Today we are beginning the season of Advent in which we Christians prepare for the birth of the Christ Child. The question I have for you today is, “what is the most important word in this season of the coming of the Christ Child to be with us?” Any guesses? Of course there are lots of possible answers - Love? Mission? God? Sin? Mercy? Which one is the one that resonates with you?
Well, if
you look at the opening verse of the Gospel of John we have the answer, “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God”. The Word was with God. The most important word in the bible is
‘with’. This idea doesn’t originate with
me. For this idea I must credit Samuel
Wells, a theologian from Duke University and a priest currently working in
England.
I came
across the question and answer in an article by Sara Miles on the web site
Episcopal Café. She notes that the idea
of the Word being with God is based on the foundation of the Trinity. ‘The Trinity is, at heart, about ‘with’:
about what Christians call “perichoresis.” This is the dance in which Father,
Son and Holy Spirit are one being, existing through their mutual relationship.
And God is always gathering all humanity into that undivided relationship,
bringing us all into life with God. The
Anglican worship service opens with, ‘The Lord be with you’. The response is,…. ‘and also with you’. That is the hope and promise that we
Christians have. It was promised to us
by Jesus – staying with John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us, “And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever” (John
14:16).
What then
does it mean to be with another person?
We are all on the journey to be reunited with the source of life when
our time on this earth has run its course.
Part of the answer is to not come to someone with expectations about
them. This came home to me for the first
time most clearly when I was doing my unit of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education)
during my seminary training. I was doing
it in a hospital, and my assignment divided my time between a General Medicine
Ward and a ward for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. I had – shall we say – quite a difficult
making cold calls in the General Medicine ward.
I knew I was there to help the patient – probably whether they wanted
help or not. I was sure I probably
wouldn’t say the right thing or do the right thing.
The
Alzheimer’s ward was an entirely different situation. I arrived there not knowing who I would be or
where I would be. I might be someone’s
father, brother, son or just a friend. I
might be sitting by a riverbank or in someone’s home. It could be a year ago or five years ago or
fifty. All I had to do was show up and
be with that person and be whomever they saw me to be. I was able to let go and let God – sorry for
the cliché - I couldn’t resist. In any
case, with the Alzheimer’s ward, I was able to be with the other person and let
the Holy Spirit do the rest.
Above all
we need to learn to truly be with each other and to enable God to be with us
more fully in that journey. The Lord be
with you.
