Vows: Presence

Welcome to the weekly Dulen Podcast, a ministry of Dulen United Methodist Church in Falls Church, Virginia. Each week, we share a short reflection on faith and life in community, exploring how God's grace moves among us and through us. We're glad you're here.

Hello, my friends. It's me, James Henry, the pastor here at Dualin Church. And whether you're listening on our podcast or our weekly broadcast, We're delighted to have you. So glad that you could be here for this time of reflection that happens weekly. This is a new ministry opportunity that we have here at Doolin, an opportunity for you to reflect in the middle of the week about things related to what it means to follow the path of Jesus for us at Doolin Church.

So, so glad you could be here with us. If you find these helpful, I encourage you to share either the podcast or the program with others that you feel might gain something from them. Last week, I began a series that's based on the five membership vows each one of us makes as members of the United Methodist Church. When we join a local congregation, we promise to support that congregation, in this case, Doolin, with our prayers, presents, gifts, service, and witness. This week, we're on week two, so we're on presence.

Now, have to be honest with you, when I was growing up, I was pretty sure I knew what presence was. When I took that vow and when I was growing up, there were only four of them, witness had not been added yet. But when I took that vow presence, I knew that it meant physical presence. For me, that's what I thought it was really all about. So, that my vow was that I would show up as often as I could, preferably all the time.

That's how I perceived it as my 12 year old self joining the church to everything I possibly could. I would be present in worship. I would go to Sunday school. I would go to youth group. I wasn't old enough for youth group at that point.

But I would participate and I would show up physically. And I do think that is an aspect of what it means to show up, what presence means. It means to physically be there. When we are simply there, we are making a statement that this thing that I'm here for matters. When we go to work, we're saying work matters to us.

When we attend some event, perhaps it's our children playing a sport or a musical instrument or singing or some other thing when we attend those things, we say this is important. It matters to me. I'm making time or I'm setting aside time in my schedule. We don't actually make time. I'm setting aside a time in my schedule to be there, to be a part of what is going on.

We are saying, I'm here. Physically, I'm present. You know, Jesus showed up for us when we think about what our faith is all about. Presence really is implied in the very beginning. When we think of Jesus and call him by a title, Emmanuel, if you ever heard that name referred to Jesus, Emmanuel means it translates from Hebrew as God with us.

God with us. So Jesus was God with us, the physical presence, the touchable reality, someone who's there. And you know, we say that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. In John chapter one, the word that Christ, that eternal peace, the bit that holds the whole universe together, the logos became flesh and lived with us. And as such, sort of embodied, truly embodied presence for us.

Jesus was presence. So, he showed up. So, showing up matters wherever it is you're showing up. So, presence is the promise of physical presence. And so, you vowed that you would do your best as often as possible to be present in whatever way seems most appropriate through service, through worship, through other kinds of opportunities that you would be present.

But it's something more than just a physical presence. It's about your attention. It's beyond attendance, checking a box, here I am. It is really being there. We live in a world full of distractions.

I could walk into another room from here. I don't even have to walk into another room. I've got an iPhone. I've got a tablet right here. I've got another computer where I do a lot of my editing things.

I've got all these ways that I could distract myself in this moment. We live in a world full of distractions. Sometimes Linda and I used to remark when we would go out to dinner, sometimes with the kids or sometimes with each other, we'd look around and we'd see people who were out at dinner and both of them were on their phone. So, they were eating at the same table, but they were not really there. They were somewhere else on that phone.

Now, if you're one of those people, I'm not trying to call you out, heck, sometimes my family has to call me out because I've pulled my phone out. Now that I'm in a new workplace and I'm only four months in, I'm checking my email as I'm sitting at breakfast table and I don't do that anymore because I have been called out just enough times for that to stop. But we aren't wherever we go sometimes. You know, no matter where you go, there you are. But you aren't.

Let's be honest with each other. We are not intentional in our presence when we are with people sometimes. We are distracted by anything else. We might be sitting with someone but the television is on in the background and we are listening to or are interested in the game that's on or the series or television set that's on, we are not paying attention to the person we're with. And so, including ourselves, sometimes we are so uncomfortable in our own bodies, that we prefer to be distracted rather than think about the things that are weighing heavy on us now.

So being intentional with presence is showing up physically but it's also showing up intentionally. It's important. And the reason why I say it's important is I can remember talking about this over and over again when I was in seminary and it was about clergy, people like me who got ordained and went through this process, but it really is what the church is about. And we kept referring to the ministry of presence, showing up for another person, being present when they needed us. It makes a difference when you're there.

