The Question is Not When but How

REFLECTIONS
November 23, 2008

Have you seen God lately? Well over time and space many believers say they have. The concept of the sacred and how we express and define our experience of the Holy are issues the faith community has written, and at times argued about over millenniums.

A large part of the ethos of faith is to encounter God in our midst. One of the names for God in Hebrew translates literally “God of the mountains.” The patriarchs Moses, Abraham, and Jacob each had personal encounters with God. Likewise the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Hosea to name a few, were called by God in person and given instruction throughout their ministry. The prophet Joel even suggested this experience was not for prophets alone. In chapter two, verse twenty-eight and twenty-nine he writes, “Our sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days I will pour out my spirit.” In the Christian scriptures Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record a version of the transfiguration. Here Jesus is seen by Peter, James, and John in an other worldly appearance along with Moses and Elijah.

Such visions are yet happening today. However, it is with increasing regularity that they are seen in tree sap weeping from a tree in someone’s backyard, a paint splotch viewed at a unique angle or a computer generated graphic. The term for this is simulacra, and according to William Doble who writes for Homiletics magazine, one person saw Jesus in a burned fish stick and another saw the Virgin Mary in a burned grilled cheese sandwich. In most cases these images are preserved and sold for profit. Which causes one to ponder in question, is this what God had in mind by drawing near and allowing folks a glimpse of Holiness? Does God appear for the purpose of religious trading card memorabilia? When the psalmist wrote, “Look unto the hills from whence does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Do you suppose the author left off the words for fun and profit intentionally?

Psalm 100 is a so called thank offering; scholars think it to be a call to thanksgiving for the goodness of God, or perhaps a kingship Psalm, or a sung response to the thank offering in the temple. The author clearly believes that God is available and worthy of human devotion. The writer looks at life, acknowledges the Holy presence available as an asset for worship and wonder. The only value to be found in the heart and soul of creation and creatures responding in love. Yet the modern finagler in us cannot help but just imagine what a transfiguration trading card would go for on eBay.

Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601