Sunday, December 13, 2020
“...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me….just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Matthew 25: 35-36, 40.
Where has God come near me? I cannot tell you who God is or what God is. No one can do that. That is not within the capability of any human mind. All I can do is tell you how I believe I have experienced God. God and my experience of God are not the same. I have experienced God as the source of life, the source of love, and the Ground of Being. God is a constant presence, a force. But I am most aware of the nearness of God when I go to Redeemer on Monday morning and see our LCFM guests awaiting what we have prepared to give.
As the beloved German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “ In total reality, [God, in the form of Jesus] comes in the form of the beggar, of the dissolute human child in ragged clothes, asking for help. He confronts you in every person that you meet. As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbor, as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you, makes demands on you. That is the great seriousness and great blessedness of the Advent message. Christ is standing at the door; he lives in the form of a human being among us. Do you want to close the door or open it?”
Will we at Redeemer open the door to God as embodied in the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, the homeless? Will we welcome the stranger to our church and offer warmth from the bitter cold of the winter? The answer to these questions depends not on whether we believe in Jesus but whether we are faithfully obedient to his commands. Jesus calls us to follow him and, by extension, to honor and give privilege to the poor whom Jesus lives within. This is the Christ that points me to the fullness of God. This is the faith I seek to share with my church.
My God, our Ground of Being, open the hearts and doors of my church to your family: the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, the homeless, and the stranger so that we may bear witness to the faith that leads us to live fully, love wastefully, and be all we can be. Amen
Peter Quist
