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Forsaken? (31 August)

Forsaken?

Step into the spaces we say we feel your awesomeness and the places where we claim your forsakenness’  (Rev Nadia Bolz-Weber)

When I read this quote recently it grabbed my attention, the way the juxtaposition of the sentence highlights the sacred secular divide which we sometimes erect.  It is easy and comfortable to dwell in the spaces where we say we feel God’s awesomeness: to sit quietly in a chapel; to be awe inspired in a Cathedral; to wonder among Priory ruins; to dwell in what the Celts refer to as the thin spaces.

Sometimes God’s awesomeness takes us by surprise in these places.  I recall when I was testing my call to ministry with God, my husband and I visited Wells Cathedral and I had no high expectations of meeting with God, in fact I was trying to actively shut him out!  As I walked through the doors, I was overwhelmed with emotion and had to respond to what God was saying.

Other sacred spaces where we sense God’s awesomeness might be through nature and creation, when something beautiful catches our breath or we turn a corner on a walk and see a rainbow or a marvellous vista opens up or the miracle of the new life of a baby.

In these places there is a degree of expectation of encountering God’s awesomeness, but what about the places which we designate as ‘God-forsaken’?  Have you ever used that phrase?  When you visited somewhere and been overwhelmed with darkness, lack of life or just dirtiness and you return and say to a friend or family member – it was a God-forsaken place.  I don’t think we quite realise to what we are alluding, when we speak of places which we claim God has forsaken?  Surely nowhere on this planet is forsaken by God, but these places are possibly forsaken by us?  We somehow give up hope of God’s presence ever being known or felt.

I believe we can probably all think of somewhere right now which feels this way.

Our preference, mine included, is to choose the places where you sense the awesomeness of God, for it brings us pleasure and feeds our souls and I am not saying we should take those things away from our lives. But what may be the difference if we chose to go to the so called God-forsaken spaces more often?  God’s presence is of course already there, but as we walk there, talk to people there, visit shops there, we bring a taste of Jesus to that place.  More than that, what if we pray as we walk, talk and shop in those places where we may feel uncomfortable, perhaps threatened, I believe we as followers in Jesus footsteps will make a difference.

How did the ‘thin spaces’ or the peaceful chapels or priory ruins ever come about?  I believe through centuries of faithful servants of God being in those places, praying, worshipping and bringing with them a greater sense of God in those places.

We pray for transformation of our society, we long to see the light of Jesus shining across our land. perhaps one small part of that might be each one of us going to more of the so called God-forsaken spaces to be part of the greater release of the presence of God who is already there.