Oma & Googa (4/22/12)

The Third Sunday in Easter

April 22, 2012

First Lesson – Acts 3: 12-19

Second Lesson - I John 3: 1-7

Gospel Lesson – Luke 24: 36-48

OMA and GOOGA

                Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

                It is now the third time having had this experience as a grandparent, but because our grandson, Slater, lives so far away and we don’t get to see him as often as we do Gabriel and Abigail, it is that much more amazing.  How is it that this one and a half year old child, who sees us only two times a year, can immediately and unquestioningly bond with Oma and Googa?

                As a parent, I never thought twice about it.  We were with our children 24 hours a day and seven days a week; all day and (for the first six years) all night.  The parent/child relationship is a working relationship, but being a grandparent is a miraculous blessing.  Many of you who are grandparents may identify with this.  For others of you, think about a special relationship you may have had with a grandmother or grandfather.

                It is not unlike the question I’ve always wondered about the post-resurrection experiences of the disciples of Jesus.  How did they know it was him, risen from the dead, alive in their midst?  In today’s Gospel lesson, the disciples can only image Jesus to be a ghost.  That’s the only thing that made sense to them.  That was the only plausible explanation to his presence.  Earlier in this same chapter of Luke’s Gospel, two disciples travel on the road to Emmaus, walking and talking with Jesus without any idea who he is, until the revelation is made.

                I thought a lot about this while on vacation because 1) well, we were visiting with Becky, Ben and Slater in Las Vegas and 2) I had been listening to a book written by the atheist author, Sam Harris called The End of Faith, in which he tries his hardest to disprove faith with many mental gymnastics and Biblical misinterpretations.  But it begged the question: “How do we know Jesus is real?”

                For little Slater, I can identify two important factors in his acceptance of the revelation of who his Oma and Googa are:

1)      Becky and Ben, and Ben’s mother, Denise, are witnesses to the fact that Oma and Googa exist.  They tell Slater stories about his grandparents and surround his room with pictures, going through a litany of family members in his evening prayers.  So then, when we do arrive, Slater has some idea what to look for.

2)      When Christa and I are with him, we do “grandparent” type things.  You know, Oma helps to feed him at meals and sings him songs and changes his diapers.  And Googa plays with his blocks, I mean, I play with him playing with his blocks and carry him on my shoulders.  And together, we take him to the park to play on the slides and sing swinging songs together.

And in those two experiences Slater knows, he just seems to miraculously know that these are his grandparents, that they belong to him, that they love him and that he loves his Oma and Googa.

Do you see the Jesus connection?

1)      Jesus, by his preaching and teaching prepared his disciples for one day being able to see the face of God, his Father.  His life would be an example of what to expect in a victorious and glorified God that would be real in their lives.  He told them to pick up their cross and follow him.  That sounds pretty intentional.  He even predicted his suffering, death and resurrection.  And he taught them, “I am telling you these things now, so that when they do occur, you may believe.”

2)      And then, after his death and resurrection, he did “Jesus” type things to open up their eyes to his presence.  He greets the huddled disciples by saying, “Peace be with you,” after having departed from them with the words, “My peace I leave with you.”  He lets them see the nail holes and his pierced side, just like what happened to him at his crucifixion.  And he eats with.  Wasn’t that the very last thing Jesus did together with his disciples?

And their eyes were opened to his resurrected presence.  They just miraculously knew that it was Jesus.  The promise of God’s love had been revealed to them.   And after their eyes and minds had be opened to the reality of Jesus in their presence, he commanded them that repentance and the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.  And he added, “You are witnesses of these things.”

                We are so blessed that our parents and our godparents, our teachers and pastors of the past told us the stories, surrounded us with pictures and music, and prepared us to know what to watch for to see the God of love, to have Jesus be revealed to us, so that we might miraculously just know the God of our ancestors, the God who loves us and the God whom we can love.

                And now it’s our job, our parental responsibility, to let our children know that they have a heavenly parent, better yet – a grandparent – who is real and never far away.  It’s our turn to tell the stories, describe the pictures, sing the songs, and prepare the table.  Or else they won’t know what to look for.  It would never be that God isn’t there.  It’s just that they wouldn’t know because no one ever told them that God is in the sunset, that Jesus sits at table with them and eats with them, that when someone comforts them it is with the embrace of the loving arms of Jesus.

                But, after being thus prepared, when God comes into their lives in God’s good time – and in Jesus, the promise of God is made so we know that God will do it – when God comes into their lives in the sharing of peace, in the forgiveness of sins, in the sharing of the meal; when God comes into their lives as Jesus carries us on his shoulders, as Jesus plays with us and comforts us, as Jesus breaks bread with us, they will miraculously just know it.          AMEN.

                May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Have You Seen Jesus, My Lord

Have you ever looked at the sunset
With the sky mellowing red,

Seen the clouds suspended like feathers?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord.

Chorus:

Have you seen Jesus my Lord?

He's here in plain view.

Take a look, open your eyes,
He'll show it to you.

Have you ever stood at the ocean
with the white foam at your feet?

Felt the endless thunderin' motion?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

Have you ever looked at the cross,
with a man hanging in pain?

And the look of love in his eyes?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

Have you ever stood in the family
With the Lord there in your midst?

Seen the face of Christ on each other?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)