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The Power of Presence

The Power of Presence

December 23, 2007

Text: John 1:1-5, 10-14

John 1:1-5, 10-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. NRSV

Do you know what this is?

Dad@hvn, ur spshl. we want wot u

want &urth2b like hvn. giv us food & 4giv r sins lyk we 4giv uvaz. don test us! sAv us! bcos we kno ur boss, ur tuf & ur cool 4 eva! k?’

This is the text message version of the Lord’s Prayer.

“Dad in heaven, you are special. We want what you want and earth to be like heaven. Give us food and forgive our sins like we forgive others. Don’t test us! Save us! Because we know you are boss, you are tough and you are cool forever. Okay?”

Text messaging.

How many people here use it? Why do you use it?

It’s efficient, convenient, I’d guess comparatively cheap. It’s a good, useful tool. It shows respect for the other person—they have the option of answering it instantly, or waiting for a more opportune time. I have a hunch it’ll only grow more popular, with generation after generation using and improving it.

I admire and respect the people who use it—they’re on the cutting edge of technology. Some day I may use it…

…but not right now. You see, I’m in a class of human being scientifically described as, “fuddy-duddy.” It’s not that I don’t want to try new things, it’s just that I don’t understand the use of this new thing. I grew up thinking that you talk on phones, not type on them.

And now, I’m going to sound even more fuddy-duddy-like. I’m beginning to question the usefulness of…

… e-mails. Sure, it’s efficient and convenient, like text-messaging.

But have you ever received an e-mail that sort of upset you? And you sort of fussed and fumed and expended way too much energy over it? You couldn’t do much about it, or understand what the other person was really trying to say, because the only thing you could deal with were black letters on a white computer screen.

Worse yet, have you ever scribbled off an e-mail that was filled with emotion, and you pressed the send key, and the second you did you went, “Oops.” [One person once described an e-mail he sent, I asked if he really wanted to say what he said in it. He paused, thought about it, and said, “Can I take it back?” He wanted an e-mail “mulligan”—and you don’t get those!]

Fact of the matter is, text messaging and e-mailing, for all their usefulness, lack one thing:

The basic human touch.

Here’s how one person described it:

By using our communication devices, we can’t shake a hand, we can’t see into each other’s eyes, we can’t lean on a shovel in the garden, talking over the peas, or in a home kitchen, smelling the coffee brewing, and we can’t hear the conviviality of pleasantly shared silence.

We can’t do that unless we visit ... in person. There’s just something about being with each other, about taking the time to talk, eye to eye, that makes such a God-graced difference.

No matter how great technology is, and how far it can take us, NOTHING beats communicating…

…Face to face, over that cup of coffee…

…Holding hands, while sharing dreams and hopes of a life together…

…Embracing, while sharing a tear of grief, or a tear of joy…

If you’ve ever been in the hospital, you know the power of this type of face-to-face communication.

You’re in those funny, ventilated-in-the-back hospital gowns. You live in a small, sanitized room with a Lysol smell. Busy, hurried noises filter in from the hall.

Although the hospital staff does its best, you’re still known as the patient in Room 323, bed 2. You’re poked and prodded according to hospital schedules and doctors’ orders. You long to go home, but you have to wait for your doctor to release you—and you haven’t seen your doctor since day before yesterday.

And then, a knock on the door. Entering your room, from the outside world, is a friend, maybe carrying flowers or a gift.

How does such a sight make you feel? Suddenly, it’s as if you got a shot of warmth and happiness—and it won’t show up on your itemized bill.

Someone coming into your hospital room cheers you up a lot more than if you got a text message: “Hope U Flng OK”

You miss out on a lot when you’re efficient.

God knows.

God used to walk in the garden at the cool of the day. His heart broke when the humans thumbed their nose at him. So he said, “Enough of this, I’ve got work to do.” So God headed off to devote himself to flinging out pulsars and quasars and dwarf stars and supernovas.

Yet, just because humans turned their back on Him, He couldn’t forget them, or stay angry at them.

He kept in touch with them. He text-messaged and e-mailed priests and prophets and shepherds and writers. They wrote down what he said:

“Thou shalt have no other God before me…Thou shalt not kill… Thou shalt not, etc.”

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” –Deuteronomy 6:4

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your Lord?” –Micah 6:8

All this worked quite efficiently, but not too effectively. Israel perpetually wandered away from God. They’d get the text messages, the e-mails, and nod their heads. Sometimes, when it was in their best interest, they’d take them seriously. But much of the time, they went about their lives, undisturbed and uninterrupted by them.

You know, that shouldn’t be surprising to us, should it?

I’m about to ask a rhetorical question to those who are single—don’t answer.

Ever been to this website?

It’s perhaps the most famous dating site on the internet. You fill out forms, and start connecting with singles similar in interest and personality to you.

This has become a popular way to date. I’ve done a few marriages over the last few years of people who’ve met on such internet sites. Without exception they describe a time when the e-mails just weren’t enough. The words on the screen grew frustrating, instead of intriguing. There came a time when they wanted the words to come, not from pixels on a computer screen, but from a human face.

THEY WANTED THEIR WORDS TO BECOME FLESH.

How well God knows that desire.

For God, in trying to relate to us stubborn people, discovered that cold words on stone or parchment do not a warm heart make. He felt the limit, the frustration, of reaching out without touching; of looking at a computer monitor instead of looking into the eyes of a flesh-and-blood, living, breathing, thinking, feeling human.

And so God followed God’s beating, passionate heart—and did the incredible, the unthinkable.

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD…And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

A father discovered his little daughter wrapping a Christmas present. She was using lots and lots and lots of wrapping paper. He scolded her, telling her to be more realistic in her wrapping and not to waste paper like that. Feeling rather satisfied at this little lesson he taught her, he went on about his pre-Christmas preparations.

On Christmas Day the presents were being unwrapped and there for him was the very package he scolded his daughter for wrapping. Feeling a little ashamed, he opened the present, taking off layer after layer of paper. When he opened the box, it was empty! He turned in confusion to his little daughter and said, “You mean you used all of that wrapping paper just to give me nothing?”

The little girl crinkled her eyebrows and replied quite seriously, “But Daddy, what I gave you were all of my kisses. I blew them into the box and it took a really big box to hold them, and it took a lot of wrapping paper.”

A broad smile broke across Daddy’s face, and he swept her into his arms, silently giving thanks for her wisdom. It’s said that this father kept that box for years and whenever he was down and needed the blessing of heartfelt love, he opened the box. —Roy T. Lloyd, “Tear open the heavens,” December 1, 2002, Day 1 Web Site, day1.net.

When Christmas comes, it will be like God’s kisses to us. All those kisses for us, wrapped not in paper around a box…

…but wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.

All those kisses. Not text-messaged. Not e-mailed. Not even Hallmark card-ed.

All those kisses. Wrapped up in a child, for God couldn’t stay away from us any longer.

All those kisses.

Feels GOOD, doesn’t it?

--which would you rather have?

This?

4gd luvd dwrld, thtGd gavdOnly Sn, thtWhovr blves nHm wdnt die, bt havLif.

Look closely—It’s John 3:16—For God loved the world, that God gave the only Son…

Do you want this…

Or this?

As you leave today, make the right choice.