As a parish, we have been reading Tattoos on the Heart by Father Gregory Boyle. (If you missed out being in one of the book groups, I’d still recommend for you to read the book!) In our groups last week, one of the questions was this: “Father Boyle quotes Jesuit theologian, Leon Dufour, who said “I have written so many books on God, but after all that, what do I really know? I think, in the end, God is the person you ’re talking to, the one right in front of you.” (Pg. 158) How does this shape your relationship with God? With others?”
In the Thursday evening group, Epiphany parishioner Marion Dry took this question a bit further. She encouraged her group to use this week to actually practice experiencing God in the person right in front of us. In their final session, they will be sharing about their experiences doing this practice.
I’d like to invite all of us into this practice in the coming weeks. What if God is the person you’re talking to, the one right in front of you? Because if we take the incarnation seriously, then God is actually in the faces of those around us. The unhoused person holding up the sign. The mail person. The people we see on a walk around the neighborhood. A friend who is experiencing a difficult time. People who are different from us. People who are difficult to be around. Classmates, coworkers, family and friends. To encounter these people with love and gratitude is what it means to love God.
We’ll be seeing each other a lot this upcoming Holy Week. Perhaps we can extend this practice to our own community and the ways we are to be together. In the familiar rhythms — waving palm branches, eating together, washing feet, keeping vigil at the foot of the cross. Might we experience each other in new ways, recognizing the divine sacredness in each and every face.
C.S. Lewis once said, “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” What if we noticed the people around us in the same reverence we would have for God? What if God is the person we’re talking to, the one right in front of us?
I suspect that just might change everything.
With gratitude,
Rev. Janelle
