Intimacy. Framework. Direction.
‘St. John’, by Gerhard Richter
““Intimacy is the framework for direction””
This phrase was said to me recently and it struck a chord. It resonated with the inner strings upon which God, occasionally, plays a song. Intimacy. Framework. Direction.
Intimacy: a very close personal relationship. Some people may find describing our relationship with God in terms of our relationship with others as uncomfortable or unhelpful. For some believe that there should be a more appropriate distance between God (holy, divine, creator) and us (‘ordinary’, human, created) with, as a consequence, the need to recognise our place and not step over inappropriate divine/theological lines. For others, they find the closeness by which Jesus shared his life with others as an example of the kind of relationship God desires to have with us. His physicality and presence of faith. While we have, on the one hand, been drawn away from a closeness to others due to the times we are living in, on the other hand, God is (and never has been) limited in showing ways that we are loved, embraced and very close to God (although we can also feel quite the opposite at times). Obviously, there is so much more that could be said about this whole area and, perhaps, you may want to reflect on what the word Intimacy means to you at the moment in your relationship with God. Within our church communities, our worship, our mini-communities, our meetings we often pray that God would draw close to us, be with us, reveal the love God has for us and for others, embrace us, hold us, protect us… and so on… and if (when) God answers such prayers then surely the reality would be a deeply connected relationship/presence – intimacy. Jesus’ profound conversation in restoring Peter (John 21 v15ff) where he repeats a question to him, ‘Do you love me?’. Imagine, for a moment, that Jesus is asking you the same question. What would your answer be?
Framework: a particular set of boundaries, ideas or beliefs which you use in order to deal with problems or to decide what to do. I was fortunate to have been able to go on a retreat during my sabbatical last year. It was led by Bishop John Crowley and a remark he made has stuck with me: ‘To love Jesus and to know Jesus decides (how you live) your life’. For those of us who have the luxury and the gift of being able to have some choice about the shape, pattern and rhythm of our lives we can make decisions. We can make changes. We can establish new frameworks. There are many who cannot do such things. For those who can, we can have conversations with ourselves, with our families or friends, or with work colleagues, etc. and review life and how we want to live it. Changes in our circumstances or in our mental, emotional or spiritual well-being can lead us to look at things differently and create new frameworks that help us to thrive (and sometimes just survive) in life. We make intentional decisions. Does your current framework cultivate space for intimacy with God?
Direction: is the general line that someone is moving or pointing towards and in which something develops or progresses. We are each living in a time where the direction of travel for our world, nations, communities, organisations, churches, families and our own lives could be signposted Destination Unknown but we have a few ideas. Maybe some of those ideas is the constant nature of God, the unfailing promises of Jesus, the precious presence of the Spirit guiding us along the path. The previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, when giving a talk on the theme of ‘the quest for God in the modern age’ draws out two quotes on prayer from the Benedictine Abbot, Dom John Chapman; ‘Pray as you can; don’t try to pray as you can’t’ and ‘The less you do it, the worse it gets’. I love the simplicity and ordinariness of these words. If you imagine, for a moment, that prayer opens our eyes to the direction of travel that God has for us (Proverbs 3.5,6) then its importance is also revealed. Where are you with prayer at the moment?
Whatever the future holds for each one of us I strongly suggest that intentionally creating a framework for intimacy with God should be the starting point (on a regular basis) from which everything else that flows. Intimacy with God that begins primarily in prayer, is influenced by having a framework for life with God and intentionally keeps ourselves pointed in a God-direction.
Turn swiftly, with all your heart, to God and be embraced. It is in Christ where community can be found, where disconnected parts exiled from each other can collide back together, both beyond and within time and space.
Lee.