“You
know, when we lived in England we were very active in a church.” This
surprising news came out of the mouth of an acquaintance of mine as we talked
last month. She and I knew each other
casually through a mutual friend, but up until then our conversations had been
about as deep as you can get when talking about the weather. Her comment surprised me, not so much because
she wanted to talk about faith. What surprised me was that she had been
connected to a church. From the little I
knew of her I had assumed that she was like most Europeans who dismiss the
Christian faith as a relic of the past.
Obviously, I was wrong. She told
me how, at the beginning of her married life, she and her husband had
befriended some Christians who invited them to church. That invitation grew into regular attendance,
baptisms for both of them, and years of meaningful connection and relationship
with God and God’s people. However, when
they moved to the States things changed.
They tried to find a church home, but nothing seemed to fit so they gave
up. She ended her story with the
sweeping declaration that, “All churches here in the States are just interested
in money.”
My
heart went out to her. The time in her
life when she and her husband were a part of the Church had meant a lot to
her. It had been rich and meaningful and
had nurtured her relationship with God.
It saddened me that she felt that part of her life was over and done. So trying not to sound pushy or like I was a
salesperson working on commission, I suggested that not all churches were as
bad as she thought and told her a little about Church of Our Saviour - about
you and this wonderful, imperfect community in Christ. Then I gave her one of our small cards with our contact information on it and I
invited her to come sometime to check us out.
Unfortunately, she has yet to come and I fear that her assumption that
all churches are just about money may keep her out of any church for the rest
of her life. But perhaps I’m the one who
is jumping to conclusions because there’s no doubt that God is up to something
in her heart.
It’s
too bad my acquaintance-friend isn’t here this Sunday because she would have
found a kindred spirit in the soon-to-be disciple, Nathaniel, whom we meet in
our reading from the gospel of John.
Jesus is just beginning his public ministry and he’s gathering
followers. Andrew has just come on board
- Peter too. Then Philip answers the
call to follow and is so excited about Jesus that he finds Nathaniel and says,
“We have found him - the one whom Moses wrote about - it’s Jesus son of Joseph
from Nazareth.” But Nathaniel scoffs, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Clearly Nathaniel has some strong opinions, some assumptions about Nazareth,
and they aren’t good.
Do
you ever make assumptions? That’s really
a rhetorical question. Safe to say we
all do. Sometimes our assumptions are
about people. We might say something
like, “She’s always so negative,” or “He’s a crazy conservative,” or, I
confess, “Europeans have no interest in the Christian faith.” And we don’t seem to hold back when it comes
to passing judgment on various situations. “This marriage will never
work.” “The middle east will always be
in conflict.” “The Church is only interested in money.” We may even turn this way of thinking inward
on ourselves and our struggles and decide that whatever it is that plagues us,
it will never get any better.
But
there’s a big problem when we make such assumptions. They limit us and they limit the
possibilities. Assumptions narrow our
vision because it really is true that people see what they expect to see. Yet
we assume things so often and so recklessly thinking that we know more than we
really do. The old saying about what happens
when you assume, what it makes out of you and me, is not something I can repeat
here in church, but there is some truth to it.
Assumptions close down the potential of growth and change. And ultimately they diminish our faith
declaring that there is no room for God to show up and act.
To
Nathaniel’s credit, his assumptions don’t stop him from responding when Philip
tells him about Jesus and suggests that he come and see for himself. Nathaniel accepts the invitation and upon
encountering the man from a place from where nothing good can come, his
assumptions fall away. Nathaniel
experiences an epiphany - a sudden understanding of God’s ways - and is moved
to confess that this Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God, the King of
Israel.
It’s
just like God to show up and be at work in unexpected people and places like
Nazareth. And thank God that God is not
limited by our assumptions. Rather it is
just the opposite, for every Nazareth - for every person or situation that we
have written off as unchangeable or hopeless - there is an invitation to
us. An invitation to come and see. Come and see with open hearts and open minds
what God’s spirit is up to. Come and see,
like Nathaniel, and be willing to let go of assumptions so that you might be
surprised by finding God in unexpected and even hopeless situations. For our God is a God whose power of love and
life can heal and make whole any type of Nazareth, any place where we surely
think that nothing good can happen. In
every assumption that we make there is a deeper truth to be discovered - that
there is no place, no person, no circumstance where God is not present and at
work. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? Yes indeed it can, and not
just anything, but it is the One who is Good who comes out of Nazareth and can
make that place for each one of us a place of God’s epiphany for you. So what do you have to lose? Your invitation is waiting - come and
see.
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