Reverent Intimacy
Posted by pastorbill09 on March 26, 2009
From the 14th century mystic Julian of Norwich: “A mother may allow her child to fall, and to learn the hard way, for its own good. But because she loves the child she will never allow the situation to become dangerous. Admittedly earthly mothers have been known to let their children die, but our heavenly Mother, Jesus, will never let us, his children, die.” This struck me as a wonderful use of imagery. I don’t often think of Jesus as mother. But of course scripture speaks very plainly of God as mother, so why not Jesus as well?
It reminds me of Meister Eckhart, another mystic, but of the 15th century I think, who ponders the concept of theotokos, mother of God. He says we are all called to be mothers of God, to become bearers of Christ in the world, like Mary.
Jesus as mother, we as mothers of Jesus, all of it speaks of nurture and intimacy. Our relationship with God and with Christ is intended to be intimate. This came up last night at our class on spiritual disciplines. We were talking about prayer and the model of prayer Christ has given us that begins, “Our Father… ” Intimacy is the first element in that prayer. But not a casual intimacy. A reverent one. Casual intimacy is much too common today. It’s meaningless and at times demeaning altogether. We’re called into a reverent intimacy with God and, by extension, with one another. Think what would happen to the nature of our relationships if we took that reverence seriously.
Lord, help us to live as close to you as a parent to a child; to hold one another in reverence and love.
Peace,
Pastor Bill
