Loving (an Invisible) God (Rev. Barbara Ettinger)

Well, it really is a joy to be here today with Christchurch.

As Pastor Cheryl said, I am Barbara Ettinger,

and my job title is probably one of the longest you've ever seen.

Executive Associate Superintendent of the East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Which basically means I am here to serve our churches, our congregations, and to serve as a pastor to our pastors.

And so whatever it is that I can do, I am here to serve you, your leaders, and each of you as individuals, and all of you together as a community.

So I do bring you greetings from the East Coast Conference staff.

So Howard Burgoyne is our superintendent. That means he's my boss.

And Sandy Lee is our administrative manager, and we are about to announce, but I can't quite give you all the details.

We've just also hired a director of conference operations, so you'll be hearing more about that soon.

So we all bring our greetings, but also I bring you greetings from the Google Map and the Drop Pinpoints.

So these Coast Conferences from Maine to Virginia, it's a thousand miles north to south.

We have about 85 churches, depending on how you count them.

And those churches come in every shape, every stripe, every size, every context imaginable.

And I like to say if you have been to one covenant church, you've been to one covenant church.

So they are really unique, and Christ's church is no exception to that wonderful diversity.

We are part of 850 Evangelical Covenant Church congregations in North America, the U.S. and Canada.

And the 850 of us are really quite diverse, as I've already said.

We are much larger outside of North America than we are here in the U.S. and Canada.

And I kind of like that, because sometimes we're guilty in North America to think we're the center of the universe,

but actually the Covenant's way bigger in places like Ecuador and Congo and just all over the world.

So you're part of a very large family, and this morning we're glad to be with you.

So a little bit about the Covenant, especially in certain areas that you may have interest in finding more out about us.

So did you know that because you attend a covenant church, you are able to go on an immersive discipleship journey called Sankofa,

which is an exploration into the history of civil rights in the United States.

And you're paired with a person of a different ethnicity than yours.

And there's a Sankofa journey coming up in February.

You could be part of.

We also have immersive discipleship experiences on the border where you can learn how to serve people who are coming in from primarily over the Mexican border.

And we have immersive discipleship experiences now with indigenous tribes.

So quite a lot of discipleship experiences available to you.

We also have a Covenant Justice Conference that's every two years right here in the Good Old East Coast Conference.

There's one coming up in September where you can learn and be with churches of like mind who are interested in serving their communities in justice-shaped ways.

I know that you do Covenant Kids Congo, powered by World Vision, where you can sponsor a child in Congo

and help that child to have a better life through the resources your money provides.

We also have a Justice Journey for Kids curriculum, which is really fabulous.

It's for older elementary school kids and families.

And the purpose of that curriculum is to live into life-giving patterns of diversity, community, and love.

So just a little bit of a flavor of what the justice angle of the Evangelical Covenant Church could bring to enrich your lives.

You can also celebrate, connect, grow in a lot of different ways.

We have a lot of resources for congregations, everything from finding your why, which is a vision exercise for congregations,

to the workshop called Trellis, which is emotionally healthy spirituality for a whole church family, not just individuals.

Heart, mind, strength, the gift assessment.

So so many resources. I'd never get to this sermon if I named them all for you.

Please come to the conference annual celebration, which is every year in the spring.

And this year it's in May, where churches from Maine to Virginia, all those little drop points on the map,

come together and hear what God's doing in their respective communities.

So a lot of opportunities for training, for lay leaders, for congregations.

And we lean in very hard and work hard to resource you to help you on your journey as a witnessing presence here in the East Greenwich community.

But I did come here not to give you a commercial, but to share the word of God with you.

So I do want to just commend you.

I went on your website and I've known Pastor Cheryl for a number of years.

I know Ryan Laspaludo and I met some new friends this morning as well.

I love your, your mission to be a compassionate Christian community and all the different ways that you live that out.

I do want to say, I don't know about you, but for me sometimes it's hard enough to love people, right?

You're trying to be a compassionate Christian community and I affirm that the beauty of that goal.

Sometimes it's hard enough to love people.

But when it comes to loving God, it gets really wonky sometimes, right?

Because God is straight up invisible and untouchable and eternal.

