"He's Everywhere!"

Joshua J Sander
7/17/11
5th Sunday after Pentecost—16th in Ordinary Time
Pulpit Supply at Olivet Congregational Church
"He's Everywhere!"

Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24

Have you ever spent any significant time digging around through the Psalms? Maybe it’s because I’m something of a poet myself, but I love the Psalms--there’s so much good stuff in there--beauty and tragedy, victory and strife--it’s all in there.

From “Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth / Worship the Lord with gladness,” to “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?” From “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog” to “I hear the whispering of many--terror all around!--as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.” It’s all in the Psalms.

But I have to admit that today’s scripture lesson is quite possibly my very favorite Psalm. “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the shadows shall cover me, and the light around me become night,’ even the night is not without light to you; the night is as bright as the day, for night is as light to you.”

Absolutely beautiful! Unless you think about it for too long, and then it gets kind of creepy, right? The Inescapable God! Sometimes it feels a little bit like when an old high school buddy of mine put a photograph up on the wall opposite his toilet with the caption “Jeff Goldblum Is Watching You” underneath.

Or worse, it’s kind of like something I noticed in the Halo video game series. Sometimes, as the sci-fi war hero charges the enemy lines, the alien Grunts break rank and flee--and every once in a while you can hear one cry out in terror, “He’s everywhere!”

Fortunately, we are not members of an alien alliance at war with humanity, God is not a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier in SPARTAN-II armor, and life is not a video game.

You see, the other point that Psalm 139 makes is that God knows us intimately. “O God, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O God, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.”

People are often frightened to let themselves be known so completely. Letting somebody know who you really are leaves you open to being hurt. But when I stop to think about the people who have known me the best--the people I could always talk to, the people I could go to for honest advice, the people I could expect help from--I wind up reliving a lot of very good memories.

Many of those memories are centered around Silver Lake. In fact, Silver Lake Conference Center is well loved by many generations of people because it has always been a place where folk felt comfortable revealing their true selves without fear of getting hurt.

Once, when I was a conferee at Silver Lake, I was standing around with several other youth talking about how great it is to be in such a safe place, a place where we could truly be ourselves, when one of our counselors joined the conversation. Instead of simply agreeing with us, she gave us a challenge--figure out a way to bring that Silver Lake Feeling with us out into the real world.

I think I know what to do to accomplish that--and even though it’s simple, it isn’t always easy. We need to recognize that God knows us and loves us completely and that God is everywhere.

God has searched us and knows us. God knows when we sit down and when we rise up; God knows our thoughts from far away. God searches out our path and knows where we’re going to sleep tonight. God is acquainted with all our ways. Even before we can say a single word, God knows it completely. God knows everything about us, good and bad, and loves us anyway. And we can always talk to God, always go to God for advice, always expect help from God--because God is always there. God is everywhere. And I don’t just mean in you and me--although I do mean that. And I don’t just mean at Silver Lake and in rainbows and butterflies--although God is surely there also.

I’m telling you that if you really look and listen and pay attention, that God is in EVERYTHING--a pair of sneakers, a video game, a pocketful of change, a professional wrestler, a song on the radio--

Here, let’s use a song on the radio as an example. I’m going to play a song for you by the Dixie Chicks. The words are in your bulletin, if you want to follow along. Actually, I’m going to end up playing it twice, so don’t get too hung up on getting all of it the first time through.

On this first listen, I want you to pretend that you aren’t in church--you’re wherever you might be listening to the radio--in your car stuck in a traffic jam, laying on the beach--just a normal day and this is a song on the radio...



On an average, normal day, what would be your first impression of what the song is about?

Ok, now, on this second listen through, I want you imagine that the Dixie Chicks are actually prophets or angels--messengers from God with an important message just for you. In other words, I want you to imagine that God is speaking the words that they are singing.



Do you see what I mean? Do you see how much better life can be when you start looking for God outside of this building? Because God is everywhere. And God does know you. And God loves you very much. Don’t worry about it if people think you’re a little crazy when you start seeing God in George the Animal Steele and Dixie Chicks tunes.

God will be there although you might not see God--it's never easy for God to get through to us when we aren’t listening--but when the laughter dies away, then God will take care of you.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.