Doing my best to find my way.
What if holy or holiness is more about intimacy than it is about aloofness or apartness or otherness. When I think about the holy moments in my life…
My breath taken away by the stars at night.
Holding my children.
Standing alongside another in moments of either great joy or deep sorrow.
Those moments are about closeness and connection.
Which leads me to believe that the Holy is not above us or beyond us;
But deeply and personally with us.
I came across this observation in a journal I was reading today:
“People still crave connection to the holy and always will.
The church too often simply fails to show up at the intersection of the holy and our lives.” (Reflections, Spring 2014, p.13)
I think the observation is true.
I also think this is true.
For too long the Church has falsely marketed itself as THE locus and keeper of the Holy.
Come to church to find God.
Attend church to be religious.
What you need is here.
We dispense God like a pharmacist dispenses a prescription.
And, people aren’t buying it any more.
I am not buying it any more.
Are their holy moments that happen in church (or synagogue or mosque)?
Absolutely.
Sometimes when the sanctuary is full.
And, sometimes when I am the only one there.
But God is not locked up in any four walls.
Holy moments can and do happen anywhere at any time.
And, the truth we experience holy moments more out there than in here.
Watching your children.
Watching the sun set.
Holding hands with one whom you love.
Dancing like there will never be another dance.
Sitting still and allowing the silence around you to fill you.
What the church can do…
What we need to do…
Rather than thinking it is our job to dispense the Holy realize our job is to point the way.
What we can do and need to do is to be that reminder that we – all of us – are to pay attention.
For when we do each moment has the potential of being holy.
O God, ever and everywhere present…
Meet us in this moment.
Now.
Just as we are.
Each of us, in many ways, walking contradictions;
Broken and whole at the very same time;
Ordinary humans living lives tinged with the Holy.
And, just as we are we pray;
Pausing long enough to allow life as it is and the world as it is;
To come face to face with healing and hope and gratitude and grace.
We pray for all those who find themselves in need.
Those whom we know and love.
And, those who fall within the circle of Your concern and care.
And, knowing joy as well as sorrow, we say Thank you;
For life.
For love.
For all that and all whom sustain us each day.
For all this and more…
Our prayers, O God.
Amen.
One of my favorite quotes is this:
“If they get you asking the wrong questions they don’t have to worry about the answer.”
As a result of a book that I am reading – Abraham Joshua Heschel: Essential Writings – I realize I probably have been asking the wrong question and, therefore, not finding what I have been looking for. In an effort to pay attention to what I think is important or to move beyond what appears on the surface I have been asking:
“Where is God in this particular circumstance or situation.”
I ask my question with the best intentions in an effort to remind myself that even the most ordinary moments have the possibility of being tinged with the Holy.
But, maybe I have been asking the wrong question.
I think what I need to begin to ask is this:
“God is present. What do I need to do to be more aware of, more open to God in this moment that I have.”
The difference between the two questions may sound like semantics, but here is what I think is the difference. When I ask “Where is God?” the assumption is that God is hiding. Playing a type of holy hide and seek with me and my job is to find God. But, if I ask “What do I need to do to be more aware of God in this moment?” it is an acknowledgement that God is everywhere and always present and that my responsibility is openness and awareness and acknowledgement.
I wonder…
I think Iwill try asking what I think is the right question and see what I discover.
