Manifesting Hope in Darkness: Seeking and Finding Hope

If you would like to view the recording of this sermon, click here.

​Young at Heart Message
 
Good morning! I am Pastor Jamie Almquist and I serve Good Shepherd Moravian Church in Calgary.
 
I am delighted to be a part of this 6-week sermon series on the theme “Manifesting Hope in Darkness.”
 
Today, we heard John the Baptist testifying to and affirming that Jesus is indeed the Chosen One. We follow this with the Gospel of John’s version of Jesus’s first disciples.
 
These disciples have been following John the Baptist, but when they hear John speaking so highly of Jesus, they choose to follow Jesus, seemingly out of curiosity.
 
Jesus asks them what they are looking for, and then he extends an invitation: come and see.
 
Today, we’ll be talking about seeking and finding hope in a world where the shadow of darkness seems to be looming ever larger and more ominously.
 
And as I thought about the theme for today’s sermon, my mind rested on a book I am in the process of reading. The book is called Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle.
 
The back of the book describes Gregory Boyle as “a Jesuit priest and the founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries.”
 
The beginning of his book introduces us to Homeboy Industries and describes Greg’s work with gang members in Los Angeles.
 
The book is beautiful and has brought tears to my eyes multiple times already, and I’m only three and half chapters in.
 
But in the first chapter of his book, Greg (lovingly called G by the Homeboys) shares a story of a dying man and his son.
 
In this story, the son reads every night to his dying father, and the arrangement is supposed to be that the son reading to his father would encourage his father to fall asleep.
 
However, each night, the father repeatedly opens his eyes to gaze lovingly at his son. G writes that “this evening ritual was really a short story of a father who just couldn’t take his eyes off his kid.”
 
There are few things that, I think, could describe our relationship with God better.
 
It is easy for us to imagine a new mother or father, lying their new baby down to sleep at night and being unable to leave the room because they simply cannot cease gazing at the miracle before them.
 
When I was much younger and my father was still alive, I began writing a blog as part of the work I did for a company called Patheos.
 
I shared the blog with my parents because I was excited about the work I was doing. I sent them the link to look at it, not expecting that they would read it.
 
I simply wanted to show them.
 
After I wrote a handful of times, I got busy and admittedly lost interest in the blog.
 
One day, a couple weeks after I had stopped writing, my Dad called to say hi and check in, and he asked me why I hadn’t posted anything on my blog lately.
 
I was shocked to learn that he was following the blog. He read every single post I made.
 
It fascinated him. I was honoured that he was interested in my life in this way - so much so that it still brings tears to my eyes today.
 
And, looking back on that moment, I realize that my Dad was lovingly gazing upon his daughter with pride and joy and a tremendous amount of love.
 
After sharing the story of the father and son in his book, G drops this golden nugget for the reader.
 
He says, “God would seem to be too occupied in being unable to take Her eyes off of us to spend any time raising an eyebrow in disapproval. What’s true of Jesus is true for us, and so this voice breaks through the clouds and comes straight at us.
 
‘You are my beloved, in whom I am wonderfully pleased.’”
 
As the Homeboys would say, “Damn, G.”
 
The Message
 
So, when we meet the disciples in today’s Gospel passage, they are not entirely sure what they are seeking, and they certainly don’t feel this loving gaze falling on them from anywhere.
 
When Jesus asks them what they are looking for, all they can muster is “where are you staying?”
 
It’s as though they desire to know so much more about Jesus, but they are awe-struck and uncertain.
 
When I shared my blog with my Dad, he could have said “great job!” and then never thought about it again.
 
When these disciples start following Jesus, he could have said “nice to meet you. Best of luck to you.”
 
But instead, my Dad read every post. And Jesus extends an invitation. He doesn’t judge them for their question about where he’s staying. Instead, he invites them to “come and see.”
 
And so it is with us.
 
We often find that we are seeking something, but we do not know what that something might be.
 
Perhaps we are seeking reassurance that we are on the right path, or we are seeking affirmation of our gifts. Maybe we are seeking people to make us feel loved, or perhaps we are seeking something that might ease our shame, regret, or hopelessness.
 
Jesus reminds us that it does not actually matter what we seek.
 
We will find it in him, if only we are open to accepting his invitation.
 
“Come and see” – these are not empty words. These are the words of a door opening for us.
 
“Come and see” reminds us that we are worthy, and Jesus beckons us. Jesus is like the father who gazes lovingly and with awe on his children.
 
In him, we find hope. In him, we find a love deeper than the ocean and as vast as the universe.
 
This hope we seek is not beyond our reach. It is easily accessible.
 
Jesus invites us to come close, abandon our fears, and follow his beacon of light as we navigate darkness.
 
He invites us to respond to his question, “what are you looking for?”
 
He does not judge or condemn. He merely sets his gaze upon us and loves us unconditionally.
 
Greg Boyle says the following about God’s love:
 
“I was brought up and educated to give assent to certain propositions. God is love, for example. You concede “God loves us,” and yet there is this lurking sense that perhaps you aren’t fully part of the ‘us.’
 
“The arms of God reach to embrace, and somehow you feel yourself just outside God’s fingertips. Then you have no choice but to consider that ‘God loves me,’ yet you spend much of your life unable to shake off what feels like God only embracing you begrudgingly and reluctantly.”
 
What if, instead, it has been God’s absolute joy to love you all along?
 
What if, in Jesus’s invitation to “come and see,” he is actually inviting us to experience God’s love on a much deeper level?
 
What if Jesus is inviting us to see that when God looks lovingly on his Son, he also looks lovingly on each one of us who was also created to be here in this very time and place?
 
We spend our entire lives seeking, and Jesus tells us “hey, come and see. I’ve got what you’ve been looking for.”
 
Suddenly, with a jolt, you realize that you’ve found it.
 
God is gazing upon you with an unimaginable, unchangeable love. A love that is capable of bringing us out of the deepest caves and darkest nights. A love that shines upon us brighter than the brightest star in the sky.
 
So, may you accept God’s loving gaze. May you look upon yourself the way God sees you – brilliantly and beautifully made.
 
You are God’s beloved, in whom God is wonderfully pleased.
 
Come and see. Amen.

---