Seeing God: Look for the Love

John 14: 15-23

Roger Lynn

April 30, 2017

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

Where do we find God? How do we “see” God? In John’s Gospel the lines begin to blur and the distinctions fall away. Who God is blends into who Jesus is, Jesus blends into who the Holy Spirit is, and ultimately the whole sacred package blends into who we are. In our reading for this morning we find Jesus saying, “I am in God, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20) How do we “see” God? Just look around! God is everywhere, if we have eyes to see.

One of the authors I enjoy reading just for fun is Charles DeLint. He writes about the world of faerie, with sprites and pixies and all the rest. The twist is that this world exists right along side our world, and if you know how to look for it then it is there for you to see and experience. Most people don’t see it because they don’t expect to see it. That is something like the way John’s Gospel describes the realm of God. People don’t recognize God’s presence in the world because they don’t know what they are looking for. If we understand God to be some sort of supernatural being (whatever that means) who lives up in heaven (whatever that means) and only occasionally has any interaction with the inhabitants of this world, then the chances of actually experiencing God are pretty small. But what if we expand our understanding of God? What if we begin looking for God not just “out there” but also “right here”? Perhaps then there would be more “God sightings.” Singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer has a song called “I Do Not Know Its Name” (click here to watch Carrie perform this song) in which she describes a whole series of experiences, from a chance encounter with a singing bus driver to eating juicy peaches at a roadside stand, in which she recognizes the presence of the Sacred Mystery which is alive and active in our world.

So what do we look for? How will we know when we are seeing God? According to John’s Gospel and the related book of 1 John, a good place to begin looking is love. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8) In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) And then a few verses later, just in case we might be tempted to misunderstand or overlook the meaning, the meaning is made abundantly clear. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) And set between those two bookends we find the real heart of the matter – a description of how it is that we can “see” God. “Those who love me will keep my word (follow my path, live my commandment, which is love), and God will love them, and we (Christ, God, the Spirit, everything that is holy and sacred) will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23)

Where can we see God? Look for the love! It really is as simple, and as far reaching, as that. Look for the love. When you watch a mother stop what she’s doing to dry the tears from the face of her crying child who just skinned her knee, or skinned his heart, you are looking into the face of God. When you hear about folks who selflessly give of their time and money to work for disaster relief somewhere in the world, you are “seeing” God in the world. When you watch as someone lets go of all their judgments about the color of a person’s skin, or how much money they make, or what faith tradition they are a part of, or their sexual orientation, or any of the countless other distinctions we so often use to separate ourselves from those around us, and simply offers a warm and genuine welcome to the “stranger” in their midst, you are seeing God. Whenever and wherever you witness love in action in any of the myriad of forms it can take in this world, you have the opportunity to witness the presence of God.

When love becomes the mark by which we recognize God’s presence, then it not only becomes possible to experience God countless times each day, but it also becomes possible to actually participate in making God’s presence manifest in the world. Whenever we reach out beyond ourselves in love, God’s Light shines. The more we open ourselves to the possibility of love in this world, the more we actually embody that divine love in our own lives and our living. “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7) Where can we see God? Look for the love!