Lent calls us to a "re-grounding" by reminding us that we are dust and to dust we will return. It is sobering, humbling, and maybe even a bit scary.
At our Diocesan Convention last week, Bishop Kendrick asked us a "re-grounding" kind of question to share in small groups. He asked us to share a time that we "fell into God." A lot of people felt stumped. What does it mean to fall into God?
The only time I could think of was a time of great loss. Before that deep loss and grief, the God I knew came from my study of theology and what the Church taught me. However, when I was lying on an operating table, completely bereft of emotion, energy, almost all life, God showed up. And I fell into God.
That really is a good way to put it. It was a life-changing experience. It gave me a whole and certain assurance of all those things we proclaim in worship: God is good, God is powerful, God draws near to the broken-hearted. It is the only real blessed assurance we can have in this life.
As we wander through life we are tempted to forget this promise and reality as we will read in our lectionary readings today. We become distracted and in so many ways we seemingly lose God. Whereas the Church has lost its credibility to many in our society, we are all challenged by an "original insecurity" to doubt that God is still showing up and remains faithful to covenant.
May we all experience a new grounding, an original security in God through our love and openness to our neighbor and to the earth upon which God has placed us. May we all "fall into God" in new and different ways with a greater level of trust and obedience.
God is the ground, the grounding, that which grounds us.
We experience this when we understand that soil is holy,
water gives life, the sky opens the imagination,
our roots matter,
home is a divine place,
and our lives are linked with our neighbors'
and with those around the globe.
This world, not heaven,
is the sacred stage of our times.
How might you "fall into God" today, this week?
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