And yet over and over again, Scripture commands us to love this invisible being and I find it challenging.

And so today we're going to turn to Scripture to look at some of the ways in which we might be able to love an invisible God,

even though we are very finite, quite visible human beings.

This refrained a love God is everywhere in the Bible.

Maybe you've heard Deuteronomy 6 verse 5, which is our key verse this morning.

Deuteronomy 6:5

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

And that's just the most famous verse.

I mean, Jesus quoted it.

There are literally dozens of verses in the Bible that command us to love God, that implore us to love God,

challenge us, inspire us.

And again, I find the idea of loving someone I cannot see, cannot hear, cannot touch, smell, feel.

Can't talk to and have a conversation with.

Kind of challenging.

So let's spend some time together this morning learning from some people who lived in Bible times.

What it might mean for us as mere flesh and blood mortals to love an invisible God.

Would you pray with me?

God, we do thank you that you make yourself known to us through the people and the places and the experiences,

through the word of God and through Jesus.

Lord, as we turn to your word to learn more about how we can love you,

I pray that the meditations of our hearts and the words of my mouth would be acceptable in your sight.

For you are a Lord, our God, and our Redeemer.

Lord, help us to do all to glorify you and bring good to our neighbors.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, loving God is responsive, it's holistic, and it's costly.

Okay?

So that's where we're going.

Loving God is responsive, holistic, and costly.

So loving God is responsive because God loves us first.

You see up there the words of 1 John 4, and this is what our elder brother and the Lord, John, wrote for us.

This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

We love because he first loved us.

And so here is the beloved disciple, John, probably one of Jesus' besties, best friends,

and he was defining after a lifetime of loving God what it means to love God,

and this is what he came up with.

It doesn't matter so much how much or whether we love God.

What actually matters most is that God loved us first.

So it says if we say, love you God, and God says, ha, love you first.

And in some mysterious way, this might help us to relax a little bit about getting it just right.

We can rest in the knowledge that God loved us first.

And that God's love is an initiating love.

God's love initiates, and this kind of God starts it.

Love is on display throughout the Bible, even from the very beginning.

In the book of Genesis, we read that Adam and Eve, God's first created humans,

rejected God-given boundaries and fell into brokenness and sin,

and yet God loved them first.

Even before they had a chance to figure out what they were going to do with all their shame

and their lost broken hearts.

God sought Adam and Eve out in the garden.

And do you remember what that first question was?

Adam, where are you?

I'm here, says God.

God was seeking them out before they even knew what to do with what had happened to them.

And this initiation on God's part is God's posture ever since.

He loves us first.

Because God loves us first, our love toward Him is primarily responsive.

So God is always constantly dreaming up ways to capture our attention

and our hearts and the love on us first.

So loving the invisible God means paying attention, noticing,

responding to the love that He is already pouring out on us.

So I'd like to open by looking at one person in the early church

who demonstrates this kind of responsiveness to God, the God who loves us first.

So meet Lydia.

Lydia was a successful business owner and a leader.

She was an immigrant who had come from Asia to the European city of Philippi.

So Lydia was to become the first convert to Christ on the continent of Europe.

And she became a house church leader.

In fact, the church in Philippi began in her home.

And there's so much in her story that demonstrates this notion

that God is constantly the one who loves us first.

And our job is simply to respond.

Her story is told in Acts chapter 16, and we're just going to look at a slice of it today.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

So in Acts chapter 16, we see this.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia,

a dealer in purple cloth.

She was the deist worshiper of God.

And the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

When she and the members of her household were baptized,

she invited us to her home.

If you consider me a believer in the Lord,

she said, come and stay at my house.

And she persuaded us.

Acts chapter 16, 6 through 11.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Well, just like all of our stories,

how did we get to this moment in Lydia's life?

There's a backstory here.

A backstory of a God who loved Lydia first.

So the backstory is told for us all throughout this chapter in the Book of Acts.

Paul and his fellow missionaries were trying to go to various different places

to share the good news of Jesus' love with a lot of people.

But at every turn, they encountered barriers.

They were trying to go over here, and there was a roadblock,

and paperwork, and administrations, like, all right, we can't go there.

Let's try over here.

