It is unanimous where I come from.
Everyone agrees on one thing:
It is no fun
When God is not near…
The wise one learns what draws God
Near.
It is the beauty of compassion
In your heart.
Hafiz,
via Daniel Ladinsky
__________________________________________
We want God near
More, we want God near Us!
We want God to be OUR God.
But we want God on our terms
We want a God we are comfortable with
Who gives us what we want
And think we need
God Bless the USA
God smite our enemies.
We do not want God to shape and form us
We want to make God over
In our image
We do not want a God who uses us
To love the world
We want a God we can use
To control the world
So we read the Bible
And we pontificate
God says! God wants!
And in the name of God
We act.
With arrogance and sometimes
Even cruelty
No wonder people do not want God near, not really
Because the God who draws near
Cannot be controlled and used
This God is wind and fire
When God shows up, the earth reels and rocks
The heavens thunder (Psalm 18)
When God shows up, there is silence
Nothing but a still, small voice (I Kings)
Or there is, breaking through the darkness
The sound of a baby crying
No wonder we are confused.
Perhaps that is why
Because we are a bit slow to understand
God chose to arrive in human likeness
In Jesus, God came
Not with noise, not in power (at least not power as we
understand it)
But as a servant
God came with love and forgiveness
With compassion
With (gasp) empathy
And said, “This is who I am.
I am Love
And I need you to be love”
This is the gift of God.
This is what God leaves in our hearts.
Love
When the heavens thunder and the earth rocks and rolls
When the seas rise and the hurricanes roar
When tyrants come and go, and come and go again
When we forget who we are (children of God)
And grasp for power and wealth
God draws near
God dwells within us
Not as anger and wrath, power and domination
But as compassion
And in the quiet of our heart, we hear the voice of Jesus
say
Love
Love as I have loved
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