First full week of the New Year gone already – seems like a good time to sit back and reflect. Lots of interesting things have happened this week - many have been straight forward and mundane others have left me asking the hard questions. I took the funeral of a 19 year old killed tragically in a car accident on Friday. It’s not easy is it when God doesn’t do the predictable thing – when things happen that leaves you wondering what God is doing.
On Thursday we celebrated Epiphany – I preached about it last Sunday at 9.00am (2/1/11, catch the podcast) – the thing that’s been rattling around my brain all week is how much faith the wise men had. There’s so much we don’t know about them – like we don’t know how many there were, or how they came to Bethlehem (no mention of camels in the Bible) – but one thing we do know is that they didn’t roll up the night of Jesus’ birth like the traditional nativity story tells us. They came several years after the birth; we know this because the bible tells us that Mary & Joseph were in a house (settled) and that the baby Jesus was now a child. I can just about get my head around kneeling at a manger crib and overlaying all my expectations about what God incarnate might look like onto a tiny baby lying in a pile of straw – but to see God in nappies, screaming and crying and careering around the house like any toddler does takes a lot more faith. These wise men, these seekers after truth, must have left Mary’s home with more questions than answers – yet they still bowed in worship. Often God doesn’t look like God, sometimes circumstances don’t unfold in the way we feel they should – they don’t follow a typical ‘God trajectory’ but none the less, our response should be one of worship amidst the questions, to use the uncertainty to fuel our belief in the infinite possibilities of God, and to trust – despite everything – that God is in control.
When God doesn’t look like God, He still is.
I guess if we balance this with 'When God looks like God, he may not be' it shows that we realise we are mere humans on a common journey.
ReplyDeleteWhichever part of the journey we have completed so far is not important. The fact that we can help each other get to where we can be is!
Born again Christians have someone who was begotten for them to show them how they need to be. For the rest it is enough to have someone with less authority that shows them the way and thank goodness that that someone is someone like you!