There are times when it is hard to feel the presence of God.

It can happen when a young man dies suddenly and unexpectedly, as church member Dave Newman did 12 days ago. Or even when a 75-year-old such as Ed Gross passes away, leaving a hole in our congregation, and in his family. When we are feeling such grief, God’s presence can be hard to sense.

At other times, we simply crowd God out. We focus so much on our computers, video games, and big-screen televisions that we cannot see what God is doing.

I recently read an interesting story about a drop in visits to the national parks. From the years 1930 to 1987, park visits grew steadily. Then, over the next 16 years, visitation dropped by 25 percent — a serious and significant decline.

Why was this? A couple of researchers have determined that most of the drop was due to the ever-increasing time we are spending surfing the Internet, playing video games, and watching movies and television shows. In the year 2003, the average American was spending 327 more hours in front of the screen than he was 16 years earlier.

That’s a huge jump in tube time — almost an hour a day.

The Washington Post (July 5, 2006) reports that these researchers have coined a term for this increased screen time: Videophilia. It’s a good word, one that literally means “love of video.” The Greek word philos means love, giving rise to English words such as philanthropy (love of mankind), philosophy (love of wisdom), and Francophilia (love of all things French).

Videophilia, according to these researchers, is “the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media.” Video games, television shows, DVDs, email, IMs, and the World Wide Web are all screen-based sedentary attractions, and they are sucking up an increasing amount of our time.

The problem is, if you’re spending an extra hour a day in front of a computer or television, you’re not spending that time out of doors. And if you’re not out of doors, you’re not in a national park. Videophilia may be weakening our bonds with our national parks, and reducing our passion to preserve them.

Videophilia may also be hurting out ability to sense the presence of God. The time we spend staring at our screens may be distracting us from the most important love of all: Theophilia. That is, quite simply, “love of God.”

Without Theophilia at the very center of life, it is hard to see what God is doing.

In today’s passage, the prophet Isaiah challenges us to “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6).. This is an invitation to repent — to turn away from a love of high-tech sights and sounds, and turn toward the love of God. “Let the wicked forsake their way,” says Isaiah, “and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (v. 7).

Now, I admit that these are strong words. “Let the wicked forsake their way” sounds harsh, because we do not tend to think of Videophilia as being particularly sinful or wicked or violent. And maybe it is not, as long as you stay away from highly violent video games and internet pornography.

But too much time in front of a screen, even if it involves working extra hours on our home computers, can be damaging to us. It can hurt us as individuals, as families, and as communities. A therapist named Wayne Muller has gone so far as to say that modern life has become a truly violent enterprise. We make war on our bodies by pushing them beyond their limits, war on our children by failing to give them our time, and war on our communities by failing to be kind and generous and connected to our neighbors. To bring an end to this destruction, we have to establish a healthier balance between love of our high-tech world … and love of God.

Although Isaiah doesn’t use the word “sabbath” in today’s passage, he is calling us into a sabbath style of life — one that maintains a faithful rhythm between work and play, activity and prayer. Just three chapters later, Isaiah delivers a warning from God about “trampling the sabbath” and pursuing our own interests on his holy day. He predicts “if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the Lord” (58:13-14).

If we are going to practice Theophilia, love of God, we cannot pursue our own interests seven days a week, 365 days a year. We have to take some time each week to pursue God’s interests — yes, that’s right: God’s interests. This means taking a day of rest, so that we are not always pushing our bodies beyond their limits. It means giving our children and grandchildren the time they need. It means turning away from our video screens and turning toward our neighbors, showing kindness and generosity. It means offering food to the hungry, according to the prophet Isaiah, and satisfying the needs of the afflicted (58:10).

If we make a commitment to honor the sabbath — not serving our own interests or pursuing our own affairs — then we’ll find ourselves truly delighting in the Lord. “The Lord will guide you continually,” promises Isaiah, “and satisfy your needs in parched places … you shall be like a watered garden” (58:11). We’ll discover that our deepest thirsts are quenched when we “come to the waters” that God offers us, and when we take a break from laboring “for that which does not satisfy” (55:1-2).

Come to the waters — that’s what God invites us to do. And that’s what you are invited to do in the first of our FPC community gatherings next Sunday. We’ll start with the outdoor Glebe service at 9:30, and then have a picnic and games around the theme “Gathering at the Water.” There’s a rumor that you’ll even be able to toss a ball and drop me into a dunk tank.

You are not supposed to be violent with yourself on the sabbath. But I guess it’s okay to be violent with me.

Theophilia is what I am calling for today. Theophilia, love of God, means giving God a place of honor in our lives — seeking “the Lord while he may be found,” and calling “upon him while he is near” (55:6). A good place to begin is making a commitment to keep the sabbath. This means setting aside one day out of seven, and making it completely different from the other six — the word sabbath means “cease, stop, interrupt.” You are to use this very different kind of day to praise God and to pray, to help the hungry and the afflicted, to connect with neighbors, and to play with family members and friends. The key to good sabbath-keeping is to break away from your normal work patterns, and to focus on the interests of God.

You can start this next Sunday, when we “gather at the water.” Then you can continue it every Sunday through the summer. In fact, summer is an excellent season to begin the habit of sabbath-keeping. The pace slows down a bit, and you can start a pattern that will refresh you and strengthen you as you go into the busy fall season.

Theophilia — it means “seeking the Lord,” as our Chapel Choir members have done through their memorization of the hymns of the month.

Theophilia — it means “calling upon God while he is near,” as our congregation is doing this summer through our opening hymn sets.

Theophilia — it means “returning to the Lord,” by turning away from our own interests and actively pursuing God’s interests.

Theophilia — it means “coming to the waters,” as our Christian Education Ministry is inviting us to do in our summer gatherings. Come for refreshment and connection and stimulation and fun. Come to discover, as our Christian Education Volunteers know so well, that God’s ways are higher than our ways, and God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

The love of God, Theophilia, is really the only way to find refreshment in a time of pain and suffering and spiritual drought. In the last two weeks, we have lost two servants of God who have done so much for us, and have given us so many good gifts. Dave Newman was an elder of the church and an enthusiastic youth group advisor; Ed Gross was an ordained minister and tireless advocate for adult Christian Education. Their deaths are a terrible loss for us, as individuals and as a community.

But we are not without help, if we turn to the Lord.. “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters,” says Isaiah; “and you that have no money, come, buy and eat” (v. 1). When we turn to God in hope and expectation, we find that we are refreshed and renewed, like people stopping at a pool in the desert. Time spent with God helps us to regain a proper perspective, reorder our disordered lives, and redirect our days to what is good and true and worthwhile. It also provides the spiritual food we need to face the demands of our daily work — “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,” advises Isaiah, “and delight yourself in rich food” (v. 2). There is more nourishment to be found in God than in any of the sights and sounds of our high-tech world.

So turn off your screens. Clear your calendar, at least one day a week. Gather your thoughts, quiet your heart, and renew your love affair with God.

Theophilia. Amen.

Sources:
Eilperin, Juliet, “‘Videophilia’ keeps Americans indoors.” The Washington Post, July 5, 2006, A2.
Muller, Wayne. Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives (New York: Bantam Books, 1999), 2.