Seek and Ye Shall Find

This whole week we have been discussing how we are never ever truly alone. We have reflected, prayed about, and maybe even experienced how God will never leave us, through the Holy Spirit. We may have felt God’s abiding love and presence in the community we have formed together this week. We might have felt it in worship or bible study, gathered around a table of friends at meals, or even on a high rope course. However you might of found Jesus present this week, I hope you at least caught a glimpse of divine footsteps. I hope you experienced God’s love here at Asbury, and realize that every encounter you have with love, changes you. So what do we do now?

When we catch that subtle glimpse of God, we see things in their true reality. The way things will and ought to be.  This flash of the way God wants the world, should cause us to want to bring that love into our own strange little worlds, and then realizing, we all share one world. When we encounter God, we are changed, because love changes us. “You are never alone” can also mean that there is always someone to help nearby. That there is always light to bear and love to give to another.

A little over a year ago, I had the amazing gift and opportunity to be flown out to Washington DC for a national conference on Domestic poverty, organized by the Episcopal Church. We were given advocacy training for a day or two, and then we spent another day running around Capitol Hill trying to make our meetings with our NYS senator’s staff and local Representatives. We were there on behalf of those whose voices were not being heard.   I had a rough idea of what I was getting into. Little did I know my whole world was about to open wider that I could have ever imagined.

At one of the educational sessions of the conference, I vividly remember a young Navajo woman stand up with a microphone, speaking about what her particular issue she was going to lobby for. It was food. Food. Her people were hungry. Her people’s culture was being slowly suffocated as well as any hope they had left. She works at a day care where the children come in with stomach aches, because they haven’t eaten since they last saw her the day before. The conference room had food and drink lining the walls, with more available, if we even hinted at wanting more. She expressed how baffling it was, to be around such rich abundance. She broke down crying during that talk. She was seeking justice.

At another session I remember a really adorable couple from South Carolina. When they were asked what their particular focus was, they said it was education. They were there to lobby for a higher standard of education for their state, because it is one of the most underfunded and ignored institutions in their state. Basic education!? They wanted to make sure every child has an equal chance at succeeding, and living life to the fullest. They were seeking justice.

Others passionately spoke on topics like homelessness, modern day slavery, gun violence, mental illness awareness, and sexuality debates, proper distribution of food, accessible healthcare, the list goes on. Everyone that stood up and spoke had a fire behind their speech, a conviction I have never heard before. It was almost like their tongues were on fire. They were seeking justice.

Then, after we all stood up and shared, with a passion and palpable energy that hung in the air, a Bishop stood up in the back and said “In seeking justice, we seek the living Christ himself”.

Jesus opened up this vision of justice and reconciliation. Jesus, shattered what we think the world should be, and pointed us to a new reality. Where the last will be first, and first shall be last. Where the hungry are fed and the outcast and brought in. A world where the mighty are cast down from their thrones and the humble are raised up.  Now, it doesn’t have to be major acts of advocacy to bring forth the kingdom. It can be, as Mother Theresa said; “it is not about doing great things for God, but doing small things, with great love”.

I encourage you, if you have experienced the Holy Spirit this week, to seek Christ in the world around you. He is in the hungry, homeless, outcast, rejected, the lonely, the depressed and the joyful, the relaxed and the anxiety ridden, the young and old. What are some small things you can do with great love, to bring that new reality of love, into our own strange little worlds, every day? Seek, and you will find. Amen.