17 July 2013 - barefoot seeking

17 July 2013 - barefoot seeking

The readings today speak of God's self-revelation to us.  They show us that he reveals himself in order to establish a family with himself as Father.  Once we are brought into that family by revelation he raises us up for mission.

No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

To know God is a gift which we receive.  We don't always think of it that way.  We think of the knowledge we acquire that points us to faith.  We think of the act of will that faith entails.  These sometimes seem like the fruit of our efforts.  But they are not.  What CS Lewis says about Agnostics applies to us all:

"Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about ‘man’s search for God.’ To me, as I then was, they might as well have talked about the mouse’s search for the cat."

Everything that leads up to faith and the act of faith itself are entirely dependent on God's grace.  Jesus tells us that no one comes to him unless the Father draws him or her (cf. Joh 6:44).  And no one is excluded from that call of the Father  We remember this so that we may be humble.

Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.

If we want to let God reveal himself to us we must strip ourselves of all our pretenses and approach him in humility, yes, but also intimacy.  The two are intimately related because he is a Father.  He in working in history for us before we are even born.  He is building his covenant family.

I am the God of your father,” he continued,
“the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

If we approach him in humility we will experience awe in his presence.  This experience of the distance between us is the prerequisite to know and enjoy God bridging that gap and uniting himself to us.  He is then able to trust us to bear that love to other.  Awe before God protects us from the danger of turning his mission for us into our project for him.

The cry of the children of Israel has reached me,
and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.

And as we experience him working through us we will come to know more and more just how good and awesome is he!

The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel. 

Let us all bless his holy name!