God the Thief

[God] will come back like a thief in the night, with  wool cap pulled down low on his head and socks on his feet so you do not even know he is there until you wake up to the sound of someone breathing over you in your bed…  He is interested in you, although apparently not the day time you, the one most people see…Now is when you should be interested in that thief, because now is when he is interested in you – when you think no one is watching, when you think you are alone… Why would a compassionate Lord do a thing like that?  You know why.  Because you are so well protected the rest of the time…. That is why he waits until way after dark.  That is why he comes when you least expect him – because he knows how badly you need to be broken into, and how hard you will resist.

                                                                        Barbara Brown Taylor, Home by another way” p. 9

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In this world where wealth is a God

And power is a God

And we are expected to be “winners”

There is little room for God

The problem is not so much that God has been excluded by

Liberals or Atheists

As much as it is that God is held at a distance by those who

Loudly proclaim allegiance to God

And yet live in paradigms

Dominated by dominion

By power

By wealth

And guns

And violence

And……

God cannot come to us

When we are wrapped in a flag

Or carrying our “piece”

God cannot come to us when we are strutting our “stuff”

And living out the ideology

That wealth and power mean blessing

God comes to the poor

The mournful

The hungry

The hated

The oppressed

The merciful

The pure

The servants

God comes to us when our guard is down

When we are neck deep in the swamp

When we have stumbled and fallen

And can’t get up

We need God to come to us

Unfettered

Without restraint

And so God comes

When we least expect

Least want

God comes

Sneaking in through the cracks in our defenses

Finding a way in

When we can least resist

Thank God