"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.
It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself- Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." -Jesus
If God asks us to know and live reality, it must be possible for us to know it and not just guess at it. Truth must be attainable in a real way, or it would be impossible for us to worship God in a pleasing way. With so much wondering about "truth" these days, this reasoning gives me hope, even though the path of truth is not always crystal clear to me. I guess that's why I need Jesus as the Way, the Truth, the Light... But, anyone else with thoughts or stories after reading Jesus' words?
If God asks us to know and live reality, it must be possible for us to know it and not just guess at it. Truth must be attainable in a real way, or it would be impossible for us to worship God in a pleasing way. With so much wondering about "truth" these days, this reasoning gives me hope, even though the path of truth is not always crystal clear to me. I guess that's why I need Jesus as the Way, the Truth, the Light... But, anyone else with thoughts or stories after reading Jesus' words?
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Hi Carla, I have just finished reading the final Harry Potter book, so as I read Jesus' words and your thoughts, I can't help but think of some of the characters in the novel who, out of fear and shame, hid secrets. And I can relate, as the God-light shines, a part of me is afraid of the exposure such light brings. I have secrets, we all do, and the darkness is appealing because it promises us that those secrets can remain hidden. But the result in the Harry Potter novels is that such hiddenness poisons relationships, and I have also experienced the relational fallout, with God and others, that seems to stem from hiding in the darkness. I am reminded of what we pray every Sunday at Trinity Church, "Lord God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden..." The light promises freedom and life, but the cost is the pain of exposure, the humiliating and humbling experience of submitting to Christ and allowing Him to strip us bare, so that we can face Him as we are. Nothing more, nothing less. This is the worship He requires, and it is such worship that sets us free.
Nathan
I wonder how God feels about our secrets... Are they sacred to him, or does he live so purely in reality that he doesn't view them differently than anything else, like we do. I wonder why we do keep secrets? I don't know if I think it's unhealthy to, necessarily, but like you've said, they can play powerfully in our relationships. Hm. Do we find it freeing or fearful to think that God knows our secrets? What does that say about our idea of who God is?...
Hi Carla, I’ve been reflecting on what you said and for what its worth, here's what i think: that at a deep level we are afraid of truth. Maybe some of it is to do with the fragility of our being- what makes up who we are; what we hope for; most want and want most to avoid -this shoring up of our being seems like something we have to do for ourselves. But it’s always threatening to collapse or being destroyed. And then Jesus comes along and says follow me and I will give you a new way of being. But to do that means risking letting go of our all the hard won things we’ve cobbled together about the world and how we fit into it. And it’s a scary thing to have those fragments shown as fantasy, when the fantasy seems more comforting than what Jesus presents as truth. Maybe that's why Jesus tells us not to be afraid so often –encourages us to risk letting go of our fantasy's for his truth. If so, then I guess for myself, being simply and honestly before God includes acknowledging the truth that we are fragmentary, and some of our fragments might not be true but we are afraid to release them. Being honest about this, and open to having them wrestled from us is then a stepping into the light. So it seems to me, if God knows our secrets, he won’t be impatient with them were they are still locked in fantasy, but will work towards getting us to name them for what they are. Rowan Williams helps me here when he says: “truthful living involves being at home with ourselves, not complacently but patiently, recognising that what we are today, at this moment, is sufficiently loved and valued by God to be the material with which he will work.”
"letting go of all the hard won things we've cobbled together about the world and how we fit into it"... YEAH, perhaps like a materially wealthy man having to give up all he owns... Or the woman at the well realizing what she was trying to gain wasn't really what she wanted... I feel this is so true. And not in a sense of "giving up" so that we can be made to feel lowly and self-depcricating. But simply becoming more and more open to what real life-giving reality IS. Maybe it's ultimately a letting go of blindness?... I love how you say that God is not impatient with our secrets still locked in fantasy but patiently works with them in process. The perfect teacher. I wonder if part of this involves us slowly learning, as we grow in trust, to become more present, so we can offer our unfinished selves to him with better honesty and expectancy, and less fear? Thanks for that reminder as well.
Thanks so much for posting your thoughts- they really enriched my day. I'm also going to check out Rowan Williams- he's new to me!
i think your onto something when you say "I wonder if part of this involves us slowly learning, as we grow in trust, to become more present, so we can offer our unfinished selves to him with better honesty and expectancy, and less fear?" My expereince is that the learning is s l o w. If i can recommend 2 grat williams books to you they would be Sielnce and honey cakes and Christ on trial.
cheers
ps sorry about the spelling (it should be silence and honey cakes)
Thanks very much for the recommends! I'll check them out- they sound intriguing already. :)
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