Finding God in the unexpected.

This was the heading given to us to reflect on in this session of our retreat. It linking so closely to the theme of my blog, I would recon that it would be good reflecting on this again.

As I have said in “The elusive presence of God” that we don’t always find God where we expect him to be, and sometimes He finds us in the places where we don’t want to be found/confronted/reminded by Him. We also find this trilogy in the story of Emaus, where Jesus had to find the two people, he confronted them again with scripture interpretation concerning what He came on earth to do and with the breaking of bread reminded them again of His presence that is with them. They found Him in an unexpected place and the moment He was found, He vanished, He was lost again – elusive.

This is ironic aswell, how absent God sometimes could be in our conversations about Him – our conversations AROUND Him – where we keep circling, keep missing the mark. Now obviously, without denying His omnipotence, it could be said that our sometimes mediocre attempts to capture God just ends in a futile action, being worthless and without growth. I must admit that sometimes this could be how I experience church gatherings, lifeless, without the breath of God blown into it – this is no exeptional theological point I’m trying to make, this is life experience teaching me this.

However it could also be said, as I said yesterday “God slipping in the cracks of our lives” that even in the monotony of every day life the unexpected presence of God could be found.

God can also – ironically – be found in tragedy, of losing a loved one, a national crisis, a train wreck, terminal illness. These are some of the places where we especially go out to search the face of God, where we go look for healing or to be consoled.

But I think that God also intended that we should go and find God within eachother, to go and be the example that Jesus set for us to be for one another, even if it is the peace and love of togetherness – speachless company.

I think that God is to be found in life itself, in the abundance of life which the kingdom of God already is, but also will become. There God could be found in the self, in the wonderfull way in which we were created and the wonderfull abilities and gifts God blesses us with each day, the abilities we recieved to go out and be Word for others.

Finding God in the unexpected.

This was the heading given to us to reflect on in this session of our retreat. It linking so closely to the theme of my blog, I would recon that it would be good reflecting on this again.

As I have said in “The elusive presence of God” that we don’t always find God where we expect him to be, and sometimes He finds us in the places where we don’t want to be found/confronted/reminded by Him. We also find this trilogy in the story of Emaus, where Jesus had to find the two people, he confronted them again with scripture interpretation concerning what He came on earth to do and with the breaking of bread reminded them again of His presence that is with them. They found Him in an unexpected place and the moment He was found, He vanished, He was lost again – elusive.

This is ironic aswell, how absent God sometimes could be in our conversations about Him – our conversations AROUND Him – where we keep circling, keep missing the mark. Now obviously, without denying His omnipotence, it could be said that our sometimes mediocre attempts to capture God just ends in a futile action, being worthless and without growth. I must admit that sometimes this could be how I experience church gatherings, lifeless, without the breath of God blown into it – this is no exeptional theological point I’m trying to make, this is life experience teaching me this.

However it could also be said, as I said yesterday “God slipping in the cracks of our lives” that even in the monotony of every day life the unexpected presence of God could be found.

God can also – ironically – be found in tragedy, of losing a loved one, a national crisis, a train wreck, terminal illness. These are some of the places where we especially go out to search the face of God, where we go look for healing or to be consoled.

But I think that God also intended that we should go and find God within eachother, to go and be the example that Jesus set for us to be for one another, even if it is the peace and love of togetherness – speachless company.

I think that God is to be found in life itself, in the abundance of life which the kingdom of God already is, but also will become. There God could be found in the self, in the wonderfull way in which we were created and the wonderfull abilities and gifts God blesses us with each day, the abilities we recieved to go out and be Word for others.

Carmelite Retreat Centre – The elusive precence of God

As part of our final year studies our class were sent on a retreat, that is where I currently am – somewhere in Benoni! Although sceptical (like most of my class mates) I have come to terms that this is how my life will be until Wednesday and I will need to make peace with that.

The themes we are using as reflection is Luke 24 the story of two disciples on their way back from Jerusalem to Emaus, secondly: our own life story and lastly the movie “Motorcycle diaries” – a story about two Argintinian friends traveling through America.

Reflectioon and putting your life on a standstill is something that doesn’t come easily, and I’m finding it very difficult, therefore I’ll be using my blog as method for meditation and reflection.

Vuzi (one of the students from the URC) and I was talking earlier about how it could be that two of the Lord’s followers (diciples) wouldn’t recognise Him, an element in our lives which I find very relevant – how we sometimes live our lives (even ministers) without experiencing God’s precence, how caught-up we sometimes get in doing stuff, even church stuff, and forgetting the One who we are doing it for. It is however good to later realise that God’s precence really hasn’t left us. We won’t see Him though if our eyes aren’t open. Not seeing something doesn’t prove that it does not exist.

Many a time when I look back on things that have happened, I see the fingerprints of God on the situation, I don’t neccesarily feel That precence at the time when things are happening, but looking back I can see the words of Rom 8:28 coming alive in my life. A God working in such miraculous and misterious ways that one can’t help looking back in awe an wonder. But once again it must be said that it is a kind of “life happening while other plans are made” type of situation. That I have come to live in a relationship with God in a very cognitive way, that I find God in the poetry of the Psalms, the sintax of Paul, between the pages of commentaries – but also in music, in movies, in my emotions.

The two companions (whether in the Bible or the movie) are you and me and how we sometimes get disappointed when we can’t find God where we want to look for Him. Only for us to have to realise how narrowminded our insight was for thinking of God in human terms (are there any other ways?)

In the movie and in our own life we find God in the smiles of the people surrounding us, the act of mercy we hand out (or sometimes are on the receiving end of), the moments of desperation and fear.

However our actions, words and intellect will never be able to capture the full extent of God’s precence, but sometimes we will see the fingerprints left behind by the One whose existance is truely to big to grasp.

DRC Synod last days.

Not much happened on the last days of the Synod, except that the day after the homosexuality decision was made, the old guys opened their news papers and realised some of the decisions they made, which caused some type of consternation

Piet Strauss opened the floor for some discussion but in the end an amendment that the decision should be seen in the light of all 8 statements made.

We’ll see in the days to come what people’s reactions will be.