“Making
Visible
the
Invisible”
Deuteronomy
5:
8-10,
Colossians
1:
15-20
Rev.
Dr.
Jeff
Cover
One
of
the
first
words
a
little
child
learns
to
say
is,
“No.”
And
why
do
you
suppose
that
is?
My
guess
is
that
it’s
because
they
hear
it
so
often!
We
say
“No!”
to
toddlers,
as
a
shorthand
way
of
warning
them
about
certain
dangers—like
pulling
the
tail
of
a
dog,
or
touching
a
burner,
or
putting
cigarette
butts
in
their
mouths.
We
say
it
to
protect
them
from
danger.
And
they
soon
say
it
back
to
us,
in
the
”No!
Stage”
of
toddlerhood,
as
a
way
of
asserting
their
own
independence.
And
so
begins
the
test
of
wills.
Oddly
enough,
the
10
Commandments
have
often
become
a
test
of
wills.
We
sometimes
wish
that
they
had
been
stated
more
positively.
It
might
help
us
to
remember
that
they
are
God’s
shorthand
way
of
expressing
his
desire
for
our
health
and
well-being
as
a
community.
They
were
10
boundary
posts
for
The
second
commandment
forbids
the
making
or
worshipping
of
physical
representations
of
God.
“Graven
images”
are
statues
made
to
portray
God.
This
commandment
goes
further
in
insisting
that
God
not
be
worshipped
with
any
likeness.
The
point
is
that
God
is
always
greater
than
any
likeness
the
human
mind
or
hand
can
muster.
In
some
sense,
God
can
never
be
completely
shown
or
owned.
As
the
hymn
reminds
us:
“Immortal,
invisible,
God
only
wise,
In
light
inaccessible,
hid
from
our
eyes…”
(Walter
Smith,
1867)
The
problem
is,
we
regularly
fall
in
love
with
our
representations
of
God.
We
tend
to
worship
the
thing
of
beauty,
instead
of
that
Whom
it
is
supposed
to
represent.
And
frankly,
God
resents
that.
When
we
fall
in
love
with
the
creation
of
our
own
hands,
we
go
astray.
And
that
sets
in
motion
consequences
for
our
children
and
grandchildren
and
great-grandchildren.
God
wants
us
to
serve
him
and
him
alone.
As
the
Confirmation
study
catechism
explains
it,
“…
when
I
treat
anything
other
than
God
as
though
it
were
God,
I
make
it
an
idol….
when
I
assume
that
my
own
interests
are
more
important
than
anything
else,
I
make
them
idols,
and
in
effect
I
also
make
an
idol
of
myself.”
(Question
73)
In
response
to
this
commandment,
Judaism
developed
a
strong
tradition
of
never
portraying
God,
a
tradition
furthered
by
later
Protestant
churches.
The
commandment
not
to
represent
God
physically
is
a
boundary
post,
designed
to
protect
us
from
the
very
human
tendency
to
fall
into
self-worship.
Each
of
the
commandments
is
designed
to
keep
us
from
certain
pitfalls
in
our
relationships
with
God
and
others.
In
fact,
we
can’t
be
truly
free
unless
we
learn
to
live
within
appropriate
limits.
“To
be
truly
free
is
to
be
properly
bound.”
Or,
as
Thomas
Troeger
puts
it
in
the
hymn,
“God
Marked
a
Line
and
Told
the
Sea:”
We
are
not
free
when
we’re
confined
To
every
wish
that
sweeps
the
mind,
But
free
when
freely
we
accept
The
sacred
bounds
that
must
be
kept.”
1986)
But,
let’s
admit
it,
not
being
able
to
represent
God
in
any
physical
way
presents
us
with
certain
problems.
The
human
mind
is
constructed
to
be
visual.
It’s
hard
for
us
to
recognize
that
which
we
cannot
see.
It’s
hard
for
us
to
have
conversation
with
the
seemingly
silent
Partner
in
our
prayer.
It’s
hard
for
us
to
believe
in
that
which
seems
to
lack
proof.
Those
things
take
faith.
They
take
an
ability
to
trust.
They
take
a
certain
amount
of
risk.
All
of
which
God
apparently
invites
us
toward.
The
God
of
the
Bible
is
not
much
into
security.
The
God
of
the
Bible
is
into
adventure…
But,
while
God
can
never
be
completely
captured
and
can
never
be
owned,
he
can
be
known.
God
wants
to
be
known,
and
enjoyed,
and
loved.