Same deal.

Things weren't working out.

They couldn't get where they wanted to go.

And Paul actually says this...

Actually, Luke was the one who was writing it.

The spirit of Jesus kept shutting the door shut tightly.

Like, we're just trying to preach to people,

and the spirit of Jesus was shutting the door,

so they tried to go to another region,

and the doors kept being shut.

And this sort of Holy Spirit detour happened a number of times,

and they were pretty frustrated.

We all know what this is like.

We're trying to get something done,

and just, you know, stuff keeps going sideways on us.

Finally, we read that Paul gave...

that God gave Paul a vision of a man from yet another region

that they had not considered going to.

So he's had this vision, and in this vision,

there's a man begging them,

come to Macedonia on the European continent.

Come to Macedonia and help us all the way across the sea

to Macedonia on what is now known as the continent of Europe.

So the missionaries are like,

cool, we finally have some direction.

Let's see if we can get a boat,

let's see what else goes wrong.

Maybe we'll get there, maybe we won't.

So they get on the boat, they go across the sea,

and they land on this foreign shore.

And they head to the leading city over there,

which is a place called Philippi,

and they look for this man from Paul's vision.

And they're there for several days,

and there's still no man from the vision.

So the missionaries decide to go to the public place of prayer,

which is by the river.

When there's no worship space,

no building for worship in the ancient Jewish community,

or enough Jewish men to host a worshiping congregation,

those who were available would just go down to the river and pray.

So that's where the missionaries went,

to see who they might find there

to share the good news of Jesus with.

Meanwhile, guess who also went down to the river that day to pray?

Lydia.

Lydia had gone down to the river on that Sabbath to pray.

She was one of those who were there when the missionaries showed up.

So it seems that Lydia was in the right place at the right time

when these traveling preachers from clear across the sea

came looking for a man from Macedonia.

Lydia.

You gotta love God for these details.

Because what looked like detours and barriers

and shut doors to Paul and his colleagues

were actually manifestations of God's incredible

Love You First Love for Lydia.

God wanted Lydia to be found

just like he wants each and every one of us to be found by his love.

God made sure she was in the right place at the right time

and he sent the right people to express this message to her.

Love You First, Lydia!

In verse 14, we see her response to this love.

The Lord opened her heart to respond to his message

and wow did she respond.

Everything she did after that God love in her first

was her response to God's love loving God right back.

So in response to God's Love You First Love,

Lydia took this good news she'd heard from the missionaries

and she paid it forward.

She went home to her household.

She apparently shared the message with them

because scripture tells us they came to faith

and were baptized like we had little Jacks

being baptized this morning looking for,

oh he's sleeping, okay he's sleeping so he'll be quiet.

But Lydia responded with sharing the good news

she had just received with the people she knew best.

And then Lydia also responded to God's Love You First Love

by practicing radical hospitality.

Did you see that in the text?

She had to persuade the travelers to come stay

at her household and her hospitality

suddenly turned her home into the hub

for the new Christian community that was being founded

in the city of Philippi.

So without even knowing what would become of it,

her responsiveness to the Love You First Love of God

for her meant that her home became the first

Christian house church on the continent of Europe.

And years later, there still was a church there

for Paul to write to when he wrote the letter

we know as the book of Philippians to Philippi.

It all started with Lydia

responding to the extraordinary love of a God

who went out of the way to love her first.

So loving God is responsive because God loves us first

so how about us? How do we do this?

Loving God starts with recognizing that it's God

who's loving us.

It's about paying attention.

It's about turning our eyes and our heart

to what we might call God things,

God moments, God winks.

And once you recognize that God is showing you love

you can gently respond with a whisper of gratitude.

Thank you God.

Or you can respond with a desire to pay it forward

like we see Lydia doing.

You could give some of that love away to a person

who needs the good news of God

and needs the good news of the Love You First

kind of God who he is.

You can give it away to someone who needs encouragement

or even you can give it away to someone

who needs your radical hospitality.

So have you ever,

however you notice God loving you first

how can you be like Lydia?

You might notice it in small ways

such as recognizing that God placed a rainbow in the sky

while you were driving somewhere

and you just needed that reminder of God's presence.

