Pastor Jerrell Williams: We will know when God shows up

One of the nagging thoughts in so many people's minds who can take a minute to breathe and think during this time of year is how we can know when God is present, or if God is ever present. We are so doped by movies and other media that many of us think that if the sea isn't parting and if there isn't a loud authoritative voice speaking directly to us from above the sky then we're left to pray alone or in church on Sundays or that there is no God, or no God that cares for creation any longer. In searching for belief and faith and something to hold on to we can easily become despairing and give up.

Doubt and atheism are not "wrong" or invalid under modern conditions. These are understandable given the pressures of modern-day capitalism. And if you're not struggling with despair, whether you're a  believer in God or an agnostic or an atheist, then you're not paying attention. If we're going to ask where the search for faith leads us under these circumstances, and if one valid answer is despair, than we also have to ask where agnosticism and atheism lead us, and for some people the answer will be belief and faith. Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker" and his "Hallelujah" answer one another because faith and belief and whatever their opposites are are not really so far apart from one another.

Pastor Jerrell Williams, the pastor of the Salem, Oregon Mennonite Church, has written a brief article that is fundamental to a discussion of these themes in the contexts of Advent and Christmas. He knows what he's talking about. He graduated from Bethel College in Kansas and from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary with his Master of Divinity. He thinks a lot about these questions and you can trust his wisdom. Besides all of that, he's a parent, he's young, and he's Black and so he has a different stake in how these questions get answered than I do.

Pastor Williams' article opens with the following:

Christmas time is here! This is a day in which we gather with our families, friends and church communities to celebrate and remember when God entered our world to be with creation. While this is the central focus for Christians, here in the U.S, this time of year is not always the hope- and awe-inspiring season that we anticipate. Often, the Christmas season is riddled with capitalism and consumerism. There is the stress of constant gift buying. There is the mourning that takes place, because the Christmas dinner table may be missing a few members due to sickness or death. I myself am guilty of not being in the “Christmas spirit” this year. Maybe it is the cold, dark and rainy season that has me down. Maybe it is the constant busyness of work and personal life. Either way, I have noticed God’s absence more than I ever have recently.

As I have gone through the Advent texts from the lectionary with my congregation, I have been reminded that my feelings are not foreign to God’s people. They were carrying God’s promise with them for years, waiting for God to finally do something. Imagine the stories of this promise being passed down from generation to generation. It’s not often that I feel that I can identify with the Biblical narrative, but I do know what anticipation feels like. I also know what absence feels like: the constant asking of God to do something, trusting in the promise that God will not abandon you for good.

One question that I have been sitting with this Advent season is: “How will we know when God is here?”

How will we know that we are on the right track towards restoration? Recently, I was reminded that Jesus answered a similar question in Matthew’s Gospel. When John the Baptist was in prison, he had a message sent to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (11:3 NRSVUE). This is not only a question an uncertainty, but it is a question of hopeful anticipation. John knew his role in this story. He knew that he was the forerunner, and that the Messiah was coming soon. What he did not anticipate was that the Messiah would look like Jesus. Jesus sent word back to John by pointing towards the evidence. “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (11:4-6 NRSVUE).

Really, you do want to finish the article by going here. A good sermon only ends after you think about it, integrate what you can take from it into your life, and move on and keep growing.