Sermon on January 12, 2025
I AM WITH YOU - ISAIAH 43:5-7
Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, "Give them up," and to the south, "Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth-- everyone who is called by my name,whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
Many people say, that they think that there is no God out there, or above the skies, or anywhere in the Universe. We cannot hear it, we cannot see it, we cannot touch it, we cannot smell it. They cannot comprehend an invisible God.
Some others say that meanwhile we cannot directly experience God, as they say, still something must be out there, or beyond the universe, because it is equally incomprehensible, that how can one think about God, as non-extant.
This group also think, that the design of the Universe is so complex that it must have been meticulously designed by a great designer, however the designer obviously left the Creation as an object behind, and the Creator does not intervene in the events and occurrings.
Even if God does care about the creation, he governs it by unchangeable laws, rules and regulations, decrees and announcements, like a non-personal force or even an omnipresent force-field, similar to electromagnetic force-fields in the Galaxy and beyond.
Similar to the so called Higgs field, which belongs to the so called Higgs particles that are also nicknamed as God particles, as the Higgs field has some certain qualities, which makes it able to enable all the other subatomic particle to get mass, where normally all the other particles would be otherwise massless.
The term of God particle was coined by Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman, in his book The God Particle, written in 1993. Although the term was criticized by many scientists, including Peter Higgs, himself, who proposed originally, the necessity of the existence of this field, though its existence became proven only 40 years later, in 2012, on July 4. Thus, this discovery, is pretty recent.
Why exactly on July 4, God knows. However there are no coincidences in the incredibly welll-tuned Universe, thus, it may have happened to declare the one country, under one God, surrounded by one Higgs field.
Characteristically, the Higgs field does evenly exist in every cubic foot of the Universe, and everywhere has a non-zero quantity, even in vacuum, otherwise deemed totally empty space. Remarkable, indeed.
However, in the Gospel, Jesus advised the disciples, that when you pray, go to your inner room and close the door,as it is written: “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
God is described by Jesus, as a personal God, who keeps listening, who sees everything. Of course God is not human, not even a Santa Claus figure, but God must have a beyond-personal personality, just as it is written in the 94th Psalm:
“All the evildoers boast. They break your people in pieces, Yahweh, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless. They say, ‘The Lord will not see, neither will Israel's God consider.’ Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise? He who implanted the ear, won't he hear? He who formed the eye, won't he see? He who disciplines the nations, won't he punish? He who teaches man knows.”
Some people claim, that we keep praying, but there is not a single sign that God is listening on the other side. It has already been too bad, when someone thinks that between a human soul and God there are two sides, or more.
There could be even more, but at this time we do not dive into that phenomenon. Let’s say it is wrong to think about, that when I wish to pray to God, then there are two or more sides are involved.
We have to be sure, that God is on our side, just as we can be certain that God is not, cannot be on the side of child-killer Herods or mass-murderer tyrants.
But our side is not our flaw-filled ego, but the inner core, where, supposedly, God’s candle shines in the deep of the soul. In that real side, as God’s love fundamentally cares about the well-being of the soul. As God’s candle keeps dispersing to darkness within the human soul, as the enlightenment which enlightens men and women comes from God, thus God is on our side.
They cannot say, that we keep praying, but on the other side, God does not listen to. There must not be an other side in this communication channel, we call prayer, because first of all, we must make a fundamental decision, that whatever happens, we must be on God’s side.
So, in any cases, except someone’s antagonism to God, humans and God are supposed to be on the same side. And as Jesus said, it is not even a side, it is your inner, inner innermost room, it is your heart, where you have to tend the sparkling candle fire God, in the very deepest of your soul.
Just as it happened that Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” He quoted Isaiah:(60:12) “Arise, shine; for your light has come,and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you.” , rightfully declaring to the sign demanding disciples:
“He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
And He was right. God is the Father of the LIGHT.
May we be filled with God’s light, AMEN.
