because the gospels tell his story that is central to our beliefs.

3. Yes, the resurrection of Christ was a pivotal moment in the history of the world when God acted decisively to end the reign of death and bring the hope of the resurrection to the world.

4. But, if we read historical commentaries from the 1^st century world, there is barely a mention of Jesus.

5. what he did was done in relative obscurity.

6. and yet in the hiddenness of Christ, God changed the world.

Move 2: Challenge of hiddenness of God.

a. The world calls into question whether God is really there if God is not highly visible.

1. The crisis becomes visible.

2. the need for God seems very visible.

3. but where is God?

4. Why is God not center stage, visibly interceding in the events of the world?

5. . Challenge for the faithful to see the demand for God to be made visible, and then proclaim the God who works in the hiddenness of the world.

b. Nouwen also points out the irony that so many in our world today shout Jesus’ name all the while missing the God who is at work in the hiddenness of our world and our lives.

1. I am reminded of how easily some point to the heavens or proclaim their God when they’ve scored a touchdown or won an award.

2. the public God or our triumphs seems very different than the God who works in the hiddenness of our lives that Nouwen describes.

Move 3: Which is why the spiritual life is so important to Nouwen.

a. As Paul writes to the Colossians, it is by connecting ourselves with the hiddenness of Christ that we can discover all the treasures.

1. as Nouwen describes it, Jesus makes himself known to us in secret, which requires that we start looking for him “in your own seclusion; It is his [Jesus'] seclusion, his hiddenness, that invites you to enter into your own” (74).

2. this takes us back to our hearts, which Nouwen suggests we avoid because we are afraid of it (74).

3. thus the need to be prayerful and work at our spiritual lives, to work at joining with Christ in his hiddenness.

b. As an example, Nouwen offers the Frenchwoman Marthe Robin.

1. Nouwen notes how many people attributed their faith in Jesus to Marthe Robin.

2. He shares her story. If you want to learn more about her, you can do an Internet search and read about her.

3. A life of suffering and paralysis. She reportedly was unable to eat or drink anything except the bread and wine of the Eucharist that were shared with her once or twice a week.

4. she was sustained by her connectedness with Christ. Not a triumph of power announced to the world and made public, but a triumph of solidarity.

c. Nouwen also notes that when we look to the heart to find Chris, that is when we find ourselves.

1. the spiritual journey that connects us to Christ helps us discover who we are.

2. or as Nouwen puts it, “The more you learn to love God, the more you learn to love yourself” (75).

Conclusion: as we come to our Lord’s Table today, we come to the place where we can discover the God who works in secret and with divine patience (77).

A Table not set to be a post on FB, but a Table where we are invited to meet the God who works in the hiddenness of our lives and our world.