And respond with that quiet thank you

and allow yourself to just feel yourself being loved.

It could be something as big as remembering

you just had a whole mini sermon series about remembering

many things about God's

but you could be remembering in the midst of a moment of failure

that God sent Jesus to die for you

so that you could be forgiven

and respond by accepting that forgiveness

instead of beating yourself up.

Just receive it.

However you notice that God loves you first

you get to love him back

by recognizing and remembering

and actively responding to his love.

So loving God is responsive

because he loves us first

but next loving God is holistic

so we are invited to bring our full selves

to loving God.

In Matthew 22 someone asked Jesus

teacher what's the greatest commandment in the law

and Jesus replied

love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your mind and with all your strength

this is the first and greatest commandment

heart, soul, mind, strength

in other words all of yourself.

Now this should sound familiar

because Jesus was quoting from the Bible Jesus read

the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6

which is where we started at the beginning of this message.

But when we think about holistic

let's just say this means you bring your full self

to the experience of loving God

hold nothing back

bring all of who you are

your heart, your soul, your mind, your physicality, your strength

loving God is holistic.

Now have you ever loved something

but you know not with your whole self?

Take chocolate for instance

I love chocolate

but not with my whole heart

but I do love chocolate

I definitely don't love chocolate with my mind

because I don't like to overthink my chocolate

I just like to enjoy it for what it is

but loving chocolate with the soul

where my emotions reside and with my physical strength

yeah not so much

so there are definitely aspects of myself

that I hold back from loving

when I'm trying to

when it comes to my investment in chocolate

but loving God is intended to be holistic

so what might it look like

to bring our full authentic selves

to loving God, heart, soul, mind and strength

let's take a look at Hannah

a woman who brought her whole self to loving God

when we meet Hannah

in that Bible that Jesus read

the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel

1 Samuel 1 · chapter mention

chapters 1 and 2

it's a remarkable story

and her story marks a significant turning point

in the history of the people of Israel

this woman's whole fully-orbed

holistic devotion to God

eventually leads to the birth of Samuel

who was the last judge and the first prophet

who ushered in the era of the kings of Israel

and all of this through one woman's wholehearted devotion to God

Hannah had a major challenge

she was barren

that means she could not have any children

and while this is painful and heartbreaking

to any woman in any era who wants to be a mother

it was intensified greatly

in a society that prized childbearing

as about the only thing that a woman could do

to demonstrate that she was blessed and loved by God

but Hannah couldn't have babies

let's take a look at how she lived into

the command to love the Lord

with all her heart soul, mind and strength

and to bring her full self into loving an invisible God

in the midst of a heartache

so I'm going to read this in just a moment

and then after we read it I'm going to ask for

little audience participation

so get ready

so in a moment I'm going to ask you what did you notice

I don't want you to interpret it

I just want you to notice

what did Hannah do and what did Hannah say

okay

so we're going to call for some observations in a moment

but here's Hannah's story

and I squished it all under one screen

so that you could do your observing as we read

once when they had finished eating and drinking

near the place of worship

Hannah stood up

now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair

by the doorpost of the Lord's house

in her deep anguish

Hannah prayed to the Lord

weeping bitterly

and she made a vow

saying Lord Almighty

if you will only look on your servant's misery

and remember me and not forget your servant

but give her a son

then I will give him to the Lord

for all the days of his life

and no razor will ever be used on his head

as she kept on praying to the Lord

Eli observed her mouth

Hannah was praying in her heart

and her lips were moving

but her voice was not heard

Eli thought she was drunk

okay

so what did you notice

don't bother interpreting them

what did Hannah do

what did Hannah say

anybody just popcorn style

she prayed

absolutely great

what else

she stood up

excellent good

what else

she was weeping

absolutely

yeah what else

she made a vow

outstanding

what else did you notice

pardon

she made a promise

excellent

good

were you gonna say something

so a mouth open here

okay good

yeah there's so much in here

in this little snippet

Hannah was not passive

throughout her story

we see that she takes an active embodied role

in her faith

and you've named all of them

she went up to the temple

to worship

that was corporate prayer

like we're in corporate prayer today

she physically stood up

she involved her strength

her body

she wapped

and this of course involves her emotions

