Friendship with God
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Click here to download the sermon manuscript.
Notes:
At the beginning of the sermon, we hear a brief description of the movie, “The Mighty,” which is based on a book by Rodman Philbrick titled, “Freak the Mighty.” You might find it helpful to watch the movie trailer to get a sense of the story.
Scripture: John 15:1-11
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
Have you ever had one of those moments (or series of moments) when God seemed especially close? Can you think of a time when God filled you with wonder, or with a sense of peace or joy?
The story is told, in Luke 9, of a time when Peter, James, and John walked up a mountain with Jesus. When they got to the top, they had a most extraordinary experience: they saw Jesus’ appearance change – Luke tells us they saw Jesus’ glory, they describe him as dazzling; they saw Moses and Elijah join Jesus for a conversation on that mountaintop; and they heard the voice of God name Jesus as his Son. After an experience like that, I wonder how hard it was for Peter, James, and John to come back down off that mountain.
Have you ever had an experience like that? An experience of God that seemed to transport you, at least for a moment, to a place of deeper understanding and awareness of God? It’s not by accident that we call these mountaintop experiences. But for most of us, these mountaintop experiences don’t last. Just like Peter, James, and John had to leave the mountain, so do we step out of the extraordinary and into the ordinary – the place we live most of our lives.
There’s something mystical about these mountaintop experiences. Even if the experience is connected to some kind of time and place where things are put together in such a way as to intentionally encourage an encounter with God, there’s something mystical about it all. It feels like a surprise. It feels like luck or chance – like the stars aligned just right or like we happened to catch God on a good day – a day when he was feeling particularly generous. It’s easy to believe we have no control over these kinds of experiences. But that’s not actually true.
Every week I spend time planning a worship service for Sunday. I consider what aspect of God we’ll be focusing on. I look at the Scripture reading(s) for the day and reflect on what it tells us about who God is. I carefully consider what songs and other readings might contribute to that same understanding. And through it all I trust that God will show up for us. But no matter how carefully and prayerfully I plan things, and even though God is present, there’s no guarantee that we will meet him. That’s because it’s more than luck or someone else’s planning, that results in the kinds of experiences of God we might label a mountaintop experience. Just like Peter, James, and John had to physically walk up the mountain with Jesus, so must we intentionally engage in practices that position us to experience God’s presence. We call these practices Spiritual Disciplines. They are things like prayer, worship, fasting, confession… They are things that can be learned, that must be practiced, about which we must be intentional.
Over the coming weeks we’re going to be thinking and talking a lot about Spiritual Disciplines. We’re going to be encouraged to learn and practice them, with the expectation that as we practice the Spiritual Disciplines, we will experience a deepening relationship with God. God is always there, waiting for us to meet him, but it’s not always easy for us to find our way to him. Too often it feels like when we do meet him, we just stumbled into him by accident. But it doesn’t have to be by accident. There are things we can do – things we can learn – to better position ourselves to meet God.
As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time reflecting on your relationship with God. Do you have a relationship? Can you even imagine what it means to have a relationship with God? What kind of relationship do you have with God? Is it like a Facebook friendship, where you kind of keep tabs on the person, but don’t have real, live encounters? Is it like a friendship with an old friend to whom you write and receive annual Christmas letters? Is God a pen pal or a work friend or a spouse? How would you describe your relationship with God? How might you describe that relationship if it were even just a little bit more intimate than it is currently? Do you want a closer relationship with God?