Catching God

Richard Rohr* teaches that God is leading the world somewhere good. This small teaching is huge in its implications. Think of it: not just you, not just me, not just Christians; for that matter, not just people, but the world! This resonates, yes! Why would God allow the world he made to be so corrupted by us that it is lost? The world is not lost. I am not lost. You are not lost. We — the world, all of us — are on this journey, with God, to somewhere good.

What is the application of this truth in our day to day? Hope! Instead of seeing in current events a movement toward chaos, selfishness, autocracy — which we may experience in the short term — we are invited to see, to look for, how this fits with that, how light comes from darkness, how suffering is turned on its head. And here’s the thing: that hope manifests itself now. We don’t have to wait for it. It moves and acts in the short term, too. We can catch it now. We can catch God now.

Remember the EAC in Finding Nemo? The East Australian Current? The sea’s inhabitants knew they could pop in and pop out of this massive flow and, when in it, they could move forward far faster than they could on their own. What an apt analogy for what God is doing with us and with his world. We can look for this flow. We can even participate in this flow. Now.

Reflection

How is hope empowering?

Prayer

Dear God, help me to see that anything that brings me down, anything that tells me there’s no way out or up is a lie. You do not speak in terms of accusation or blame.** Your words lift, raise, empower. May I hear you, God. May I give my attention to you.

*See Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ.

**Ibid