This week as we continue in the footsteps of Jesus' Lenten journey, we encounter a man who taught us that seeing means more than visually connecting with what is before our eyes. Sometimes, truly seeing, means letting go of our sight that we might give birth to what is just below the surface, to what is being born again from the inside out.
Henri Nouwen, so beautifully calls this kind of intimate sight, "seeing God for others".
He writes, "The experience of the fullness of time, during which God is so present, so real, so tangibly near that we can hardly believe that everyone does not see God as we do, is given to us to deepen our lives of prayer and strengthen our lives together. Having experienced God in the fullness of time, we have a lifelong desire to be with God and to proclaim to others the God we experienced.
Peter, years after the death of Jesus, claims his Mount Tabor experience as the source for his witness. He says: "When we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not repeating cleverly invented myths; no, we had seen his majesty with our own eyes… when we were with him on the holy mountain" (2 Peter 1:16-18). Seeing God in the most intimate moments of our lives is seeing God for others." – Henri Nouwen
God of our intimate moments, draw us close this week that we might
see You "in" and "for" others. Amen
- Rev. Jenny Shultz-Thomas