The God Who is Mindful June 3, 2007

Romans 5: 1-5, Psalm 8, John 16: 12-15

(This sermon is quite dependent upon an article by Mark Ralls in the Christian Century edition of 5/15/07)

I have read that one of the most perilous experiences for the typical husband is that moment when his wife asks “Do you notice anything different about me?” Swiftly paging through his memory bank he thinks “Is it a new hair style? New earrings? Has she lost weight? I know it can’t be that she’s gained weight. What could it be?……” And having absolutely no idea, he rapidly tries to decide what would be the safest guess.

I think Holly knows better than to ask such a question of me because while I am good at noticing and remembering some things there are other pieces of data that go right by me. A year or two ago, for example, I was asked what color my daughter Katherine’s eyes are, and I had no idea – much to my family’s amusement. For some reason I guess it wasn’t important to me to store that info in my brain. So, I don’t think Holly is surprised if I am sometimes inattentive or absent-minded about superficial matters of appearance. But what does bother her, though, are the occasional situations when I am absent minded or inattentive as she’s trying to tell me something that is really important to her. If I am just not focused enough to really listen; if I’m not paying attention well enough to notice that there are strong emotions behind the seemingly ordinary words that are being said; or if my mind is really someplace else when it’s needed right here, she’s unhappy and understandably so.

In those moments of shortcoming it’s not that I have ceased loving my wife, but that my love is falling short in what we might call “mindfulness.” Our marital love is being undermined because – in the imperfection of that moment – I’ve lost the focused, sustained attention that a beloved one deserves.

Mindfulness is an important dimension of love: no human being is perfect, but devoted spouses, committed friends, and caring parents strive to be mindful of the ones they love. They try to notice; they want to be focused; they care enough to remember; they are mindful. And here is an amazing thought: God is mindful of you. Not only do we say “God loves you,” but “God is mindful.”

Listen again to the words of Psalm 8:

When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the

stars which thou hast established;

what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost

care for him?

Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory

and honor.

Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put

all things under his feet,

all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along

the paths of the sea.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!

When we consider God’s heavens, the moon and the stars which God has ordained, what are human beings that God is art mindful of them?” We look at the stars of our galaxy, and imagine the countless stars of countless other galaxies, and then we say “The creator of all these jewels in the sky is mindful of me? How can it be? What an unbelievable thought!” God’s love is not confined to us alone, for God has a covenant with all creatures – with the sheep and the oxen and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea; but scripture says that God is uniquely mindful of human beings. God notices, God is attentive, God is mindful of you – of the new members who are joining our church today; of our confirmation students who have been raised in the faith and blessed by God in so many ways and now are making their promises of faith; of those who have been trying to be faithful for many years; and also of those who have been utterly indifferent to their maker.

And this mindfulness, this attentive love of God, it’s important to note, is not because of our irresistible lovability. It’s not that God is infatuated with us because we are all so lovable. God’s love is not like a heat-seeking missile drawn irresistibly toward us, the objects of love. No, this is the amazing miracle of life – that God chooses to love an imperfect and fallen human race with divine, gracious love. “For while we were still weak,” writes St. Paul, “At the right time Christ died for the ungodly…… Perhaps for a righteous person someone might dare to die, but God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5: 6-8)

This mindfulness – this particularly attentive love - was demonstrated time and time again in the life of Jesus. He was walking along in a crowd and one ailing woman slipped in to touch the hem of his cloak hoping that this might be enough to bring her healing, and Jesus notices. He was mindful in all that crowd of the one who was ultimately in need, and he enabled her to be healed….. He was hanging on the cross, dying a slow and agonizing death, but he noticed and responded to a criminal hanging next to him – hearing his cry of faith and assuring him of a place in paradise. Jesus was not just loving “in general” but mindful – mindful of the particular needs of those he encounters.

I know that in some lives there may be moments in which it appears that God has forgotten. There may be times when evil and wrong and ill fortune seem to plague a life and we wonder if God is real, or if God cares. I’ve had some of those dark moments, these moments in which faith is all we have and in which the evidence all seems to be pointing to God’s indifference – but I’ve learned to have faith that God is at work even in the midst of these bleak seasons.

One of the people who helped me to trust in the mindfulness of God is a former member of our church named Jenifer Meck. Jenifer, the daughter of Dave Meck and Linda Gray, died in 1999 at the age of 27, after a difficult life. Given the challenges she faced it wouldn’t have been surprising if she’d concluded that faith was a waste of time, but that wasn’t Jenifer. She’d been limited from infancy with a variety of disabling illnesses, but she persevered and managed to get an education, pursue an interest in art and photography, make many friends, and have a good though difficult life. She was a sincere Christian, confirmed here in our church in 1983, and a strong believer in spite of all her woes. I’m grateful that she reached out in friendship to my daughter – another young woman with chronic illness. And then, at age 25 or 26 she got cancer of the esophagus, which finally claimed her life. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Jenifer during her last year and a half. She knew, after a time, that her death was probably near, and though she never stopped believing that God could deliver her from cancer she also accepted death and began making plans for her memorial service, asking (among other things) that I read that some portions of her journal. One of the entries was a poem called “Divine Weaver,” a testimony about the God who is mindful whether we understand it or not. The poem reads like this:

My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me.

I cannot choose the colors; he works steadily.

Often he weaves in sorrow, and I in foolish pride

Forget that he sees the upper and I the lower side.

Not till the loom is silent and the bobbins cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reasons why.

The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned.

God weaves, and when we are ignorant of any pattern or purposefulness in the tapestry we may say “God has forgotten me,” but God is mindful. God is at work in God’s own ways, and in time, by faith, we’ll understand.

God is mindful of you, and if that is so, then how should we live? We should be striving to live with mindfulness of God, and with mindfulness for God’s people around us. Nothing can void God’s love, but the fulfilling life is the one in which we do all that we can to open the channels of grace so that we can live in full awareness and fellowship and cooperation with our Lord. I think that’s one of the reasons for Jenifer Meck’s awareness of God’s mindfulness – the fact that she was so mindful of God, with her active life of prayer, her love of coming to worship, her reading of scripture, and her strong spiritual practice. Because she was striving to be mindful of God, and using the means of grace to open receptive places in her life, she knew beyond doubt that God was mindful of her. Similarly, we can say that while nothing can void God’s mindfulness we understand it and perhaps even experience it more fully, when we try to give such mindful love to the people around us.

We are celebrating a miracle today – God’s mindful love for us, and in particular for those who are being welcomed as members and confirmands. Amidst all the stars in the galaxies, God is mindful of you. Be mindful as well, and enter a blessed and joyful mystery.