Greetings my friends.
This is Mark Gladman,
Brother Frederick James,
Monk and Dox.
We are on day 28 of the God Is series.
Today we're going to do Electio Divina,
But we're going to do it slightly differently.
We've spent this month giving names to the mystery.
God is presence,
God is love,
God is grace,
God is relationship,
God is beauty,
God is life,
God is mystery,
God is more.
And after nearly 30 days.
Maybe the most important thing we've discovered is that none of these words can contain God.
All of them are windows.
Om.
They're not walls that can,
You know,
Box things in.
They're windows.
Each one gives us a way of seeing.
And we shift and we see something new,
Another possibility,
Another glimpse.
And so the passage we're going to reflect on today is from John chapter 15.
And one of the things that really stands out here is where Jesus speaks about presence in a beautifully intimate way.
He says,
I will not leave you orphaned.
That's the promise.
And I want you to notice what he doesn't say.
He doesn't say,
I'll give you a perfect explanation,
Or I'm going to remove all the mystery,
Or that you'll never experience darkness.
I mean,
We've even heard through this series that God is darkness,
That we do encounter God.
In darkness.
But Jesus says,
I will not leave you.
And then speaks of the spirit,
The advocate,
The one who stays,
The one who abides and dwells with us.
And this brings us right back to where we began.
God is presence,
But presence isn't just God being somewhere.
We need to be careful with that.
Presence is God being here.
With you.
Within you.
Around you.
Closer than you imagine.
Closer than breath.
And.
.
.
The great surprise is that we spend so much energy trying to get God when God was never absent from us.
Prayer is not getting God's attention.
But maybe.
.
.
Prayer is more about us becoming attentive to God's presence.
That you know sitting in contemplations about waking up to what's always been here.
So as we enter the text today,
Allow the words to be I think the word would be spacious.
You don't need to collect another definition of God today.
Or decide which one's the right one.
Let the words that you've encountered over this past month pass through your awareness.
Things like presence and love and grace and beauty and mystery and relationship and life and more.
And at the same time let them go.
Because God is more,
Even more than more.
And stay with the words of Jesus,
I will not leave you orphaned.
And maybe even hear them personally as a promise that you're not abandoned,
You're not outside.
You're not trying to reach a distant God.
You're already held within divine love.
And that is enough.
So as we begin to enter our reading,
Which you'll hear three times,
A minute of silence between the first two,
And then about two minutes silence after the third one,
And then a time for prayer.
And just see which word,
Which image even.
Stirs up.
And just take stock of that,
That you'll never get your head fully around God,
But it doesn't mean God isn't present with you.
As we take a deep breath,
Instill ourselves and become present ourselves in this moment and attentive to the word that we will hear,
We will think and that our hearts will be open to receive.
Let's begin.
John 14 verses 15 to 20.
If you love me,
You will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to be with you forever.
This is the spirit of truth.
Whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him.
Nor knows him.
You know him because he abides with you.
And He will be in you.
I will not leave you orphaned.
I'm coming to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
But you will see me.
Because I live.
You will also leave.
On that day you will know that I am in my Father,
And you in me,
And I in you.
John 14 verses 15 to 20.
If you love me,
You will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to be with you forever.
This is the spirit of truth,
Whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.
You know him because he abides with you.
And He will be in you.
I will not leave you orphaned.
I'm coming to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
But you will see me.
Because I live.
You will also leave.
On that day you will know that I am in my Father,
And you in me,
And I in you.
John 14 verses 15 to 20.
If you love me,
You will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to be with you forever.
This is the spirit of truth,
Whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him,
Nor knows him.
You know him because he abides with you.
And He will be in you.
I will not leave you orphaned.
I'm coming to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
But you will see me.
Because I live.
You will also leave.
On that day you will know that I am in my Father,
And you in me,
And I in you.
Let's pray.
God who is presence,
Who is love,
Who is grace,
Who is mystery,
Who is beauty,
Who is life,
Who is more.
We've used so many words for you.
Some have opened doors,
Some have given us new ways of seeing.
Some have fallen short and that's probably right that they should.
Teach us to love the words though without mistaking them for you.
Teach us to welcome the mystery.
To welcome it without the need to solve it.
Teach us to notice your presence without demanding that it feel a particular way.
When we forget,
Remind us that you have not left us orphaned.
You are here.
You have always been here.
And you are more.
And may grace,
Peace and love hold us and be known to us every day,
Today and always.
Amen.
Thank you,
Friends.
Still two days to go.
But share your thoughts,
What stood out for you in today's Lectio,
From the text or from something else that rose in your heart?
Would love to hear.
Until tomorrow,
Bye for now.
