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Reflections from your Pastors
April 16, 2024
Jesus, the Embodiment of Love
This past Sunday’s Gospel story is about Jesus loving his disciples. Here he appears out of nowhere to be present to his friends. He comes to comfort a frightened group of followers of The Way, a small sect of Jews who remained committed to him even in their fear and anxiety after the crucifixion. You might consider Paul’s letters as evidence of that as Paul ‘shepherds’ the People of the Way to understand a Jesus of Love who ‘did not deem equality with God something to be grasped but rather emptied himself being born in the likeness of [humans].’
Jesus stands among his friends as fully Divine and fully Human, and the disciples can’t believe their eyes! In this mysterious appearance they are beyond frightened thinking they are seeing a ghost; Jesus as ghost.
Jesus greets them with the Love of God embodied, incarnated. He says, “Peace be with you.” When he speaks this, does his aura invade them so that they became imbued with Peace unlike any other peace? Because Jesus loves them, always has and always will regardless of their disbelief, Jesus carefully helps them experience himself, his presence, as real, as alive: Give me some fish to eat. I’ll show you I’m real. (Italics mine).
What if we spoke of the Resurrection, yes in terms of ‘conquering death,’ and also in terms of being brought to life: Jesus was brought to life, life a-new!
A-new way of seeing,
A-new way of feeling,
A-new way of thinking,
A-new way of understanding who we are in God, who God is in us, how in love God is with us!
Try to take a moment to consider what names we use to call this God, this Love. Whatever name each of us chooses to call out to God, to use in relationship with God, make it a name that calls back to us at the entrance of our hearts and our hearts open.
Make it a name that brings God close. A name that can change over time as we grow, as our living relationship with a living God changes. Try out different names so that when we each hear that name we’ve chosen for God, and in our calling God we hear “Peace be with you,” and it is we, disciples and friends, who are imbued with that peace settling into us, changing our voice and our tone, changing our hearts so that all creation can enter.
The Christic* is a prayer of all creation, it within God and God within it, calling us: “I am looking at a tree, but I see such astounding beauty and graciousness, the tree must be You, O God…” (Ilia Delio, in The Not-Yet-God). We believe we are born of a creating God who is love itself, so full of love that God has emptied Itself into us. From us It only seeks a relationship in which we trust that the Infinite Love offered, a love beyond our imaginations, is real, is true, is beautiful.
May you be blessed to be Imbued.
May you be blessed to Be Amazed.
May you be blessed to Be Happy.
May you be blessed to Be Christic.
Pastor Jane
*Should you desire to read the whole of The Christic, from The Not-Yet-God by Ilia Delio, OSF, here it is.
I am looking at a tree, but I see such astounding beauty and
graciousness, the tree must be You, O God,
I look at the wild weeds playing across the fields, and their
wild joyful freedom speaks to me of You, O God.
Yesterday, I saw a child crying alone on a busy corner, and
the tears were real, and I thought, you must be crying, O God.
God, you are the mystery within every leaf and grain of sand,
in every face, young and old, you are the light and beauty
of every person.
You are Love itself.
Will we ever learn our true meaning, our true identity?
Will we ever really know that we humans are created for
Love?
For it is love alone that moves the sun and stars
and everything in between.
We are trying too hard to find You, but You are already here,
We are seeking life without You, but You are already within,
Our heads are in the sand, our eyes are blinded by darkness,
our minds are disoriented in our desperate search
for meaning.
Because You are not what we think You are:
You are mystery.
You are here and You are not,
You are me and You are not,
You are now and You are not,
You are what we will become.
You are the in-between mystery
The infinite potential of infinite love,
And it is not yet clear what You shall be,
For we shall become something new altogether.
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