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Scripture Readings:  Exodus 17:1-17, Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 14:22-36

          When we strip away all the business, driving and shopping and work, the politics, propositions and denominational meetings, the home foreclosures, hurricanes and wars, when all this stuff that distracts us, calls us, frightens us – when it is set aside, what is it you are looking for? Who are we? 

          From my experience at birth and death beads and vital points in between, here is what I believe. I believe almost everyone wants to be good, even when we don’t know what good is; I believe we want to be loved, to know that we are loved. We want to grow and mature. I believe we want to be part of something greater than ourselves. We want to be free to contribute in our own unique way and we want to feel affirmed and connected. And we want the hope, faith and strength of integrity to face tomorrow, whatever it may bring, and to make our choices and live our lives from love. And I would say, most of us want to believe these things – goodness, love, freedom and community even when there is overwhelming evidence, even in our own lives, to the contrary; even when it makes about as much sense as pulling water from a rock or walking on water.

          There are other things that matter in life: root beer floats and sleepovers matter. We need water and food. Power, military and political and social prestige matters. Sex and sleep can be pretty important, too, basic safety and peace. And here I’m not talking of spiritual peace – just the lack of violence, the lack of struggle, shelter from the rain.

          The Israelites had the basics in Egypt: water, food and as long as they remembered who had military and political power and prestige, they had peace. So when they hit hard times in the desert, they thought, “Heck, we had it better back in Egypt.” Now we are big in this church on working for what we believe in. Pray with your feet, put your money where your mouth is. We are working and politicizing for tomorrow, for the kingdom of God. And I love this church for that. It can be a show of true faith. It shows remnants of our puritan and humanist roots. At the same time, it can show our faith and also our lack of faith.

What would the kingdom look like if it actually had arrived? What would we be doing if we weren’t rushing around battling the forces of darkness all across the planet? Sometimes I worry that we get so busy chasing the kingdom of God that we might not notice if we caught it, and we would go racing on by.

          Another way to explain this feeling is this: God’s people in a scientific world, feeling God’s absence from our rational minds and a painful world, we have decided to defend God and affirm our own faith by our work. It is salvation by works, but we are not just trying to save ourselves, but God too. God with the capital G because a little god we take care of.

          We will walk on water, then people will believe: frankly we haven’t done half bad: we not only have cruise ships, we can fly across the ocean. We don’t just have a roof over our head: we have big roofs. The blind see, we grow enough bread to feed the world or so it would seem.

          But it also turns out the Titanic sank, planes fly into buildings, roofs are blown off, blown up and burn, or they are foreclosed on. Good eyes don’t always see and poor still starve.

          We are still human. There is only so much we can do, only so may people we can help and frankly, we are not that smart. And here is the kicker: we are not that good; we have our own problems. What do we really know about economics, about security, about law, about sexuality, about the weather and the planet earth? Really, what do we know about ourselves.

          For this reason, while the church may take stands, the church doesn’t stand on its politics. A political agenda is not our God. Even as we hoped to be a light on a hill, to have works that shine, our works are not God. The church is not God.

          We don’t join a church because the members are all Democrats, or because they are well educated, or because the minister lets the kids fire a potato cannon at sleepovers…

We join to proclaim, even when there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary – goodness, love, freedom and community live – they live not because of us, but sometimes even despite us, because the very creator of the universe, the Alpha and The Omega, is.

          We may not know what kind of world Lila will grow up in. America may not be the superpower. Fundamentalism may continue to threaten freedom. She may grow up to be a Democrat or a Republican, afford a house or not, marry who she would like or be prevented from marrying by the law. She may get good grades or not so good grades. She may become an engineer or a gardener, the President or a moose hunter or both. She may get a disease or drown tomorrow or live to 104. We just don’t know.

          But there is one thing we know, and we will proclaim it true, despite any and all evidence to the contrary. She is a beloved child of the living God. And by the grace of God, like each of us, there is nothing, she, her parents or anyone else can do to negate that fact: We were created to be loved, to love and to have the freedom to contribute to support and be supported by community.

          Now perhaps just holding these values by themselves is enough. Maybe we don’t need God. That is fine for others but I don’t seem to have that option. I’m not that hung up on the word, God, and definitely not an exclusively “Christian God.” But I do believe in a force, a spirit of love that is greater than the sum of its parts. And it lives, exists, breathes, creates, loves, judges with justice, forgives, cleanses and calls us forward to a new day and a new life. And I meet this God most beautifully through the person of Jesus.

          So on Sunday we come to worship not because of who we are but because of who God is. We love others, not because they stay as adorable as a four month old, but because the eternal God is love and first loved us. We come to breathe in the love of God.