Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21; Psalm 67
January 1, 2023
Lloyd Penner
Do I Feel Closer to God?
I am grieving the loss of my dear friend, Jake. We had known each other for almost 42 years and I will miss him a lot. He played an essential role in the founding of Grain of Wheat. And we know how much Jake loved Jesus. I said good-bye to him on Thursday with these words, “Jake, the angeIs have been with you all your life and they are with you now.
I intend to give the homily I prepared before I heard of Jake’s passing with a few changes. In moments like this and at the beginning of a new year, it is a good time to reflect on what is most important and nothing is more important than our spiritual journey. A question to ask is, “Do I feel closer to God than a year ago or not?” My homily is going to mostly be a personal reflection on this subject.
In the past few months some words from a hymn have been coming to me almost daily. I want to share them with you because they continue to inspire and challenge me. The words are: “I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice and it told thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee.” Jake knew he belonged to God.
“I am thine O Lord” is a statement of assurance- We can rest in the promise that we belong to God. The Galatians passage we heard earlier expresses this very well. It says we are sons and daughters in God’s family. Just think about that! Paul says this also means that we have the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts. And we can address God with the same words Jesus used to address God, namely, “Abba Father” This is a term of endearment -a term used to describe an intimate relationship with God. The same relationship that Jesus had with the Father.
The song then goes on to say “I have heard thy voice and it told thy love to me”. All of us are in this worship service this morning because we have heard the voice of God saying “I love you. You are part of my family.” And we have responded to that voice and said “Yes, God, I have heard you and I receive your love.” Each of us has our own story about how we first heard this voice. It could have come through another person. It could have come as we read the Bible or another spiritual book. It could have come via a mystical experience. And that voice comes to us again and again assuring us that we are loved.
But do you and I really believe this? I suspect that if you and I fully lived into this reality it would revolutionize our lives. If I have one spiritual goal for this coming year it is to open up myself in a fuller way to God’s love. If I do, I suspect I will be less fearful and less likely to experience depression and more able to deal with all the challenges that will arise this coming year.
The next words in the song indicate how we can experience God’s love and nearness. “But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee.” Faith is the gateway to a closer relationship with God. Faith means trust. Richard Rohr says that the biggest challenge we face is to believe that there is a God who loves us even more than we love ourselves.
Recently I rediscovered a book that I first read many years ago called, “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale. He says that possessing and utilizing faith is a skill that can be learned. One way to so this Peale says is to repeat a scripture passage many times throughout the day such as “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Then there is prayer. He believes that when we pray we are sending out spiritual vibrations of love, support and understanding to the person we are praying for. In return we experience the same spiritual vibrations. Peale’s book is reminding me of some basic Christian principles and I am grateful. Maybe sometimes we make things too complicated.
As we enter a new year let us remember the words from the book of Numbers we heard earlier,” The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Amen.