July 21, 2002—9:00 Worship
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
One of my favorite TV shows was Superman! Faster than a bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, it’s a plane, it’s a bird, it’s Superman! Remember that! When Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen was in trouble, they would look up and spot Superman coming to their rescue.
Today there’s a group of people who have an odd hobby of spotting planes. Started in England by working-class boys looking for entertainment during the bleak years of World War II, plane spotters would record the individual registration numbers printed on each plane’s tail. Like bird watchers, they would boast the sightings of thousands of planes and preserve their experiences by recording them in journals.
Before September 11th, as many as 250 plane spotters gathered regularly on the observation deck at LAX jotting down aircraft registration numbers. Now, the fear of terrorism around the country has clipped the wings of this rather peculiar passion.
Life is hard for plane spotters these days. We, who are newly aware of living in terror, simply cannot ignore those who suspiciously look up toward the heavens. Do they really spot something going on up there besides registration numbers–like a Superman? Are there times when you would look up in the sky for something or someone to come to your aid?
Not Distant from Us
Two weeks ago, I was trying to preach a message about life in the flesh and life in the Spirit. Those who are fixated on the flesh endure suffering without hope. But those who have glimpsed the truth of their life in the Spirit know that the suffering that we may be having right now will be dwarfed by the glorious rewards in the future. People who look for truth in the Spirit of God see their future inheritance is guaranteed with the resurrection of Christ.
But honestly even for those who believe that today’s suffering is only a passing phase prior to the coming of better times, it is still difficult to endure suffering. There’s disaster, adversity, misfortune. These things make it tough for us to spot God through the fog of chaos and profound sorrow.
Paul reminds us that there’s nothing new about living in the throes of terror and disaster. Hardship? Distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Peril? Sword? Nothing new there. Unfortunately, we see these things everyday.
And because of this reality of terrorism and chaos in the world, we cry out for help. Remember a few years ago, there was a popular song by Bette Midler, “From a distance, God is watching us, God is watching us, from a distance.” It does feel that God is far away at a great distance from where we are.
Sometimes it feels like God is hiding from us. Martin Luther thought about God as the “hidden God,” hiding from the sin of his people. Even the Psalmist said, “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’” (Ps. 42:3)
Today, in the face of so much horror, many people no longer wonder “Where is your God?” Instead they give up, thinking God is either long gone, or that there is no God at all.
Book of Sightings
Remember those plane spotters who lug around their journals of sightings as thick as Bibles? God spotters also carry their journals filled with the accounts of generations of God spotters who came before them. We call it the Holy Bible.
Moses spotted God in the burning bush.
Hannah spotted God through her tears at Shiloh as she begged for a child in the face of infertility.
Isaiah spotted God in a vision sitting on a throne surrounded by six-winged seraphs.
Elijah spotted God in a mountain amid thunder, lightning, wind, and fire.
A woman in need of healing spotted God in the crowd around Jesus.
The centurian at the cross spotted God when Jesus died in suffering and agony.
The thief spotted God as he hung on a cross beside Jesus.
Paul who persecuted Christians spotted God on the road to Damascus.
Many others spotted God calming a storm, healing a leper, and restoring a young girl to life. Matthew tells us that a whole crowd of people spotted God talking about mustard seeds, hidden treasures, and nets teeming with fish as Jesus was sitting in a boat teaching those who had gathered on the beach.
Yet it is so hard for us to see God in the day to day events of our lives.
God is Present
The apostle Paul affirms that God is present, not hidden, and that nothing will separate us from his love. God did not withhold his own Son from us, but gave him up for all of us. And because of this generous act of love, God will give us everything else—including being present with us especially in time of need.
If we accept this as a given, then perhaps God is not so hard to spot after all. But we must be open and receptive to that possibility—that God is among us. Then we’ll see God in even the smallest wonders.
The church’s business is God spotting. It’s not just a hobby. It’s odd according to the world. And God spotting is a threat to the world’s status quo! Our church offers opportunities for training us to develop our God-spotting abilities. When we love God, called according to God’s purpose, we learn new ways to spot the goodness of God even in the midst of pain and suffering.
Some of you who are serving at Day Camp this summer may feel pain and suffering. It takes long hours and tremendous patience. Most of the adults may not be familiar with what you guys do—so you feel unappreciated and perhaps undervalued. Paul is reminding you that no hardship or distress can ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. But in your sacrificial ministry, you can spot God in the smiles on the faces of the children. You can spot God when the kids learn their Bible stories. You can spot God when a child learned to share with another.
I can only suspect and guess that some of you may be experiencing heartache and troubles at home. These are the kinds of things that tear us up and leave us crying through the night. And when we feel so alone, we wonder like the Psalmist, “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’”
The truth of the gospel is that in the midst of suffering and pain, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
My prayers for you who may be experiencing hardship and distress is that God is present with you and that you have this loving community to guide you and support you in need. And even in the throes of chaos and trouble, you can spot God in your life.
Paul said, “We know that all things work together for good, for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” We don’t justify or condone suffering but in some divine ways, Paul is saying to us that suffering still is a part of God’s path to glory. Know that God is not hidden from you but God can be spotted in the hearts of your sisters and brothers sitting all around you.
You may be wondering how can I get myself ready to spot God in my life and in the world.
God Spotted Us
The answer is that God has already spotted us. We may think that we must have stronger binoculars of faith to spot God or that we are unworthy to see God because of our past history. But the greater truth is that God has already spotted us. God saw us and through Jesus came as close as possible to join us where we were standing so that we might catch the most close-range, intimate sighting possible. We don’t need to be looking up in the sky for Superman when we have God. Jesus is God among us and died on the cross for us.
If God was willing to send Jesus to the very place where we were standing, to the very place where many were already looking up in hopes of seeing something interesting and worthwhile, then won’t God continue to give us all the sightings we really need? The answer is “Yes!”
Today God is spotted everywhere: in the lives of those whose hardships are crushing, whose distress includes nightmares, whose persecution horrifies, whose famine shames us, whose nakedness embarrasses us, whose peril makes us want to turn away, whose relationship with the sword is too close for us to relate.
Not only do such tragedies fail to separate us from God; God can actually be spotted in the midst of them. Nothing can keep us from God’s love.
Let us pray.
Lord God, remove the veils and blinders from our eyes so that our lives can spot you in the world, in our community, in this church, and in our lives. And when tragedies happen, lead us to trust you to work toward the good according to your will. Thank you for making your presence truly among us and that nothing can ever separate us from you. Amen.