and her heart

she made a vow

a promise

and this is her will

it's her mind

it's her words

and her lips were moving

meaning she was praying privately

and personally

she was engaged in honest

heartbroken lament

and in her anguished prayer

she gave God deeply of herself

the offering of the sun

she didn't even have yet

and this promise would have to be painful

because when he was three years old

he would go off to

you know boarding school

essentially at the temple

but yet she keeps that vow

she raises her son to love God

and she dedicates her son to the Lord

Hannah didn't reserve

any part of herself

from loving God

there was tears

there were tears

there was laughter

there was sorrow

there was joy

there was personal prayer

there was corporate prayer

there was poetry

there was song

there was standing up

there was sitting down

there was keeping promises

there was raising her son

to be godly

and God loves it

when we bring our whole self

and love him from all sorts of different angles

heart

soul

mind

strength

loving God is holistic

so we can bring our full selves

so how about us

what might this look like

how can we grow toward

showing up in our full self

in our relationship with God

there's an older book called

Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas

it's kind of a love language

for relationship with God

has anyone heard of this book

it's a great book

you should go get it

basically what he does

is it's really helped me a lot

in my own journey of loving God

because I do struggle

with this invisibility

and so what the book talks about

is nine different pathways

for loving God

and I'm not going to go into in depth

in each one of them

but I want you to listen

to some of the chapter titles

and start feeling the heart soul mind strength

that give you options

for loving God in different ways

loving God in nature

loving God with the senses

of smell and sound

and sight

loving God through traditions

and liturgy and symbol

loving God in solitude

solitude and silence

loving God in activism

and justice

loving God by loving others

loving God with celebration

loving God through contemplation

and prayer

and loving God through study

with the mind

which one of these

would you like to try

or which one of these

you already know

yeah that's one of the ways

I love being around God

you probably have to plan for this

and put it on your calendar

or it might not happen

but what's one way you already know

you love God

that you want to try to focus on

in this next season

or what's one that's new

that you might want to try

maybe you can find a buddy

in the congregation

who walks in that way

of loving God

and could lead you

and then you can flip it

and you can lead them

your love for God

can be more holistic tomorrow

than it is today

if you just try on some new things

heart

soul

mind

strength

bring your whole self

to loving God

okay so loving God is responsive

because God loves us first

loving God is holistic

so bring your full self

and finally loving God is costly

but Jesus is worth it

in the Gospel of John

Jesus says

if you love me

keep my commands

whoever has my commands

and obeys them

is the one who loves me

the one who loves me

will be loved by my father

and I too will love them

and show myself to them

so it seems that according to Jesus

loving God requires something of us

God gives us God's own self

but that love also calls forth

something from us

it calls for our obedience

to the character, the justice

the holiness

and the commands of God

so friends this isn't a cheap love

that we're talking about

God invites us into a journey

of obedience regardless of the cost

now by now you're probably expecting

that you're gonna meet yet a third character

in the Bible and you are correct

so please meet the woman

with the alabaster jar

who pours out her love on Jesus

and this is a wonderful story

that's in all four Gospels

and it takes place over a meal

in the town of Bethany

at the house of Simon the Lepper

so I will be reading from Mark's account

of this story

and it goes like this

a woman came with an alabaster jar

of very expensive perfume

made of pure nard

she broke the jar

and poured the perfume on his head

that being Jesus, Jesus's head

some of those present were saying

indignantly to one another

why this waste of perfume?

it could have been sold for more than a year's wages

and the money given to the poor

and they rebuked her harshly

Jesus said

leave her alone

why are you bothering her?

she has done a beautiful thing for me

she did what she could

she poured perfume on my body

beforehand to prepare for my burial

and truly I tell you

wherever the gospel is preached

throughout the world

even in Christ's church

in East Greenwich, Rhode Island

what she has done will also be told

in memory of her

I added a little bit to scripture there

she has done a beautiful thing

says Jesus

she did what she could

even though it was more

than a year's salary

think about what that number might be for you

she did it

and to Jesus it was a beautiful thing

loving God is costly

and it can cost in a lot of different ways

we've just mentioned financial cost

in addition to the extravagant monetary cost

this woman paid a significant social cost

did you notice that?

