29 God Is... (What If...?)

There are some sentences we spend our whole lives finishing. “God is…” is one of those. Drawing from Scripture and Christian mysticism, theology and philosophy, and the words of Jesus alongside some surprisingly ancient wisdom, we explore the strange territory where Christianity begins asking questions about consciousness, reality, incarnation, presence, love and being. And we are going to do this with one firm rule: We don’t have to resolve everything. The goal isn’t to come out of these thirty days with a better definition of God but with a larger capacity to notice God. Let's see what happens when we make room for more.

Transcript

Hello friends. This is Mark Gladman, Also known as Brother Frederick James, Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks. Welcome to Day 29 of our series, God Is. I've been wondering recently whether questions are often more faithful for want of a better word than answers are. I mean, We spend so much of our time trying to work things out. What is God? What does God want? What does this passage mean? What am I supposed to believe? What's the right doctrine or theology or so on? And those questions are important, Don't get me wrong, But after nearly 30 days of asking who God is. . . Today we're going to sit with a different kind of question. So I'm going to invite you, If it's safe for you to do so, To close your eyes. To just still your mind? And your body. And your heart. And take a nice deep breath in. And out. And I'm just going to share today as our reflection a litany of questions that are anchored in a simple two-word question. I'm just going to give you a little bit of spice, Not a lot, But just a little bit of spice between each one. Now I invite you just to let them sit in your heart today. There's no need to work out any answers for them. Just let them sit and let them be and let them rest. And maybe one or a few of these will sit with you and stay with you as you enter the day. And you're welcome to come back. And to listen again. And to see if there are other questions in the list that might stand out to you on another day as well. And the two word question is this. What if? So what if God is closer than I think? What if the presence I've been trying to find. . . Has never. Ever. Be absent. What if grace comes before I managed to get myself together? What if repentance? Isn't persuading God to forgive me, But waking up to the forgiveness that was already there all along. What if love? Isn't just one characteristic of God. What if love? Is the deepest reality. What if Jesus really is? Showing us what God is like. What if the God revealed in Jesus is less interested in dominating? Than we've often imagined. And so what if power looks different? When that power is love. What if creation? Is sacramental. What if the ordinary world isn't spiritually empty? What if beauty is one of the ways reality calls us to attention? What if silence is not the absence of God? What if mystery? Is not a failure of understanding. What if darkness can sometimes be the place where God is encountered? What if I don't need to have God figured out at all? What if faith isn't certainty? What if faith is trust? What if prayer isn't getting God to come closer? What if prayer is becoming aware that God is already here and already close? What if I've spent years trying to reach a God who has never been absent? What if our spiritual life isn't about becoming acceptable to God or even anyone else? What if I'm learning to live from the truth that I already belong? What if freedom isn't freedom from God, But freedom for love? What if God isn't primarily commanding me? What if God is inviting me? What if the question isn't, What does God want me to do? But what is love inviting me to notice? What if Becoming? Isn't about finally arriving. What if Becoming? Is simply becoming. Moral White. More present. More alive. More capable of love. More free. More myself. And what if all of this has been happening beneath the surface for years? And what if God isn't waiting at the end of my spiritual journey? What if God is the ground beneath every step I take on this journey? Friend, I don't have answers to all or any of these questions really, And I don't feel that I need them. I think some questions are meant to remain open. An open question can become a doorway. The mystery isn't something that stands between us and God. The mystery is where we meet God. And so, I'm going to leave these questions here. And leave them open. And I invite you to see which one follows you into today, Into tomorrow. And into the next time. And may grace, Peace, And love be with you and go with you every step of the way. Where you meet God in that mystery, Now and always. Amen. Until tomorrow. Bye for now.

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