Saying Yes to God

Some years ago, I had the privilege of attending a lecture/talk by Herbert O’Driscoll.  Unfortunately, I did not take notes, or in any case, I cannot find a record of them.  I don’t have a detailed recollection of what Herbert said. The internet was no help in this case so, with apologies to Herbert for misunderstanding his message and possibly going completely off the rails, here is my reconstruction and interpretation of what I believe was Herbert’s message. 

What I recall is that for Christians to live in relationship with God and the world requires three things.  At this point I am only able to remember two of those things.  First, we must be in an intentional community which is seeking to understand God’s intention for the world.  Second, we must say “Yes” to something that we believe God is calling us to. 

That, I believe, is what we are called to be and do as Christians.  We are called to be in community – as a part of a Christian Community in some form.  This is not necessarily a formal church community.  Church has taken many forms in the past and continues to take many different expressions of what happened at Pentecost.  As the established churches are struggling to continue, the Holy Spirit is moving and inspiring people to seek new ways of being the people of God in the world.  We, therefore, need to be open to where the Spirit is calling and leading us, always conscious of the need to try and discern if it truly is the Holy Spirit and not just the devices and desires of our hearts and minds and egos and wish-fulfillment. 

This is true also of our response, our “Yes” to God.  It is not enough to only sit back and be observers.  We must respond with a yes that is love-in-action.  We need to try to ensure what we are discerning where the Spirit is actually leading us and are not following those pesky devices and desires of our hearts and minds.  We must also seek to understand how best we can say “Yes”.  That can take many different forms and we may be surprized in where the Spirit leads us if we actually say “Yes” and are open to those possibilities. 

Jesus gives us the Great Commandment to love one another, I believe that this is the essence of that commandment.  We are to respond to people in love and not hate or indifference.  AS Leonard Cohen said, “let’s talk of love not hate, things to do It’s getting late, there’s so little time and we’re only passing through.”  I must turn from my go to guy for lyrics to anther go-to guy, Richard Rohr and his understanding of this.  He notes that love in not just actions but, it is actually who we are:  

·         The love in you—which is the Spirit in you—always somehow says yes. (See 2 Corinthians 1:20.) Love is not something you do; love is something you are. It is your True Self. Love is where you came from and love is where you’re going. It’s not something you can buy. It’s not something you can attain. It’s the presence of God within you, called the Holy Spirit or what some theologians name uncreated grace. You can’t manufacture this by any right conduct, dear reader. You can’t make God love you one ounce more than God already loves you right now. You can go to church every day for the rest of your life. God isn’t going to love you any more than God loves you right now.  Richard Rohr May 22, 2019

Blessings on you journey