Bumping into God.
While meditating on Luke 7 this morning I was reminded of a conversation I had with my brother right after I completed seminary and was awaiting ordination. He asked, “So, what are you going to do now?” I told him that I intended to spend some time working as a Chaplain at the hospital.
There was silence on the other end…
After a brief pause he asked, “So that’s what you want to do? Why would you want to go into the nitty-gritty places of life like that, I thought you were going to be a priest?”
I told my brother that working with folks on the fringe is as close to God as I can get. Now I know we can encounter the Divine in everything, but there is something profound that happens for me with those who are in need of healing.
It is as close to touching God as I can get.
Where do you bump into God?
That’s where the story from Luke comes in. Jesus had been bopping all over the countryside healing folks. John sent a few of his boys to find out what was going on. So they encounter Jesus and ask him, “Are you the one who is to come or are you THE ONE?” Jesus says, “Go tell John what you’ve seen and heard….
… the blind receive sight,
… the lame walk,
… the lepers are cleansed,
… the deaf hear,
… the dead are raised,
… and the poor have the good news brought to them.
There.
How’s that for a church growth strategy?
If you are looking for Jesus and you want to encounter God go find some of those folks that the dominant religious culture excludes or those who find themselves at the edge and you just may bump into Jesus, for like John many are looking for the God who will bring judgment but discover the God who brings compassion and healing.
Where in this story do folks find Jesus?
Where was the priority for Jesus in this story?
With those the dominant culture has outcast—those on the OUTSIDE and excluded by culture; those with no status.
That’s one reason I wanted to work as a Chaplain again, for I often bumped into Jesus right in the middle of someone who fit into that category. And I didn’t bring Jesus or God to them— I encountered God who was already there.
Joel Green says, “The message of Jesus is that anyone may freely receive the grace of God…anyone may join the community of God… all are welcome.”
This reminds me of when and where I am deaf, blind, lame and untouchable… that God meets me where I am on my journey. God doesn’t bring me into God’s presence, but God as a compassionate God enters into the presence of my story.
And like the Advent Preface in the Book of Common Prayer says, we can stand without shame or fear in his appearance.
7 Comments:
Once again you have so eloquently worded my thoughts. I want to be part of a church with this as a strategy...more importantly, I must incorporate this into my life!
When I started working at the Mission I honestly believed I was to bring the gospel to the folks there. I have instead found them revealing Christ to me.
It's a profoundly different thing.
And you can't go back. You know that, don't you? That you can't ever go back?
Sounds eerily like this pull or yearning I have to the rooms of AA and NA. For me, it's where I can meet, see, smell and listen to Him.
I have not been able to put my finger on it like I think you just did.
Thanks again.
A year ago today, on my sobriety anniversary, I asked the question, "What if the primary mission of the church was to make those two promises from my first AA meeting a reality for our church members and visitors, rather than either focusing on getting new members, or simply saving them from some future eternal punishment? What if we stopped trying to save people from Hell in the afterlife, and worked to save them from the various hells they are in right now?"
I believe that when we are closest to God is when we are in the "nitty-gritty places of life." I find much more of the Divine these days in AA halls and gay men's health clinics than I do in most worship services.
And I'm not sure, but I really think this happens precisely because so many outsiders need God as desperately as the 'insiders' do - but they're often convinced by church folks that they aren't eligible.
I sure as hell was convinced that I wasn't eligible. Which is why I understand it a little easier than some others do.
Thanks for a beautiful - and powerful - set of images, brother.
are you sure you aren't reading my mail!
I love what you - and RWK - write and what you are doing. I am sure you find God where you go, He's there at work, as you stumble in. But He surely uses you - and I too am blessed as I encounter the Living God in what you write and share here.
I don't understand the 'only for us' message that I keep hearing and which I just ranted about two or three days aga on stf- I much prefer
this “The message of Jesus is that anyone may freely receive the grace of God…anyone may join the community of God… all are welcome.”
Where do I bump into God. right now with you guys, later on when I go to the shop or walk the dog, in an hour when my son scrambles in, tonight at the carol service and on Friday when I teach the pupils at school again. God is whenever I go, but I need to look up and meet Him in the people He puts in my way.
thank you and bless you Rick
"And I didn’t bring Jesus or God to them— I encountered God who was already there."
This idea is what connected with me the most. I believe God's presence is in and around all of us already. Our role is to celebrate all the ways he's already working, and to help draw that out of people who might not be looking for it.
For me, that happens (boring as it may sound) in the lives of family and friends who choose to look away from the relevance of Christ in their lives. Those personal relationships give me the chance to positively and gently radiate why Jesus is so central in my life, hoping that they'll start to see where he already is in theirs.
i love this post Rick. it brings everything into focus -- a church growth strategy about compassion and healing, something we can all embrace. well said, friend.
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