Glimpses of You

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{Glimpses of You}*

I got the title for today’s sermon from Traci Vatne who was leading last week’s High School Bible study. They were discussing some of the tough questions. And some questions don’t have clear answers.

So one person in Traci’s class said a prayer that moved her, and when she mentioned it to me, I knew I had a sermon title for today. That person asked, “Dear God, please send us glimpses of you as we look forward to the glimpses to come.”

Glimpses of You. Don’t you wish that God was a little less hidden? Wouldn’t it be helpful if he gave us more than little glimpses, and brief moments?

How about a moment like one from the movie, The Green Mile? I won’t show the violent part. Let me just say that you’ll see prisoners on death row. One of them has a pet mouse. A bad guy, one of the bad jailers, has just killed the mouse. It’s a horrible scene that leads to this intense moment…

{movie clip}**

{Glimpses of You}

Sometimes, I admit to you, I get a little jealous when I read stories like our gospel lesson. I get jealous for scenes like in this movie. Here I am in the “business” of religion and faith, and so far I haven’t had anything like a net full of fish happen for me, or a mouse returned to life!

And while I’m being honest with you, I’ll even admit that I have fished on the Missouri River or Belt Creek, fished all day with no results, and I have prayed to God to send me a fish! Those were the times I usually walked away skunked. Not one bite—except from mosquitoes! (Maybe that was my sign!)

No clear, unexplainable miracles. It seems clear to me, looking back, that someone has been looking out for me, but nothing so obvious as this sudden impossible net full of fish. And nothing has set me down on my knees like Peter in front of Jesus. …Actually that’s not true. There have been times, moments that God has put me on my knees like Peter.

But first, back to that question: Wouldn’t it be easier to believe, and to be faithful, if God would reveal himself in big powerful glimpses like he did for these disciples? Wouldn’t it be easier if God gave us miracles like raising mice from the dead? Something?

Actually, no. I really don’t think so. Look to those disciples, who saw curious, amazing and unexplainable things while they followed Jesus, things that caused them to burst out saying that, truly, he must be the Son of God!

But their bumbling and lack of faith always followed those moments. Even miracles weren’t enough to keep them clear and focused. So, no. I honestly think that we are a lot like those disciples. More miracles or bigger glimpses would not really convince us, because our faith does not depend on miracles.

{Faith Does Not Depend on Miracles}

Faith does not depend on miracles!

Take a lesson from those who demand a sign from God and give up on him when, for whatever reason, he remains silent. To assume that God’s silence shows his absence, his non-existence, or his lack of care is like a young boy who has a new girlfriend.

For whatever reason, he decides that he wants her to call him in the next 5 minutes. If she calls then he’ll know that it’s a sign and proof that they were meant for each other. He waits by the phone. The seconds, then minutes tick by, and she still doesn’t call. And without knowing where she is, or what she’s doing, or what’s really in her mind, the boy decides that she must not care, or this wasn’t meant to be. He breaks off a relationship with the girl, who might have been the love of his life, because he demanded a sign. A sign that he wanted, and that he had control over.

Don’t get me wrong, though. Miracles and powerful glimpses of God are not useless tangents in our faith. There is a reason the Bible called the miracles of Jesus “signs.”

{Miracles Were Called “Signs”}

Signs give strength, or heart, to faith. Jesus told them not to be afraid of the sign, but to take heart, or courage from it. Faith takes heart from these glimpses of God.

This is real easy to understand if you’ve ever been on a road or a path and are worried that you’ve gone the wrong way. You start to wonder, “Is this right?” Then you see the green sign down the road, at last it’s near enough to read, and it tells you, “Yes. Yes, you’re headed the right way.” …or not.

My brothers and I used to take hiking trips in the Bob Marshall Wilderness or the Crazy Mountain Range in Montana. We had our topographical maps and our compass. There were natural landmarks to look for like streams and lakes, but it was always a great help to come across a less natural sign, a human-made trail marker, that would either confirm or redirect us.

So, when we come across signs they are helpful. But they are only helps along the way. When we travel, we don’t just drive from one sign to the next. We are going from one point to a destination, whether or not any obvious signs exist between here and there!

We don’t stop in the road and refuse to go any further until someone comes and erects a sign for us. If I stop and refuse to budge until I am given a sign, then among other things, I am focusing on myself and asking God to spin the universe around me. My faith would become a self-indulgent trip to nowhere. In faith, we are journeying from this point to a God-directed destiny.

{Signs Help Us “Take Heart” in Faith}

Signs are out there, and we will pass by them as we walk in faith. They will give us heart.

But there is something else that needs to be said. When we grow jealous for a sign like a net-full of fish, or a mouse-healing, then we are putting down all the many signs that God does send us. Signs do not have to be miraculous.

{Signs Do Not Have to be Miraculous}

They do not even have to be extraordinary. They have everything to do with the Kingdom, with Jesus and angels, but they can look very normal.

And God sends us signs all the time. Those signs are packaged as people, creatures and moments. I mentioned earlier that God has put me on my knees. It has happened whenever I’ve been at my lowest, spiritually tired, down. Then God sends me someone. They have only to say a few words to confirm my ministry, and I knew suddenly that this person was sent to me. I have been put on my knees.

I want you imagine Jesus saying these words: “Here’s this person; here’s this creature; take care of them along your way. Here’s this moment; cherish it while it’s here, and then move on. Here’s this heartbreak; lean on that person while you cry and heal. When you care for him, when you cherish that time, when you weep for her, when you lean on them, then you are caring for, cherishing, weeping for and leaning on me.”

Miracles do not rank above these normal signs. You and I are given signs, and if we get too impatient for the big and magical ones, we will miss out on the most important ones.

And here’s the key. After that big amazing miracle of hauling in a net full of fish, did Jesus tell them to do dip their nets for fish again, and again? Did he call up another miracle, just one right after the other? No, the sign pointed to God, and it showed a more important task ahead: People. Jesus said, “From now on you will be catching people. Not more miraculous fish, but my normal people.”

I know that clear directions and clear answers from God seem few and far between. Sometimes it feels like we “toil all night” and come up empty. That is why we need each other. We need to share our experiences with each other to help us all keep up the faith.

{We Need to Share Questions, Signs and Experiences}

We need to ask each other questions and listen. So, I want to take a few moments now. If you have any questions about this message, I may not have the answer, but maybe I or someone else here has a thought, or a reaction, or a memory, or an experience to share.

[Took a few questions and comments. Made some closing remarks in summary.]

{Glimpses of You}

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** Showed clip from movie from The Green Mile. The mouse is picked up, handed to John, healed, and scampers away alive,