A True Picture of God

Sermon Manuscript for Green Lake Church of Seventh-day Adventists

For June 21, 2014

Texts

Exodus 34:4-8

John 1:14-18

1 John 4:8

Twenty years ago I gave a series of lectures at the Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado. I stayed at the home of a geologist who worked for U.S.G.S. (U. S. Geological Survey) and I was eager to talk rocks with him. How did he connect what he saw in the rocks with what he heard in church?

We must have talked rocks, but I don't remember much of what he said. Instead my sharpest memories are of Gary's care for his son.

I got in late Friday night and didn't see the son until Sabbath morning. Gary served his son breakfast, then wheeled him out to the car in his wheel chair. He helped his son into the front seat and secured him with a special harness. Gary's tenderness with his son had all the marks I associate with maternal care. Competent, gentle, attentive. And—dare I say it—sweet.

We put me and the wheel chair in the back seat and drove off to church. There I was caught up in my official duties and meeting people. I didn't see Gary with his son again until that evening when we were back at the house.

I don't remember the diagnosis. Maybe there wasn't some a tidy neurological or medical label for his constellation of physical and psychological difficulties. I do know that the tenderness and care I observed had been going on for thirty years and would continue for decades more.

Given Gary's credentials and career as a geologist it would be easy to think the significant theological questions in his neighborhood concerned radiometric dates and fossil sequences. Watching Gary care for his son it was obvious the most significant theological question was, is God really a father like that?

The Bible does not mention fossils or zircons or radioactive decay. It does speak of God as father, mother, lover, friend. Is God really a father like Gary? In later years, Gary's wife was diagnosis with Alzheimer's. Gary added her care to the care of his son. Is God a lover like Gary?

Is God as good as Gary?

Another story. Another picture of God.

My friend Karolyn has a son who is severely disabled. There is no simple medical label for Orin. He can walk. He can feed himself. And even those abilities are seen as miracles by his mother. They were giant leaps forward in development that followed an anointing service and prayer for healing more than three decades ago. “God,” Karolyn had prayed. “I think I can do this if he can just feed himself.” And it happened.

What jumps out at me when I listen to Karolyn speak about Orin is her affection. As Orin turns 40, his problems are getting worse, not better. He requires continuous, etenal care. Sometimes Karolyn talks about how wearing that is. But far more often she expresses concerns about his comfort. How do you provide adequate care for a person who cannot tell you if he has a toothache or an ear ache? What would happen to him if Karolyn could no longer care for him?

Occasionally she talks about the greatest mystery of all. She wonders what would happen to her if he died. Given his disabilities it is likely she will out live him. And then what? Where will her heart ever find ease and solace? She loves Orin.

She has devoted 40 years to Orin, 40 years of love, 40 years of service to a child who will never grow up, a child who will never provide the kind of bragging rights parents dream of.

Is God like that?

I have watched for almost 20 years. I have admired her, and wondered at the grandeur of her mother's heart. It remains a mystery, way beyond my comprehension, beckoning me to contemplate an astonishing love.

This is a picture of God. This is the truth about God.

Some of us need to take down the pictures of God that were painted by preachers, Bible teachers, parents, friends.

Of course, God dreams of human children who are beautiful, strong, holy, skinny, virtuous, shining, gracious, disciplined, honest, kind, smart, musical, artistic, etc., etc.

Jesus said that we are to be perfect like God.

Paul wrote that we should forgive like God, love like God, be patient like God.

James challenges us to practice divine generosity.

But what if you are not beautiful, strong, holy, skinny, virtuous, shining, gracious, disciplined, honest, kind, smart, musical and artistic?

What if you are bumbling, fickle, dishonest, addicted, criminal? What then? Where do you stand in the eyes of God?

We can see the answer in Gary and Karolyn. The primary locus of value in a child is found in the heart of mom and dad, not in the achievements or character of the child.

This is the grandest, deepest truth. It is the most difficult to grasp. Those of us who do not have a special needs child can know this truth only by paying deep, respectful attention to parents who have lived it. And even then we will always be outsiders, looking in wonder at a mystery that is beyond us.

When the Bible pictures God as a father or mother, it intends us to imagine these family connections in their richest, sweetest ideal. Some of us have experienced great pain because our parents did not exhibit this radical affection. For some of us, the words father or mother connect us with images of rejection, alienation, or even abuse. Our parents may have beat us or neglected us, belittled us or scorned us. The Bible offers us another vision. And we come to church to celebrate this alternative truth:

God takes delight in God's children. God prizes God's children without regard to our successes or failures, our accomplishments or deficiencies.

This is the truth. This is the way God is.

I was visiting with an old friend this week, someone I've known for decades. Kirk's son is not easy. Every story about the son is a story of struggle. Often it's a story of disappointment. But this time I heard a different story. The new pastor of their church had taken the son out for coffee a couple of times. Later the pastor remarked to Kirk, “Your son is cool. He's interesting.” Kirk then said, “No one says that about my son. He is a difficult person. He's bi-polar. Opinionated. Outspoken. Edgy. I can't believe our pastor said, 'He's cool.'”

You are the son, the daughter, God treasures. Other people wonder what on earth God sees in you. Let them wonder. Let them be bewildered. God adores you.

As we come to know this more and more deeply, we will then be able to do for one another what that pastor did for my friend, Kirk. We can brighten God's heart by saying good things about his children, especially the difficult ones.

You are precious. We are precious. God is love.