I grew up in snow country. In Buffalo, the streets virtually close after some storms. I went out after one storm and the car was
gone. The street was 
so clogged that the city sent in wreckers and towed all the cars to nearby
streets so that the plows could get in. We just had to look around the neighborhood until we found the car.
There is a purity to snow when its falling. We got this video of an updated version of Away in a Manger and they have used snow to picture the blessed purity of God’s love for us.
God desires intimacy and purity in relationships. Father John Powell in the book, Why Am I Afraid to Tell? Says that one of the strongest urges we have is to find someone that we can tell the truth to. We all know that we are designed to be intimate and pure. Intimate and pure with God. And that affects our relations with others too.
One of the staff members here has young children who want to know me. And yet they are shy. If I look directly at them, they move back. But if I pretend to ignore them, they come closer to get my attention. That is our relationship with God. We are skittish of too much attention from God unless we feel that God is not looking. And then we quickly try to get close.
The scripture today comes from the lectionary. Those are readings that are grouped around a single theme. Today we are going to hear from the Bible the intensity and purity of Gods relationship with us and how that affects others.
We live at a time when there is a lot of brokenness in relationships and sometimes loneliness in singleness. So it is hard to hear of God’s pursuit of us like a lover who will not be denied. We have taught our hearts to expect little and the intensity of God’s love, like the wind driven snow last night, shakes us. I pray that through the scriptures today, the Holy Spirit will be here to confound you with a new sense of God’s love and that your heart will learn to trust this love more and more.
Pure and intense. The first picture of God in relationship comes with the story of Samuel. God does not just issue proclamations, God calls people. Samuel’s story is not here to show us famous people that God has called. This story shows us how God relates to everyone – to you and to me. When Samuel hears his name called in the dark of the sanctuary, he knows that he is being addressed by God personally.
I don’t know if you have ever met anyone with low self esteem. Does anyone here have that issue? People who don’t feel too good about themselves can’t take too much eye contact. And God wants us so intimately that the attention scares us. Just look at all the intimate images for God in the Bible. Our Father, Jesus says, I would have gathered you like a hen tucks chicks under her wings, Lily of the Valley, Rose of Sharon. God wants to be a sweet smell who’s memory carries through the day. God walked with Adam and Eve as they were naked in the garden and not ashamed. Isn’t that an incredible verse? They were naked and not ashamed because they could accept the attention and intensity and purity of God’s love.
There’s a phrase in the wedding ceremony that I never understood until last year. Im embarrassed to say that I’ve done 200 weddings and never understood one part of it. The liturgy says that the love of husband and wife is like that of Christ and his church. I never got it. We have been talking about the love of the bride and groom for the whole ceremony and suddenly in comes a line from nowhere about theology. I kept using it figuring that its one of those heavenly mysteries. Well, I’ve been reading Andrew Greeley this year and finally understood the marriage ceremony. Marriage is one of the most intense metaphors of the love Christ has for you and me – for the church. This is from Ephesians chapter 5. Falling snow is an image we have used this morning. But having sex in a committed relationship is even a more powerful picture. If you have had a committed relationship to maintain its purity, and had a wonderful experience of sex in it, that moment is also an example of God’s love for you. God’s love has that same intensity, same purity, and same intimacy.
It is in that context that we see Paul’s concern and warning to the Corinthians. We do not fully understand why sexual feelings are so strong. They say that men think about sex up to 25% of the time. I can’t believe that. Now guys, I hope you have tried to stay focused on the worship for at least this hour.
That gives us yet another beautiful picture of God’s love for us. Its intense. But anything that powerful is also a temptation. All of the most powerful forces in life have the same capacity to build or destroy. Paul is telling us to build in some safeguards in life because sex loses its ability to communicate love if we use it loosely.
Bill had children and it did not go well. The parenting was just awful and this is a Christian family. Next week, you are going to hear that people should get training in relationships before they are allowed to have any. It’s a good thought. So one of the kids has gotten sadly off track sexually. And is not happy. And when she was asked if she felt any love, she said, I’m not even sure how many guys I’ve had. Its about 48.
Friends, I’m asking the Lord to move on all our hearts right now and increase our boundaries so sex builds up and does not tear down. Paul puts the issue in terms of the Christian's physical body belonging to Christ. He who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit says the scripture. See again how God and intimacy are part of the design. There is nothing less sightly than snow mixed with salt and dirt.
This all comes back to the sanctuary and our worship. When Jesus leaves the earth, he offers an intimate sign that is available to all Christians. Sex is a powerful image, but not available to every person at all times. So Jesus leaves the sacrament of communion. Where our love for God is so intense that we pray that God will take us and make us be the Body of Christ, and then we come forward and incorporate God into ourselves by taking the wine and bread.
I’d have to say that my own faith has deepened over the last months as I came to this new understanding of God’s intimate love for me – not just for the world, but for me. It makes it easier to trust when there is a problem. How could anyone who loved me this much betray me? If you need more love in your life, I hope that you have been drawn to the love of the Lord today. God wants to know you, love you, call you and may that love bless your relationships as well.
