Near
Philippians 4.4-7
December 6, 2009
Dr. Matthew M. Fry

As we continue to experience The Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Grant unto us now, Almighty God, the ability to go beyond our limits, so that we might experience you more fully, in this time and into our future. May this time of preaching and hearing the Word Proclaimed infect our lives, and so alter our ways of seeing the world, and of being in it, so that we might live in your grace and love, and spread your mercy and care to the whole world. In the name of Jesus the Son we pray, Amen.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Listen.

Philippians 4.4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The Grass Withers, The Flower Falls, but The Word of The Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

Today marks the last sermon I preach until after Christmas, due to next week’s cantata and the following week’s Christmas pageant. I’m not complaining, mind you. It is my opinion that we should do this kind of thing every month. But, that said, to give you a month worth of sermons, I’m going to talk to you about the Greek today. Normally I don’t, but just to let you know that I’m doing my work for December here.

Such as, starting off, the word that we translate “Rejoice” is Chirote: it is active and imperative, and more literally means to make joy or take delight. Paul writes that we are to be actively making joy, actively taking delight. In a world and a culture that is fraught with things that are depressing, we need to be making joy. Sometimes the word “rejoice” can have the connotation of finding the silver lining in things, or being happy with our circumstances, or being content. Which is fine. But Chirote, because of its active, indicative, imperative tense, is also meant to show that we are to make joy in the midst of the sorrow of this world. In the face of injustice, we are to make joy; which is not just smile and make peace with injustice, but is to bring about the joy of justice. Make joy.

Paul also expresses how often. Pantote. This is a compound word, tote means at times, and pan means all. We know this, because panacea means cure all, Pangaea means all land, and pancake means all cake.

Make joy, take delight, at all times. Not just when it feels good. Not just when your schedule permits. At all times. Again, this is not find joy, be happy type stuff. This is make joy. The Greek word for joy is cara. The Greek word for grace is caris. They are virtually identical. I don’t think that should be lost on us. Making joy is participating in grace.

Why? Well verse 5 gives us a shot at an answer. The Lord is near. engus. Now, engus, near, has several different meanings in the Greek. engus, near, relates:

Now, in Advent, one of the things we celebrate is an understanding that the Lord is near in time. While we believe the Lord is here and present now, we also believe the Lord is near and is coming again. We live in the time where we have the Holy Spirit, we know the presence of the Lord, and we simultaneously believe that God is coming into full presence into the world again.

But one more thing that we celebrate in the Christmas story, in the time of Advent, is that the Lord is near in place. The birth narratives show us that when God becomes incarnate, it is not only a localized event. God’s presence will not be held by walls, by mangers, by inns, by political centers, or whatever. Jesus is born, and there is a star. There are angels on hills. The presence of God incarnate cannot, and will not, be only a local event. This is reinforced on the hill of Golgotha, when the curtain is torn from the top. God cannot, and will not, be made to dwell in only one place. God is not only here, God is also near.

When God becomes incarnate, God is proving a distinct lack of willingness to belong to only one people, only one nation, only one system, only one anything. Christmas proves God can, and will, go anywhere.

So what if, in today’s terms, God is not only here with us at Norcross Presbyterian, but is also just around the corner at Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church? Or what if God is with Christ the King Lutheran while they go through a time of interim pastoral leadership? What if God is with Pleasant Hill Presbyterian and their apostate pastor?

I kid, because that is exactly what we believe. God is not only hear, God is near.

But how big is God? In Dunwoody, what, about 15 minutes from here, there is a pretty large Synagogue, whose congregation has some furniture also made by Michael Gilmartin. They welcomed our committee in when we were first looking at chancel furniture. They were gracious and kind. They met, as they do each week, Friday night. They worship as did our religious ancestors before the time of Jesus. Was God there?

On Jimmy Carter Boulevard there is a group founded by Muslims called the Istanbul Cultural Center, who have made it their goal to engage in interfaith dialogue, for the purpose of living better together as a society and a culture. They stress our unity as human beings, our shared commitment across religious lines to make the world a better and more spiritual place, and the understanding that dialogue and open relationships help making living in our shared space, the earth, better. They have meetings one Thursday a month, and then the hope is that the participants go back to their sacred places and celebrate worship, the founders worshiping at their Mosque. Is God there?

Many of the students that attend the preschool downstairs come from India, or from that region of the world. Most of them are Hindu. Throughout the years, several of the best and kindest teachers have been their mothers. Most of them vegetarian due to their religion, and when there are times when people are to bring dishes to share, you get some really really good food. When they gather, is God there?

Almost a couple of years ago now, some folks from the Atlanta Freethought Society came and talked with us about religious matters. Since then, they purchased a no-longer-inhabited Baptist Church in Smyrna. They meet there one Sunday a month. If we believe that God is everywhere…is God there?

What is our understanding of where God is? Looking at the incarnation, instead of it only meaning that God comes to exist in a very specific time and place, it also means that God can exist anywhere, at anytime. Or possibly that God exists in all places, at all times.

Here’s where you wish I was putting more energy into other December sermons. Because as uncomfortable as you are with the thoughts of God with people from other religions, or with the non theist crowd, here’s something that is even more uncomfortable than that. What if God is with people who come from our tradition, people in other Christian churches, who believe and act very differently than we do? What if God is with Fred Phelps, a Baptist pastor from Kansas who travels to churches and Rev. Phelps holds up signs that read “God hates Fags?” Or can God be with Steven L. Anderson, a pastor in Arizona, who says, among other things, that if a woman works outside the house that she brings her family to ruin? He also found some fame recently for telling his congregation that he prays that Barak Obama will die and go to hell. Is God big enough to be with people with whom we strongly disagree? Is God big enough to be with people whose doctrine we actually work against? What if God is not just here, confined by us and the people we like or at least tolerate. What if God is near, and will not be contained by us?

Now, I’m not saying that I believe for one second that God is working for the purposes that Fred Phelps is, or that the Holy Spirit is actively collaborating with and leading Steven L. Anderson to preach what he does. I obviously disagree with their understandings. Perhaps one of the things that separates me from them is that I am willing to say that I alone can’t be sure that I am right, that those things are left only to God. And, this pains me to say, but I have to given that last statement, it is only God who knows if they are right. I believe pretty strongly, with as much power that I can, that such hatred that those two carry is not of God. But it doesn’t matter what I believe. Those are things that are God’s dominion. Thanks be to God.

But here is something that I do believe, and it pains me also to say this. I believe God is big enough to be present, not in the work of Fred Phelps or Steven L. Anderson, or countless others in our Christian tradition. In fact, fill in the blank with a name that you think of in your heads. See, I believe that God is big enough to be present not in their work, but with their person.

For God is not just here. God is near. Amen.