Let’s
explore
four
of
the
ways
God
makes
himself
known.
One
is
by
our
consciences.
God
has
placed
within
us
a
certain
capacity
for
discerning
something
of
himself
and
his
desires
for
us.
The
conscience
has
been
described
as
that
small
inner
voice
that
guides
us
when
it
comes
to
right
and
wrong.
We
have
this
inner
sense,
if
we
will
listen
to
it,
that
we
are
about
to
veer
off
course.
The
problem
with
conscience,
however,
is
that
it
varies
so
dramatically
from
one
person
to
the
next
and
from
one
culture
to
the
next.
Our
consciences
are
not
enough,
alone,
to
tell
us
what
we
need
to
know
about
God.
For
that
reason,
God
also
gives
us
tradition,
the
collected
wisdom
of
the
centuries,
to
guide
us
in
coming
to
understand
him.
The
experience
of
the
faith
community
across
the
generations
is
another
key
way
by
which
we
may
come
to
understand
God’s
desires
for
us.
But
human
traditions
have
their
own
weaknesses.
Just
because
“we’ve
always
done
it
that
way”
doesn’t
necessarily
mean
it’s
the
best
or
most
fitting
way
to
serve
God.
We
can
get
human
impulses
all
mixed
up
with
the
divine
will.
So,
we
have
to
be
careful.
We
need
something
more.
Which
is
why
God
gives
us
a
third
way
to
understand
him—the
word
of
God
written,
the
Bible.
The
Bible
is
“the
witness
without
parallel
for
our
faith
and
life.”
I
love
this
description
of
the
Bible
taken
from
a
recent
publication
of
Columbia
Seminary:
It’s
one
great
reason
we
give
Bibles
today
to
our
high
school
graduates.
We
have
found
in
this
book
an
incredible
resource
for
understanding
God
and
God’s
desires
for
us.
But
even
Scripture,
for
all
its
wonderment,
is
not
enough.
And
for
this
reason,
God
gave
us
one
more
form
of
self-revelation.
“In
many
and
in
various
ways
God
spoke
to
our
ancestors
through
the
prophets,
but
in
these
last
days,
he
has
spoken
to
us
by
a
Son…”
(Heb.
1:
1-2a)
In
Colossians
it
tells
us
of
Jesus,
“He
is
the
image
of
the
invisible
God,
the
first-born
of
all
creation…For
in
him
all
the
fullness
of
God
was
pleased
to
dwell…”
(Col.
1:
15,
19)
God
doesn’t
want
us
to
make
any
images
of
him.
Instead,
he
is
prepared
to
offer
us
one
himself:
Jesus,
made
in
his
very
image,
after
his
exact
likeness.
Jesus
is
the
likeness
of
God
that
we
are
challenged
to
grow
into
ourselves.
Christ
makes
visible
the
invisible
God.
By
looking
to
Jesus
we
have
a
genuine
picture
of
what
God
is
really
like.
As
Jesus
himself
explained
to
his
friends,
“Whoever
has
seen
me
has
seen
the
Father.”
(John
14:
9)
Here
is
the
only
image
of
God
worthy
of
our
worship:
his
own
Son,
Jesus,
our
Lord.
In
early
May
Debbie
and
I
met
our
son
Nathan
and
his
wife,
Anca,
in
the
little
One
of
the
sights
we
saw
in
town
was
a
group
of
Amish
teen-agers,
walking
along
the
street.
Except
for
their
knit
hats
and
unusual
dress,
they
looked
like
a
group
of
swaggering,
joshing
boys
anywhere,
having
a
good
time.
One
or
two
of
them
may
have
even
been
smoking.
I
was
reminded
of
the
Amish
practice
of
“rumspringa,”
which
may
be
translated
as
“running
around.”
Amish
young
people
only
attend
school
through
the
8th
grade.
Rumspringa
is
a
period
during
which
the
strict
rules
governing
Amish
behavior
are
temporarily
relaxed
for
older
teens.
It’s
a
2-3
year
period
during
which
the
boys,
at
least,
are
permitted
to
run
around
a
bit.
Keeping
their
own
hours,
smoking,
drinking
and
other
such
behaviors
are
at
least
tolerated.
The
idea
is
that
the
young
men
must
be
permitted
to
sow
their
wild
oats
a
bit
before
settling
down
to
responsible
adult
life.
We
have
the
same
thing—I
believe
it’s
called,
“college.”
