Any idiot can find God on a mountaintop!

The real challenge is finding God in the company of others as annoying as me.

 

This has been a bit of challenging week. I took a week long course on prayer. While I found it valuable, there was some distraction. Most of the motifs of prayer we studied came from those who practiced a monastic tradition. It is easy to pray when the only focus of one’s day is to be spiritual.

I understand the need to withdraw, Jesus did that often, and when he did, he prayed. There is much about the world that would require times to distance ourselves from the world. The emphasis on commercialism and the devaluing our fellow humans gets a bit much at times. As well, how we have made intolerance of each other fashionable seems a bit much. There are times that retreating to a quiet spot makes so much sense.

In the Old Testament there is the story of Elijah. He had retreated to the wilderness for it had become open season on prophets. God tells him go out and stand on the mountain, “For I am about to come by.” Elijah does just as he is told. There is standing on the mountain, and a wind storm hits, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then the entire mountain shook with an earthquake, but again God was not to be found. Then a fire breaks out, and unlike with Moses, God is not there. Finally, there is a quiet gentle whisper that is the voice of God.

There are times that we need to go quiet ourselves for divine revelation. Then again, any idiot can find God on a mountain top. That is not the calling of our faith. Yes, being in relationship with God is important. To retreat from the world, on a more permanent basis, seems to defeat the point. I know I risk being repetitive, but we are called to be in the world.

Yes, people in the Gospels sought Jesus. But it seems to me, that he also sought people out as well. I think of the Woman at the Well. Jesus went out of his way to talk to her, or perhaps talking with her was his intended way. Story after story in the Gospels has Jesus meeting people where they are the most traumatised, the most fragile, the most vulnerable. I think of Jesus walking out to the boat in the midst of a storm. (John 6:16-21) I would have doubts about a God that is not robust enough to reveal himself when things get messy. After all, is that not when you really want God?

My confession, I am more like Martha and not Mary. (Luke 10:38 – 42) I am more inclined to worry about feeding the crowd than to listen to the teaching. I do have my times of quiet reflection in my day. However, the prayers that resonate for me are not those that are well thought out and articulate, but those formed in the hectic moments of life.

My current prayer is the prof of the course prayer does not read this until he has assigned a grade!