A FOUNDATION TOWARD OTHERS

 MAY 9, 2022

THINKING BACK

If you didn't get a chance on the weekend to think about these statements, maybe start the week by looking back over last week.

● This week I sensed God's Presence when I… 

● This week I treasured God’s Presence when I…  

● This week I found it hard to notice the Sacred because I…

● This week when I sensed and treasured God’s Presence it made me feel…

● This week I sensed God’s Presence in an unexpected place…

● I’m finding I tend to “notice” when I’m…

___________________

Psalm 100:2

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come into God’s presence with singing.

“We cannot attain the presence of God because we are

already totally in the presence of God. What is absent is

awareness.”

                                                       Richard Rohr

I am hoping you recall last week’s devotion on The Practice of the Presence of God book written by Brother Lawrence. For me, Brother Lawrence’s great insight was that he found a way to be in constant prayer, and be engaged in the world at the same time. This is profound, because often we talk of prayer being practiced by a Monk, it is in seclusion in the monastery. What Brother Lawrence learned was that this constant prayer, empowered him to love those with whom he shared the journey. Following on the influence of Brother Lawrence’s teaching, Teresa of Avila was clear that what counts is love of God, but she was adamant that the only genuine sign that one loves God is love of neighbor.



We often make the assumption that the neighbor means strangers, or showing compassion to the world, very important teachings, but the simple meaning of loving your neighbor is living in right relationship with “others”, including the others who you know and love intimately. In other words, your neighbour can be the family you share your home with. Perhaps that is the place to start to put Lawrence’s teaching into practice.



The verses we read with the children on Sunday in our worship are useful here. 1 John 4:7-12 says,



7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.


It is a striking point isn’t it that “No one has ever seen God,” for “God is Spirit” (John 4) however, if love is on display in our lives God is seen, because “his love is made complete in us.”



I often read, or heard people say that the practice of prayer, like Brother Lawrence discovered and taught, that places emphasis on our “interior life” are practices that are viewed as self-absorbed and focus on celebrating the loving of God to the exclusion of loving one’s neighbor. While Brother Lawrence had limited contact with the world. His neighbor love consisted of how he treated his brothers in the monastery, how he joyfully engaged in the humble tasks assigned him for the good of the community, and how he poured his heart into correspondence with others seeking his wisdom regarding practicing God’s presence. Practicing the Presence of God, results not in a internal focus but actually results in a more outward motivation toward others.



PRAYER



God, You have made this new day.

Fill me with joy and gladness for it.



Thank You, O God, that

we live and move have our being in you;

that your Holy Spirit breathes life into us

moment by moment and day by day. Amen.

Surely GOD is in THIS PLACE,

Help us notice.