What does God see? Is God looking at you kid?
Seeing separation and change from a bigger perspective Humphrey Bogart delivers the line "here’s looking at you kid" like no other. Lately I have found myself feeling like I have been looking out at the world through a bubble, observing separation, change and wondering about God's window.
From my bubble I have sought connection and am adapting to physical separation in new ways. Zoom prayer on Thursday mornings with people around the globe has been one highlight. Many acts of kindness such as staying in the light and sharing grief through yellow hearts has united us. We can connect our current climate liturgically this past weekend, perhaps seeing that Ascension Sunday is really when Jesus started to work from home!
Seriously though, this month's illustration has come through interactions, listening and contemplative prayer. In my ministry (MSJ Milperra) we have gradually been easing students back into face-to-face learning. Discovering a new ‘normal’ with wipes, sanitiser and physical distancing. From listening to our community I’m hearing that there is apprehension, curiosity and uncertainty as we look out into a new world. Having traveled through Laudato Si week this past month I have been reminded that the window / view of our creator God is much much bigger than I can see or imagine. As we move into Pentecost this weekend and then into ordinary time, I am further reminded that our God never leaves us. The tears that come through grief, the joy that comes through an embrace…the spirit is with us, everything is gift. The psalms give many reminders that throughout the ages in times of plague, war, famine, and uncertainty, God is always with us, always watching us, always saying to us "here’s looking at you kid."
As we now look out our windows into the unknown, I pray to remember to give the gift of time, to wait, to know that our God is one who is watching us always, a frame within a window frame... bigger than we can imagine, plans beyond ours… longing to touch us, longing for us to gaze back with open hearts.
I hope that this month's image and the links in this month’s News Flash also connect us with our God who is all, in all and loves all.
Prayers of connection, hope & patience
~ Jane
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Pslam 139(The Inclusive Bible translation)
1 YHWH, you’ve searched me,
and you know me.
2 You know if I am standing or sitting,
you read my thoughts from far away.
3 Whether I walk or lie down, you are watching;
you are intimate with all of my ways.
4 A word is not even on my tongue, YHWH,
before you know what it is:
5 you hem me in, before and behind,
shielding me with your hand.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
a height my mind cannot reach!
7 Where could I run from your Spirit?
Where could I flee from your presence?
8 If I go to the heavens, you’re there;
if i make my bed in Death, you’re already there.
9 I could fly away with my wings made of dawn,
or make my home on the far side of the sea,
10 but even there your hand will guide me,
your mighty hand holding me fast.
11 If I say, “The darkness will hide me,
and night will be my only light,”
12 even darkness won’t be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day --
darkness and the light are the same to you.
13 You created my inmost being
and stitched me together in my mothers’s womb.
14 For all these mysteries I thank you --
for the wonder of myself,
for the wonder of the works —
my soul knows it well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
while I was being made in that secret place,
knitted together in the depths of the earth;
16 your eyes saw my body even there.
All of the days
were written in your book,
all of them planned
before even the first of them came to be.
17 How precious your through are to me, O God!
How impossible to number them!
18 I could no more count them
than I could count the sand.
But suppose I could?
You would still be with me!
19 O God, if only you would destroy those degenerates!
If only these reprobates would leave me alone!
20 They talk blasphemously about you;
your enemies treat you as if you were nothing.
21 Don’t I hate those you hate you, YHWH?
Don’t I loathe those you defy you?
22 I hate them with a total hatred,
and regard them as my own enemies!
23 Examine me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts —
24 see if there is as misdeed within me,
and guide m in the way that is eternal.
Watch a 30 second time lapse video below. This video shows the illustration coming together.
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