If you've sat in a room with someone who was in so much pain or so much sorrow or overwhelmed so much and they didn't say anything and you didn't say anything, you just sat with them, They knew presence. They experienced presence because they were not alone. You were physically in that room with them. I find I do this in hospitals. I've sat with people.

I've visited people in the hospital who aren't communicative or they might be asleep, and I just sit at their bedside for a while just to be in the room with them because I believe being there physically, whether they had their eyes open and see me there or not matters. When dad was sick earlier this year and I was able to go down for a couple of weeks in succession and actually sit with him in the hospital and help him eat and watch him sleep. That made a difference because I was there and he was there. So being present with people matters, showing up that makes all the difference, all the difference in the world. God is always present with us.

And when we come to be present with others, the presence of God in some way comes with us. God's also with the person that's already there, but there is something about coming, recognizing that you bear God's image, that you bear witness to the presence of God. When we think of the spirit of God, the Hebrew word ruach or the Aramaic word ruach is about breath, wind, spirit, air. It's about that which is always with us. So we bring that presence and we transform that presence.

We kind of, God can speak in and through us in our presence. So, don't let ever let yourself think that you don't bring something into the presence of others. Now, what about you folks who are watching online? Because guess what? This is only available online.

You are watching online. This is not your sanctuary at Doolin. This is the parsonage at Doolin and I'm in one of the rooms we converted into my office. So, here I am sitting here talking to you. So, this is a digital reality.

What does it look like to be present in a digital space? Many of you attend worship primarily online. And I think that's great. You may not only do it primarily online, you may do it exclusively online. In either case, it's no big deal.

We feel your presence. Are you intentional when you join us for worship? If you do it live on a Sunday morning or if you watch the recording later in the week, are you intentional about that presence? Because you know the spirit is bigger than time and space. So, if you're not there at the same exact time that we were sitting in the sanctuary, you are present with us and bringing that presence in a way that's mysterious beyond our measure.

You are present with us. When you go to a Zoom meeting or a Google Meet or any of the other meeting realities, Microsoft Teams, whatever it is. Are you really with the people? It's very easy to get distracted when you're online. I remember when the pandemic began and I was in within a couple of weeks, Zoom became my life.

I one time finished at 09:00 at night and realized I had spent nine hours sitting in front of a screen, not a healthy thing to do by the way. And I'm sure by the end of that day, if I'm being really honest, I was not present anymore. I was not really present. I was physically sitting there in front of the camera much as I am right now but the difference is right now I'm intentionally present with you. Digitally on a Sunday morning, I am sending out my presence as best I can over those waves and I hope that you are doing the same back.

Being truly and intentionally present. It's not easy to be around people. Sometimes it's very easy or preferable to us even to be distracted because it's hard to really keep ourselves in that moment. But I want to challenge and encourage you to do that, to try in the coming week to truly be present if you can. Give it a shot.

What might it look like to really be present? Think about these, maybe reflect on these questions. I wrote down a couple of questions. I'll look at them. Where am I being invited to be more present in my life?

To whom do I need to show up this week? Where do I sense God's presence? Maybe even in ways I've previously overlooked. What difference did it make in my life that somebody showed up for me sometime? Someone was there when I needed them.

Presence often begins in very small ways and yet it ripples outward. When we sit together in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning or when the Sunday school classes gather or when other groups gather and are together. It makes a difference. It's a ripple. There's a connection to each other.

Long ago you made membership vows. Many of you who are watching this, maybe if you didn't, you can just reflect on what that means. The vows that were made, prayers, presents, gifts, service and witness, or perhaps just prayers, presents, gifts and service if you're like me. What do you think about presence now? How can you enact, take seriously that second of the vows to be present, to be present.

Maybe you've just been looking for an excuse to show up and worship in person one Sunday. Do it. We'd love to have you. Maybe you are bound to watch us online. Do it, but do it with intention, with presence.

Send that presence to us, make that presence felt because it does make a difference. So ponder that with me, carry it with you this coming week. What does it look like to truly be present? Thanks so much for joining me. If this has been helpful for you, I welcome your responses, pastordulinshurge dot org.

I also welcome any thoughts, questions, things you want to talk about. You can make an appointment and come see me if you really would like to or call. And I'd be delighted to talk to you about these things. Be mindful that your presence matters. And as always, you matter to us.

We're so glad you joined us today, that you joined me today. I'm glad to be your pastor. If this has been helpful, share it. Otherwise, I will see you perhaps next week. Until then, all the best to you, my friends.