We are now in the second week of Lent.
There are four central relationships that we are called to reflect on.
Today I am focusing on our relationship with God.
Who is God for me? Have I got a living relationship with God?
Is my relationship with God still based on my childhood images?
Is God a bit like an all-powerful old Father Christmas character granting my wishes? Is my image of God some vague but powerful force a bit like in ‘Star Wars ‘?
Is it some judge up there checking on me with a book of rights and wrongs?
Maybe it is none of the above, but is still an intellectual concept who I can only know in a certain agnostic way.
I certainly believe that our human intellect can have a sense of transcendence. A transcendence also experienced in a wholistic way with mind, body and Spirit.
Music, the beauty of nature, a sense of awe about the mysteries of the universe, the amazing discoveries of science, and more, can lead to sense of God’s presence and reality.
Religious experience in a multitude of faiths over many thousands of years has certainly helped many people come into an experience of the reality of God.
However, I, with those who profess the Christian faith, believe that in Jesus we find the richest experience of God.
In Jesus, the human and the divine meet.
When we meet Jesus, we find the best way that we can have in this life of knowing and experiencing God.
As we deepen our relationship with Jesus, we connect with the living God through whom all being finds its origin and meaning.
The story of Jesus is a real story, not just some myth to make us feel good.
It is not the ‘opium’ of the people .
It is a story that leads to life.
Tomorrow ‘s reflection will continue from today…..