she risked rejection

from the other followers of Jesus

who were gathered at the table that day

and in fact

she was rebuked harshly by them

her act of love toward Jesus

led to social rejection

from her Christ following friends

and that's costly

it also was spiritually risky

spiritually costly

she poured oil on Jesus's head

as she did

and this action was only fit for a king

and so she was making a

spiritually costly declaration here

that Jesus was more than only a teacher

through her actions

she was preaching without words

her belief

that Jesus was in fact

the Messiah of God

this statement of deep

spiritual investment in her faith

was risky

but Jesus takes it even a step further

did you see what he did?

he interpreted her costly

spiritual investment

he says she was preparing

his body for burial

over and over again

no matter how directly he had told them

the other followers of Jesus

just did not seem to understand

that he was going to die

in comparison

this woman

was preparing his body for a burial

the rest of them

could just not imagine possible

for Messiah

this is the first time

any of Jesus's followers

truly understood Jesus

as a crucified Messiah

the woman with the alabaster jar

was painfully

heartbreakingly

right

about what laid just ahead

for Jesus

at the end of Passover week

while everyone else

was totally missing it

and rebuking her for it

the other disciples missed the beauty

of her costly anointing

on a number of levels financially

they didn't value what she valued

socially they rejected her

and spiritually they were blind

but Jesus stops their criticism

Jesus calls her actions beautiful

Jesus insists that her costly action

would be forever remembered

as an example

so as we look at her

we can understand

that it is costly

to do what we can for Jesus

our alabaster jar might break

and as beautiful as it is

to be loved by God

and respond to his love you first

kind of love with our full selves

it might occasionally

cost us something

we might find ourselves pouring out

what is most precious to us

in order to do what we can

for our master Jesus

I keep saying Jesus is worth it

is Jesus really worth it

I mean the woman with the alabaster jar

certainly thought so

but is Jesus worth this kind

of costly love from us?

well without a whole other sermon series

on how worth it Jesus really is

let me just say this from Colossians 1.15

Jesus is declared to be the image

of this invisible God

we're trying to figure out

the firstborn over all creation

you see God knew how hard it is

for us to love someone who is invisible

and that is exactly why God sent Jesus

to love us first

and Jesus put on flesh and blood

and moved into our earthly neighborhood

he is the exact image

of the invisible God

we look at Jesus

and we see the God who cannot be seen

if you want to know who God is

look at Jesus

if you want to know who God

the invisible God is

focus on Jesus

read and reread

the gospels the gospels the gospels

four different biographies of Jesus

told from four different angles

experience Jesus

study Jesus

respond to Jesus

learn from Jesus

he's the image of the invisible God

and allow yourselves to get to know him

through that lens

you also can develop some costly practices

and do them as worship

as ways to love God

these could be financially costly

they could be socially costly

or they could be big spiritual investments

for example maybe you want to take a day a month

to volunteer with a few friends

at the food share distribution center

or you might practice hospitality

by having your small group

adopt a family of immigrants

who desperately need clothing

and bedding and a friendly

welcoming US face

or we might speak up in fear

but with conviction to stop bullying

at school or harassment in the workplace

we might even choose to increase

our financial giving

and give sacrificially to the church

or to a charity

of our choice

people around you

might not understand

in fact as the disciples did to the woman

and her alabaster jar

they may rebuke you harshly

here's an idea

instead of giving each other a hard time

for loving Jesus extravagantly

how about we encourage each other

and cheer each other on

as we take costly steps

of loving God more

because loving Jesus is costly

but it's worth it

so how can we as mere flesh and blood mortals

love an invisible immortal God

loving God is responsive

remember he loved you first

and loving God is holistic

so bring your full self

and get creative about it

and finally loving God is costly

but he is worth it

amen would you pray with me

God your love is a wonder

you love us

not because of who we are

but sometimes in spite of who we are

you love us because of who you are

and Lord help us to encourage one another

and cheer one another on

as we love you in word and indeed

and Lord let us grow in our willingness

to give away that love to others

who are so desperately in need of you

Lord may we glorify you

and bring good to our neighbor

in Jesus' name amen