-
·
To Create Withness
7. But in Jesus, we are given human responsibility to create withness with one another. The nature of God is withness. From the divine dance of the Holy Trinity to the very withness of Jesus, all of God’s glory is withness. What I mean by “withness” is presence–the eternal and constant being with someone. And this idea of…
-
·
In the Joys and the Junk
6. Through all the great upheavals in history, God has been with the people. The quintessential question of the confused is to ask “Where is God?” In the midst of tragedy, we ask it. “Where is God?” The presupposition of the question is that God isn’t there. But why? Because we first define God as the…
-
·
When a name is about us
5. Even the name given to Moses expresses “withness” saying I will be there howsoever I will be. One of the worst kept secrets in the world is that God’s name isn’t “God.” It’s like the town drunk who we we all know [wink, wink] doesn’t have a problem. We all agree to pretend like it is…
-
·
With them in the desert
4. God promised to be with the Hebrew people in liberation from Egypt and desert wandering. For years, I’ve been drawn to the wanderings and grumblings text in Exodus. I love it as a story all by itself. But read up against the story which immediately precedes it, It plays like absurdist drama. Imagine growing…
-
·
God came to be with us
3. For in Jesus, taking a human form and raised from the fragility of birth, God came to be with us. The most profound example of “With” is that God chose to be with us in the form of Jesus. This is the greatest proof that one’s being with another is the central act of…
-
·
“With” is the ultimate expression of faith
2. In the word “with” we have the ultimate expression of Christian community, concern, and faith. When Jesus says For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. he’s assuring his followers that he’ll be there. It took centuries of scholars to deconstruct the idea of being there with…
-
·
Where ever two or three are gathered
1. Jesus expressed the true nature of following him saying “where ever two or three are gathered, I will be with them.” Growing up, I always wanted to know what it meant to be a Christian. We were, of course. My Dad is an Episcopal priest and have more or less been in the church…