The Holy Spirit has a way of nudging or tugging at us when there are opportunities to serve and act as God’s hands and feet in the world. More effective in the life of Gloria Dei member Marge Andersen, is the whack of the proverbial 2×4 between the eyes. She shares her profound experience and encounter from a trip to Tiananmen Square. Where and when will God invite you to serve next?
A man once observed a young boy out in a field flying a kite. He noticed there was something odd about the way the boy was standing and holding on to the string. He walked up to the boy and quickly discovered that the child was blind. The man asked him, “Do you like flying kites?”
The boy replied, “I sure do.”
This obviously piqued the man’s curiosity, so he said, “That’s remarkable – how are you able to fly the kite when you cannot see it?”
The boy answered, “I may not be able to see it, but I can feel it tugging!”
It can be a challenge to identify God’s presence in the world or to recognize where God is making a way for us – to notice the places we are being invited into God’s work – but sometimes when we are paying attention and often even when we are not – there will be a nudge or tug from God – the Holy Spirit moving.
The Holy Spirit moving in an invitation from a friend or in a news story that compels us to action or in an answer to prayer on the other end of a phone call or text message – an encounter that changes our perspective and gets us off the dime.
However, there is almost always a catch with these overt and covert invitations from God. God doesn’t often allow us to simply maintain the status quo of our lives – invitations from God usually require us moving out of our comfort zones – stretching us in ways we didn’t know were possible – causing us to let go, even just a little bit of our control, in order to trust that God will provide all that is necessary – that God will be present and supporting us in those very moments.
Today is a special day in the church year, a day when we honor the saints – those who have died and joined the Church Triumphant. We remember all the ways that those who have gone before us have impacted our lives – how some have in many ways made us who we are today.
It is important to remember that the saints are saints, not solely because of who they were, but because of the way that they were open to God working – in them and through them. And I’m talking not just about the canonized saints of the church, but all of those that we have known and even those whose names have been lost to history. People who may not have been an obvious choice for God to work through – but God did so anyway.
Today, we have heard some verses of scripture from a story with just that kind of person — the story of Esther. If you don’t know much about Esther – the story is set during Israel’s exile to Babylon — Esther is a young Jewish woman who is suddenly thrust into the unlikely role of queen in a foreign land. The villain of the story is an advisor to the king named Haman who is plotting the destruction of the Jewish people who now reside in the Kingdom of Persia.
From today’s reading:
Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” —Esther 4:13-17
For such a time as this. When have you found yourself in a moment where you had a choice in front of you – an opportunity to act – to reach out – to extend yourself in friendship – to move out of your comfort zone – to overcome your own fear and open yourself to the possibilities.
These opportunities, of course, are not always big and earth shattering and they may not even happen every day, but I would dare say that they happen more than we might expect.
This morning as a part of our Stewardship emphasis: “Reformation to Action” – I am pleased to invite Marge Andersen forward to share her story.
Gloria Dei member, Marge Andersen shares her story from an encounter in Tiananmen Square”
It’s July 2010 – Bruce is retired and we can now attack our bucket list and go to places we have only read about in National Geo. The mystery of China called. It was only a few years before that China opened its doors to foreign visitors.
First stop, capital city, Beijing, population of 21.5 million. First destination is Tiananmen Square, a massive 109 acres of open cement surrounded by the incredible Forbidden City, the National Museum of China, Mao Zedong’s mausoleum and the Chinese Parliament. 20 years before, it is also the site of the Tiananmen Square massacre. — Unknown hundreds to thousands of protesting Chinese were killed & 10K were arrested. They were protesting the prior 20-30 years of Communist repressive laws and the almost unfathomable brutality of enforcement. Democracy does not exist there.
Our guide cautioned us before we even got there. “Be very careful about topics of conversation among yourselves in the square”, he said, “and avoid interaction with local Chinese”. He wouldn’t answer questions that were remotely political or controversial. He just said he would address them later, and he did. He passed on to us his genuine fear of the military that he knew were in uniform and in plain clothes. They were milling in the crowds, listening for dissidents. The populous believe that thousands of troops are housed in bunkers under the square and ready at any time to forcefully appear for control purposes.
As we wandered around on our own with 10s of thousands of others in 100+ degree heat, I spotted a young man with an interesting black T-shirt depicting a big wolf’s head. The wolf appeared to be looking straight at me. The eyes of the wolf were so real and menacing, I was staring at them. The man, in turn, was watching me and ultimately approached. First in Chinese, then in broken English, he asked about my name tag, written mostly in Chinese, and if I was an American. I have no idea why he asked his next question, – was I a Christian? —- Well, after our guide’s earlier warning, — I am now beginning to get fearful and a little nervous, — especially with those big wolf eyes watching me. —- I said “yes, why did he ask?”
My fears vanished. He had lots of questions about Christianity and what I believe and what the Bible teaches. These were heavy questions for a 10-minute encounter in very simple English he could understand.
Where did all my answers come from? It was truly not my inadequate words that spilled forth. I believe the Holy Spirit used me as a conduit to this young man and blessed me with the words to use.
I offered to send him a Bible, but he said he had one. A woman had come to China 3 years before to teach English to the Chinese and had given him one. He thought the Bible was very harsh and brutal. I asked what he was reading? He responded that he hadn’t finished the Old T, yet. I told him to skip that and get right to the New Testament. Here he would find God’s love and grace and forgiveness.
By this time, we were past due back at our bus. We bid the young man goodbye and had to run off. Back on the bus, we tried to reconstruct the event —- What had just happened?? —– It was hard to believe. I had been called to action, — called, in this unlikely place to witness and equipped by the Holy Spirit to answer that call.
It was a ReFormation for me – to now be more willing to answer the call and share my faith whenever I can. God is working and calling in all our lives, giving us His constant support. I often say I need a 2×4 across the head to get the message sometimes, but this one God just lovingly dumped in my lap.
I, of course, have NO idea what happened to that young Chinese man, but the encounter sure had an impact on me. How blessed I am to have had that conversation.
We are approaching the final weeks of our Stewardship Campaign–Reformation to Action. Your generous financial giving supports all our actions here at Gloria Dei, as we learn to serve the world fearlessly with God supporting us. Thank you for your generous giving–and please be here next Sunday, Commitment Sunday, as our community comes together to support all the programs of Gloria Dei for 2018.
Thank you Marge for sharing.
I love this idea of the Holy Spirit using us a conduit – as a vessel for doing God’s work. We can trust that God will provide the words, the courage, the clarity – that God will provide whatever is needed and necessary in those times when we come upon the co-worker or neighbor or family member or stranger who is in some kind of need of support.
This is a kind of partnership, if you will, with God – and it is at the core of what it means to be the church. In those moments we catch glimpses of and experience what it means to be created in God’s image for the sake of the world.
This Re-formation is the work of God in our midst – and it has the power to shape us and change our view and understanding of the world around us – and what God is calling us to be and to do.
Where and when will your next moment come?
Amen.
Rev. John Berg
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Northbrook, IL