December 4, 2005

Messages of Comfort

by Julianne Stokstad

It has been said that the minister's job is to comfort the afflicted and the afflict the comfortable. So, I must confess, it is difficult to know what to do here. Who is in need of comfort? Those of you who are here or those who aren't here: the tired shopper; the women and children in Darfur; families from the 9th ward of New Orleans or those in Kashmir; or maybe our beleaguered earth herself? Do you want comfort or challenge?

Isaiah's message we heard today begins with words of comfort. But it isn't all that comforting when you think about it: All humans are like grass, here today, gone tomorrow. Our lives are the tiniest blink in the cosmic scheme of things, yet to us, they are pretty much the whole big show. Woody Allen speaks for many of us when he says he doesn't want to get immortality through his work, he wants to get immortality by just not dying.

The Israelites needed comfort when this text was written. They were a captive people exiled in Babylon. For 150 years they had endured being slaves, there was only silence from God. What was so horrible was that the Jews believed God resided in the temple and when the temple had been destroyed, they felt God had abandoned them. When bad things happen, when we don't get what we want, we tend to think God has turned away from us. After all, how could our good God give us bad things? We must have done something wrong. Silence can be the worst punishment pointing to a broken relationship or abandonment.

When God's voice broke the silence of the exile, God spoke tender words of comfort, love and compassion to God's people. This encouraged other voices to speak out. In the Bible when God speaks, something always happens. The Hebrew verb used in our Isaiah passage is the same one used in the Genesis 1, recalling God's voice calling creation out of the chaos. God's voice is the creative force and holds tremendous significance to the Israelites.

How do we hear God's voice or are we exiled and lost from God. Do we succumb to modern cynicism and hopelessness responding with passivity to our situations? Do we really expect God will come again to us this Advent or are we content just to watch the children's excitement?

Most people haven't given much thought to their view of God. As children, most of us learned something in Sunday School or from our parents. Perhaps we thought God was an old man with a long white beard sitting up in some throne in the sky, like this picture given to me by a five year old. Or maybe we think of God as a mysterious force. Maybe we think God is more like the Wizard of Oz, big press but not really so powerful. God is bigger than we can imagine, yet paradoxically God came to earth in our Christian story as a little baby Jesus.

As a child and continuing until now I hear God speaking in nature. I have spent the better part of my life studying and teaching about the natural world. There is little that gives me comfort of God's presence as much as a quiet walk on beach. The more I have learned about the incredible complexity, intricate detail and sophistication of our natural world, the more I am in awe. I hope you know what I'm talking about when I speak of the absolute wonder of life. When we see a new baby or a glorious grove of redwood trees or a white pelican, do we see God in this picture?

I believe the natural order of our universe and our earth tells us something of God, as do our sacred texts and our stories. With our Advent theme of Green Christmas this year, so beautifully elaborated by Susie last week, I wonder what lessons we might learn if we listened for God's voice in the natural world?

The first lesson I've learned from the natural world is that all life is interconnected. We are woven into a web of interdependency, so that what happens to the ivory billed woodpecker affects us all. All life depends upon other living things to live. We depend on plants for the very oxygen we breathe to live. Interestingly, when I studied Buddhism, my teacher explained from a Buddhist perspective we all are interdependent, one upon another. I laughed and said I'd been teaching that for twenty-five years. As Christians we hear our call to justice taking care of the poor, the weak, the oppressed, but we have too long ignored the mandate to connect this to our care of the earth.

The second lesson I've learned from the natural world is that all life is organized in increasingly complex self-regulating systems. If we study a cell, the single smallest unit of living things, we can find there are complex systems even within it-----manufacturing systems, energy systems, movement systems, storage places, waste removal and so on. As cells organize into larger more complex forms, we find the similar systems develop with built in controls. But all systems have tipping points, where balance can no longer be maintained and the whole system changes and adapts. Global warming is an example of this. It is eerie this year how the Atlantic hurricanes and the South Asian tsunami have made level the uneven ground and how the earthquakes especially in Kashmir have brought down the mountain villages are so reminiscent of the words in our scripture.

The third lesson I've learned from the natural world is that there is great resilience in all living systems. The life force, the creative force is strong, yet ever changing. Change is the way of life in nature, which is much less focused on any one individual than the whole woven fabric of living things.

Change is the name of the game in the natural world. We are in times of change, in our world, in our country, in our church and most of us do not find change comforting.

We cling to our creature comforts -whatever they are. Yet for us to receive new things, we have to let go of some of our old ways of living, recognizing that our only true comfort comes from God. When will we become wise enough to recognize the unintended consequences of our modern life style and change our ways before change is forced upon us?

Can we be hopeful and expectant that we will have the wisdom and the strength and reassurance of God's presence in times of change? Absolutely. God does not - in fact cannot - ever leave us. God is the very ground of our being. We are the ones who turn away, listening to the noise and distractions of our lives, which are especially demanding in this pre-Christmas craziness. So we like the Israelites feel God is silent and has abandoned us.

God is speaking words of comfort to God's people all the time. Can we hear them? Can we hear these words in nature? Can we hear them when we visit Yosemite? Can we hear them fishing at San Pablo Dam Reservoir? Can we hear God's words of comfort in scientists finding new efficient energy saving window coverings? Can we hear God's overflowing tender love in a new baby's cry or in the prayers for an ill loved one? Can we hear God's word echoing in our hearts as we find our voices to speak out more clearly for sustainable life styles?

Listen. Prepare with hope and expectation. Listen and find peace.