I’m
sure
that
during
those
years
their
parents
figuratively
hold
their
breaths,
while
they
wait
for
them
to
decide
to
enter
the
Amish
way
of
life
as
adults
or
not—much
as
we
hold
our
breaths
when
young
people
we
know
and
love
head
off
to
their
careers
or
college!
Amazingly,
even
after
getting
a
taste
of
secular
life,
80-90%
of
Amish
young
people
commit
themselves
to
the
old
ways
of
life.
After
a
period
of
experimentation,
most
return
to
the
practices
of
getting
around
by
horse
and
buggy,
doing
without
electricity,
cell
phones,
computers,
televisions,
and
the
other
accoutrements
of
modern
culture.
The
Amish
way
of
life,
with
its
emphasis
on
faith,
farming,
and
family
exerts
a
powerful
draw.
Even
those
who
leave
the
Amish
fold
do
not
generally
leave
their
faith,
becoming
instead
Hutterites
or
Mennonites,
with
their
more
accepting
stances
toward
the
world.
Which
means
that
the
Amish
do
an
extraordinary
job
of
traditioning
their
young
people,
of
exposing
them
to
the
benefits
and
joys
of
their
tradition.
As
a
Presybyterian
pastor
who’s
just
completed
his
third
Confirmation
class
here,
I’m
a
little
jealous.
Nationally,
only
about
50%
of
Presbyterian
confirmands
are
involved
in
churches
10
years
later.
Of
course,
the
Amish
have
a
tool
that
most
Presbyterians
would
be
loathe
to
use,
the
practice
of
shunning,
where
you
have
nothing
to
do
with
those
people
who
have
left
the
faith
of
their
childhood.
To
leave
the
Amish
way
of
life
is,
practically
speaking,
to
leave
your
family
of
origin
entirely,
to
say
“good-bye”
to
having
a
relationship
with
any
of
them.
That’s
a
price
for
conformity
that
most
Presbyterians
are
unwilling
to
pay!
To
our
high
school
graduates
today
I’d
say,
the
whole
world
is
out
there
for
you
to
experience.
I
would
not
recommend,
however,
that
you
need
to
experience
all
of
it!
Go
out
and
explore
the
world
of
ideas,
but
remember
where
you’ve
come
from.
Stay
in
touch
with
your
faith
community.
It
will
be
there
for
you,
long
after
the
latest
academic
fad
or
secular
notion
has
passed
by
the
wayside.
Along
with
your
consciences
and
this
faith
tradition,
God
has
given
you
his
word
written
in
Scripture.
The
Bibles
we
give
you
are
not
just
to
look
nice
on
your
shelves.
Open
them
up
and
make
them
your
own
by
the
reading
of
them
and
the
taking
of
them
into
your
hearts
and
minds.
Treat
them
reverently,
but
most
of
all,
wear
them
out!
God
would
be
pleased.
Among
the
things
you
will
find
there
are
guideposts
like
the
10
Commandments,
easy-to-remember,
but
often
hard-to-follow
guidelines
for
your
lives.
These
are
the
boundary
markers
which
God
gave
to
But
in
the
Bible
you
will
also
find
the
stories
of
Jesus.
It’s
our
relationship
with
him
that
most
profoundly
shapes
our
lives.
As
you
read
the
gospels
and
the
accounts
of
the
early
church,
you
will
find
the
exact
image
of
God
there.
It’s
an
image
that
will
both
comfort
and
startle
you.
For
Jesus
says
and
does
unpredictable
things.
He
welcomes
the
outcasts.
He
forgives
sinners,
he
shames
the
proud,
and
confounds
those
who
think
they
have
God
all
figured
out.
He
consistently
deepens
and
broadens
the
commandments
of
God.
He
heals,
he
challenges,
he
transforms.
In
all
the
years
since
Jesus,
the
church
has
still
never
caught
up
with
him
or
his
vision
for
a
redeemed
humanity
and
a
just
society.
Jesus
is
still
out
there
ahead
of
us.
He
is
the
one
who
impels
us
forward,
to
become
more
completely
the
people
God
means
for
us
to
be.
It
is
he
who
challenges
us
to
worship
the
Lord
properly,
to
never
settle
for
worshipping
any
idol
or
idea
of
our
own
making.
It
is
he
who
calls
us
into
a
living
relationship
with
the
Lord—“to
whom
alone
we
must
cling,
whom
alone
we
must
serve,
whom
only
we
must
worship,
and
in
whom
alone
we
put
our
trust.”
(Scots
Confession,
paragraph
1)
Amen.