Here: The practice of Invocation and
Presentation: Awakening to the Presence of God
Alternative words: Now. You. Who? We.
Open. Home
Starting point: “Here is
the simple word by which we show up, respond to the one calling our name. Here
is the way we name where we are – pleasant and unpleasant, desired or not – and
declare ourselves present to God’s presence.” (p42)
“Whether I feel I’m seeking God – calling out, Is anybody here? – or whether I feel God
is calling out to me and I respond, Here
I am! ...the simple word here can
do something amazingly comprehensive.
Through it I show up. I come out of hiding, I let myself be found....I
tell the teacher I am present and ready to learn. This acknowledgement of mutual here-ness
becomes the prelude to mutual nearness.
Through mutual presentation, the soul and God open the way for deep
connection.” (p44)
On the way:
·
Dangers of naming God (p42-43) – “when we begin
by naming God, too often we assume we know more about the one we’re addressing
than we may actually know”....our familiar language may miss the mark or indeed
be misleading... “we know that God’s reality must always be far higher and
greater and other than our concepts and images of God” (p44)
·
Invocation – becoming present to the
Presence. Not summoning God – who has
been there all along – but calling inward to our own souls, summoning ourselves
to wake up so we can attend to the Presence in whose attention we are held and
in whom we live and move and have our being.
·
Need, and difficulty, to be present where we are,
awake to our own situation: “ I don’t have to be somewhere else: right here is
OK. In fact it is the only place I can
be to begin to awaken spiritually. Here. Now. Just as I am” But can be tougher
than it seems – easy to be tempted to be partially somewhere else, to pretend
I’m not where I am, who I am, how I am. (p44-45)
·
Tension between otherness and nearness of God –
God wants to be in dialogue with us, but yet God’s full identity must always
remain mysterious to us. “resolve the tension on the side of transcendence or
otherness, God becomes distant....resolve the tension on the side of immanence
or nearness, G-d becomes too much the chum, the mascot or even guard dog, a
genie who comes obediently when summoned by magic words.” (p55 – but see all of
Chapter 5)
Working with scripture: Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3);
Jacob’s dream and wrestling with God (Gen 28:10-22; 32:22-32); Lord’s prayer
(Matthew 6:8-10); how God is addressed in the Psalms (see p56-7)
Moving on: From here to who and you – moving from using a title (God, Lord etc) with the depth of
relationship that implies (p47) to addressing God by name, reopening the
question: Who are you, Lord? “We must
hold that question open to God: who are
you? Without doing so, we will pray yet again to our frail images of God,
our set of preconceived notions....By holding Who? Before God, we open and present ourselves to the God beyond
our notions, to the living You who is actually here.”
Pointers for prayer:
HERE: Here I am, Lord. Here you are, Lord. Here we are together.
(Pause)
WHO: Who am I, Lord? Who are you, Lord? Who are we together? (Pause)
To be here with you, God, is to be at HOME. Home is my soul, my space,
where God is welcome. Home is heaven,
God’s space, where I am welcome.
The word OPEN may also help you open yourself to God, and realise that
God’s embrace, God’s front door, God’s presence is open to you, welcoming
you. It may even help you to clench your
fists, symbolising how we are often tight and closed off to God’s presence,
bringing to mind the things that have had you uptight lately. Then you can
gradually open them as you open your heart to God, and perhaps then, YOU will
be the most helpful simple word.
SUMMARISED FROM 'NAKED SPIRITUALITY' BY BRIAN D. McCLAREN (HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 2010) - this summary produced by Jane Perry Feb 2012
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