Googling (Printable Version)
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli at St. Matthew’s UMC February 5, 2012, the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.
Texts: Isaiah 40:21-31, Mark 1:29-39
Just twenty years ago, if you had suggested to someone that they “google” something, they might have imagined that you were making some kind of lewd comment. But today, most of us know that “Google” is an internet search engine—a way to search for things on the web. So to “google” something is to search—and, these days, you can find pretty much anything you’re looking for online. Answers to questions, entertainment, a world-wide shopping mall—and you can order up anything your heart desires and, in no time, have it delivered directly to you.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a search engine to find God? We could do a filter thing where we get rid of all the idols and search for just God. “God NOT idol.” “God AND real.”… We’ve been thinking a lot about God’s call in each of our lives, about the invitation to listen to that call and to follow. For some of you, you may wish you could plug that search into the God search engine: How do I listen for God? How do I know whether I am following? It is so easy to get distracted by a voice other than the voice of Christ. And all of us in one form or fashion end up at the beck and call of idols.
One of the ways we learn that we’re worshiping an idol is when that idol or false god lets us down. I encounter, on a pretty regular basis, persons who have been betrayed or forsaken by their false gods; all those possessions haven’t given the sense of self-worth that they crave; that great physique they’ve been so obsessive about and paid for each month by direct deposit to the fitness club hasn’t brought them any closer to believing that they can truly be loved; the job that has claimed their loyalty all these years has ultimately failed to sustain a deep sense of identity or meaning; even the most precious relationships have failed to provide everything they need, because—gasp!—people are human and therefore fallible and finite. In our search for meaning and happiness, perhaps we have learned that the false gods whose calls we answer all the time do not provide healing for the deepest losses and brokenness in our lives. Those idols—even the most juicy escapism types—will not set us free from what truly holds us hostage.
For those who are frustrated by their seemingly failed search, the scapegoat is often—who do you think?—God! And the refrain hasn’t changed across all these years. It is the same as we hear in the prophet’s words today: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.” (Isa. 40.27) In other words, “God isn’t taking care of me—God blows me off—God isn’t doing what God should do.” Because, you see, God cannot be purchased and delivered in tidy packages with a next-day delivery guarantee. God is not available in “my way right away” fashion. And these days we don’t want to wait. We want what we want when we want it. We don’t want to hear that “God’s wisdom is unsearchable.” Everything is searchable (surely we can Google God’s wisdom…?!)…
In our gospel lesson, Simon comes to Jesus and tells him: “Everyone is searching for you.” And it remains to be the case today. Not every person will name “Jesus” as what they are looking for, but I believe that, as human beings, just like those who pressed against the door where Jesus was in our gospel, we all search for something that will heal us, strengthen us, make us more free. We search for better life, more life, peaceful life, fulfilled life, a life in which we can pay our bills, in which we can trust ourselves, in which we will feel better, look better, live better; we search for a better world, a world in which we don’t have to worry about the safety of our loved ones, a world in which we don’t have to wonder each day whether there will be enough sanity around to keep us from destroying the planet. We search for a person with whom we can share our lives and our hearts. We search for a cure for our diseases. We search for a stable home in which our children will have enough food. We search for a community in which the reality of our lives can be acknowledged and affirmed. We search for a reality in which the hurts we feel, the brokenness we have inflicted, the pain of others will be soothed and healed. Everyone is searching for what Jesus embodied for those in today’s story: someone or something that brings hope and healing and gives meaning to human life. I believe that, whether we know it or not, we are all searching for God.
So how do we search for and find the God whom we seek?
Is the answer to have the fastest search engines? Isaiah tells us that “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” The promise of healing and liberation and renewed strength will be fulfilled for those who wait on the Lord. Jesus, we are told, after a very long day of ministering to the sick, rose very early the next morning and went to a deserted place where he prayed (Mk. 1.35). Sometimes we, like Jesus, will be in a place that is “still very dark” and from that place we will wait for the Lord to renew our strength. Our searching for God begins on our knees or in our beds or wherever we steal away to pray. It is in prayer that we not only speak, but where we open ourselves to LISTEN. We wait.
There is another connection here for us—there is another way that we search for God. When I was in college and seminary, I worked in a restaurant waiting on tables. The language of Isaiah strikes me: “those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength…” Those who wait on God, who serve God will renew their strength… How do we do that—how can we serve a God whom we are trying to FIND? It may make sense to us that we have to wait on God—as in sitting and waiting (even in prayer). But consider…you may seek God’s face as you serve and “wait upon” others. Jesus taught that when we care for anyone in need, we care for him… So another way to search for God is by serving others—because Jesus has told us that when we serve others, we will encounter HIM.
Prayer and service; there’s your God-search engine. It’s not instant gratification; it’s not in your control; it doesn’t respond at the touch of a key or at the swipe of a credit card. In fact it’s shrouded in mystery. (Let’s be honest—it’s difficult to serve others when we’re looking into the face of a person who makes us crazy or who doesn’t appreciate our service…it’s difficult to pray when you’re truly trying to listen and it feels like you’re met with nothing but deafening silence…) But we are assured that as we wait on the Lord in prayer and service, we will—in the mystery of God— come face to face with God; we are assured that we will receive—maybe not what we think we want—but exactly what we need.
Amidst the many voices that clamor for our attention, among all the idols that seduce us, the voice of the Holy One continues to speak our names. That voice knows what we’re really searching for; for it is God and God alone who can provide what we truly need, the power, the renewal, the strength, the healing, the liberation from whatever is binding us.
Our Google searches can give us pleasant distraction for the short term, but if we want to run the race that is set before us, the race of our lives, we need the promise of a God who won’t crash or freeze, who will help us not only run, but mount up with wings and fly.
