Abstract
Up on the walls in the Rectory we have a series of colourful posters that are part of one of the series produced by the Benedictine Sisters of Turvey Abbey. Their bright, vivid colours seem to match well with the colours we have on the walls in our home.
But I have to admit that, most of the time, I don’t pay any of these posters any attention at all. It was only when I was thinking about my sermon for today, and had been drawn to the sentence in today’s Epistle reading, ‘The Lord is near,’ from Philippians 4.5, that I suddenly spotted one of the posters afresh, and realised that, like the rest of the posters in the series, it was an Advent poster, and that it carries the wording, ‘Be glad, for the Lord is very near.’
The Lord is near, or, the Lord is very near. It’s surely the same thing.
But let’s think about the word ‘near,’ or ‘at hand,’ as some translations of the Bible put it. ‘Near’ or ‘at hand’ can be about how close something is in time, or about how close something is in space, or both, I suppose.
So we can say that Christmas is near – it’s in nine days’ time – and many of our Christmas services and activities are even nearer in time.
So, to say that the Lord is near is saying, Jesus (he’s the Lord) is coming back soon.
But we can also say that one place is near to another. While my current house is not particularly near my church, my previous one most certainly was – just across the road, in fact, so St Margaret’s Vicarage was near to St Margaret’s Church.
So, again, to say that the Lord is near can also be to say that he is close beside us, not far distant off from us.
And if something or someone is on the move and heading towards us, at some point we can say that it or they is near us, meaning both that it or they is quite close and also that it or they will get to us quite soon. So if I’m ever catching a bus, and I get to the stop a few minutes before it’s due, I can think ‘the bus is near,’ and can mean both that it will arrive to pick me up soon and that it must be travelling along the street round the corner at the moment.
And so, perhaps, when we say that the Lord is near, we mean both that he isn’t very far away and that he will be with is soon.
How is it that the Lord is near to us? What is the significance of him being near? How should we respond to the Lord’s nearness?
I believe most strongly that what really makes the Lord near to us, and not some distant, remote, far-off, uninterested deity, is his freely chosen act in becoming human in Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem, the boy of Nazareth, the man of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem and Calvary. Because God became uniquely human in Jesus – we call that the Incarnation and we celebrate it at Christmas – the great gulf has been bridged: heaven and earth, God and humanity, are now near to each other.
And that is why, right from St Matthew’s Gospel onwards, Christians have called Jesus, Emmanuel – ‘God with us.’ ‘God with us’ and ‘God near us’ are, I think, effectively the same thing.
And we generally think that God being at hand, being near, is a ‘good thing.’ If he is near us, he can comfort us; if he is near us, he can bless us; if he is near us, he can hear us when we cry to him – and Psalm 145 explicitly says, ‘The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully. He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and helps them.’
And all of that is true, most certainly. But it is only part of the story. For if the Lord is near, he will also be able to see what we’re up to, hear what we’re saying, know what we’re thinking – both good and bad. And if we’re up to no good – in thought, word or deed – we would probably rather that the Lord wasn’t quite so near after all, so that he wasn’t aware of what we were doing, so that we could hide our sins away from him, and carry on doing them.
But we can’t have the Lord near in blessing and not near in judgement, near in comfort and not near in challenge. They have to go hand in hand with each other.
And our response to this nearness of the Lord, what should it be? From my poster, ‘Be glad!’. From our passage from Philippians, ‘Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known to God.’
Be glad – even at the nearness of the Lord in judgement, for as a hymn puts it, ‘his light will judge and, judging, heal.’ Even the Lord’s nearness in judgement should be a cause of gladness for us for, if we accept, submit, to him as judge, to his judgement, we will actually find – challenging and painful though it may be – we will be healed, forgiven and transformed by that encounter, if we have the courage and the honesty to face it, him.
Do not worry about anything – because he is near he really does know you. He knows what you need, and will provide it. He will protect you, and will not let you be tested beyond your ability to stand.
But – even though he knows already – you have to tell him! In everything, yes everything, by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God. Actually, and this is a wonderful thought, really, none of our concerns is too trivial to bring to the Lord in prayer.
That doesn’t mean that he will give me everything I ask for – or certainly not in the way I expect him to when I ask him for it! But we can, must actually, let those requests be made known to God – alongside thanking him, always thanking him. And one of the saddest things about many Christians is that they are quick to ask God for things and very slow indeed to thank him for he has and does and will give them.
And what does he give us when we pray to him, this Lord who is near? Nothing less than the peace of God – which I understand as a real, burning sense of his presence near us, with us, within us – which really is beyond our understanding and beyond our ability to express, yet is so real nevertheless, and does guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The Lord is near. He is near because he – God – has become human in Jesus. He is near both in blessing and in judgement. Be glad that he is near. Because he is near, do not worry about anything – not even his judgement, which is for our healing. Turn in prayer to the Lord who is near. In absolutely everything make your requests known to God – always thanking him as well.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will indeed guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Be glad! The Lord is very near!