Article from Epistle to the Presbyterians, May/June 2005

by Thomas A. Sweet

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I cannot think of a verse of scripture that has been more transformational in my life than Acts 17:28- “In God we live and move and have our being.”  The preposition standing at the front of that sentence is tremendously important.  In.  We live our lives in God.  Here is the way I tried poetically to say it in a recent Sunday morning call to worship:  “Like birds winging through open air and fish swimming in deep water, we live within the awesomeness of God.  Not an object apart and distant from us is God but a Presence in whom and to whom we are present.”

Do you want some corroborating texts?  How about Psalm 139 that says, in part, “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.”  This passage from Deuteronomy 30 is one of my favorites:  “Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away.  It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’  No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.”

Why have so many of us grown well into adulthood with an image of God as a supernatural being who is “out there” and apart from us?  A God whom we need to placate?  A God who intervenes, albeit capriciously, in the world and in our lives?  Perhaps it is because we find comfort in the idea of a Divine Protector who will keep us from harm and a Divine Santa Claus who doles out good and perfect gifts when we ask for them.  When we think about it, we know better.  Even scripture says that the rain falls and the sun shines on the just and the unjust alike.  Just yesterday the confirmation commissioning class watched “Hotel Rwanda” that tells of the genocide just a decade ago of one million Tutsis while the world watched and did little.  Are we to suppose that none of them were deserving of Divine Favor?

It seems to me that part of maturing in the faith is realizing that we are alive in God.  Every minute of every day everywhere.  What could be better than that?!  What greater security could we desire?  Our part is to accept the responsibilities that come with being human beings or life goes askew and everyone suffers.  I am convinced that the early Christian community called Jesus “God” because he was so fully human.  For, as St. Irenaeus wrote, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”   The religious task of the twenty-first century is not to fret over individual salvation for a life to come.  Remember, we already live in God.  What greater salvation can there be?  What other life?  We live in God.  We die in God.  We are raised in God.  The religious task for these times is “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly” (Micah 6:8) in our world of delightful and daunting differences and diversities.

How can we do that?  By the power of God’s Spirit present to us and in us.  How can we apprehend the Spirit?  In prayer.  But if God is not outside of us and apart from us, if God is not a supernatural being whom we need to cajole and coerce into giving us good things…then what is prayer?  (Hint: not what many of us think it is.)  How does prayer mediate God to us and help us to become more fully human?  What is it about prayer that makes it such a hopeful avenue for peace among the nations?

“Waking Up to God” is the general title of my summer preaching series on prayer.  Beginning June 19 at 9:30 in Bellinger Chapel, I am hoping that this summer’s series can be somewhat interactive and dialogical in nature for, if we do not “get” prayer, it is almost impossible to “get” God.

Plan to come to summer worship at First Presbyterian.  What a wonderful time to bring a friend!

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© First Presbyterian Church 2005