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I got my call to ministry early in life. I was 15 years old on a Diocesan trip through England and France. It was on the first half of the trip, at Winchester Cathedral, that I felt the pull to ordained ministry.
That’s a lot to have put upon you at a young age, so I was grateful that the second half of the trip, the part in France, was in an ecumenical, that is, an all denominational encompassing, community called Taizé.
Taizé is often spoken of for it’s simple chants, it’s music. That’s not what I think of when I think of Taizé. I think of the silences most of all. Those were the moments I was able to reflect on what had happened to me. Those were the moments I connected with God. There’s something so powerful and palpable about have so many people around you, silent together, all trying to get closer to our Lord.
One of Taizé’s chief missions is to be a place of pilgrimage and retreat for young people all over the globe. They opened their doors to me, just as they they do to so many others around the world. They created a space for so many of us to experience the presence of God.
Providing God’s presence to others is what the church is all about. That is what we see in our readings today.
In Exodus, when Moses asks for a sign of God’s favor, it is God’s very presence he requests. He asks for this presence not just for himself, but for all of God’s People. This is the greatest gift he could ask for or receive.
When we as the church are doing well, we show forth this gift of God’s presence to others. That is what we see in 1 Thessalonians today. Paul is proud of the Thessalonians because they have been an example to others. In that example, as Paul says, “in every place your Faith in God has become known.” We might even say through their Faith God has become known.
Through examples like the Thessalonians, others see what our Faith is and means. Through that Faith, others come to know God for themselves. Through this work, this example, others are able to feel the presence of God in this world.
Just as through the good God becomes known, so too through the bad God’s presence becomes muddled and unclear. This is, in part, what we see in the Gospel. Jesus, on being tested by the various religious sects in His day, tells them not to just “render to Caeser’s what is Caeser’s”, but also, and more importantly, to render “unto God the things that are God’s.”
These people testing Jesus, these “hypocrites” as he calls them, aren’t doing that. They aren’t giving to God the things that are God’s. That is hurting them. It’s also hurting those around them. Their focus is no longer on having God present and known as God was for the Ancient Israelites in Moses’ day. Their focus is on themselves, their own power and influence.
For those of us who have experienced God’s presence, nothing can be greater. This is true whether we experience God simply as the pillar of cloud or in the closeness Moses experienced with our Lord. This is the gift we should all long for. This is the gift we should hope that others will receive.
As churches we have a choice. We can be like the Thessalonians or we can be like the Pharisees and Herodians who sought to test Jesus. We can make God’s presence known to all those we meet, or we can make it harder and more difficult for others to know the Lord.
“Render unto God the things that are God’s.” This is what Jesus calls us to strive to do. We are called to give God the Lord’s due and help others know God that much more. Are you doing that? Are we doing that? These are the questions we must always ask ourselves so that we can be sure God is made known by our example and that we are rendering God’s things back to our Lord.