God Begins With Where We Are

The scandal of the Gospel is the deep and wide mercy of God. Most religions - anything based on some form or worship - are demanding of change in order to experience the blessing of the religion. God is interested in change, but God is the change agent. God begins with us where we are, not where he wants us to be.

Look at the Magi. They are astrologers and astronomers...star gazers. God doesn't make them renounce their world in order to find his Son. Instead God meets them in their world. God uses their means as his own in order to guide them. They don't have to reject a thing in order to find Jesus. It is one of the wonderful surprises that God is in our midst - "Bidden or unbidden, God is present." (This quote is on my Spiritual Director's wall). Think long and hard what this means. God begins with where we are. I believe this to be true of Christians as well as outside the church. What is ironic to me is that it is easy to believe this for those outside the faith, after all, they are "outsiders". But once you are inside, well, now you're responsible and the rules have changed. Buck up, get on with it, do the right thing. Somehow we think that the process should be complete and we should be free to move on without hindrance. I know most people don't intellectually believe this, but we behave towards ourselves as if we do. We become shamed in our failures or distance or ? that measures our proximity to God. "Bidden or unbidden, God is present." God begins where we are. God uses the Magi's stars.

In "Silas Marner" George Eliot uses Marner's gold as the means to his conversion. Even though his hoard of gold is stolen and he must begin all over again, Marner does re-establish his wealth. But it holds less and less a place of joy. Once his stash is taken, Marner finds his joy somewhere else. Even once his wealth returns his gaze shifts. But his way of salvation is through his gold, not in-spite-of-it. What I mean to say is, "What holds your gaze?" God is very close by. Look for God to be working in and around that which you hold dear, not necessarily that which is far off and distant.

In a book by Diogenes Allen from Princeton Seminary, he noted that conversion isn't about how quickly you turn, it's not about how you end up facing Jesus, but that you end up facing Jesus. Salvation is who holds your gaze, not how you get there. It's about where we end up facing not whether we get there through certain prayers or rote steps.

Bilbo & Frodo don’t start out brave & courageous in Tolkien's stories, they end up brave and courageous. They begin reluctantly. Children are not "grown up" nor do they need to be, they need first to be children and all that means. God begins with us as children.

The three travelers, the Magi begin as magicians and end up as Wise Men.

God begins with them where they are, but takes them home by another, wiser way.