Relationships for getting to know God and God's Way

 

Relationship of two parts overlapping [clipart for "Venn diagram"]

Again and again Jesus demonstrates that God's love is a personal, direct, hands-on, relationship thing; not something rule-based or a statute-derived way of being among friends, strangers, and even enemies. But when latter-day followers of the Nazarene Raboni talk about a "relationship with God" and seeking "to know God" more deeply and clearly, what does that mean more precisely? In other words, using a human frame of reference there are many kinds of relationship. They differ in duration, intensity, context or purpose, among other things. Some grow wider and deeper, while others are much more modest or even unchanging. 

In the English language the word 'know' blurs two very different senses that other languages separate with distinct words: know a fact (e.g. Spanish 'saber') and to know a person or place or subject by experience (e.g. Spanish  'conocer'). As a result, the goal of "knowing God's Will" in the English construction can and does carry a bit of both: knowledge of information and decision-making, but also "being acquainted with, or getting familiar with." Certainly, there is room for both dimensions of 'knowing' when grappling with God's word and the examples of his people. But since God incarnated in flesh is not exactly the same as ordinary mortals, it is hard to understand fully what a relationship looks like and how it grows. Some clues come from person to person relationships --husband to wife, parent to child, sibling to sibling, ruler to subject, self to stranger, host to guest, business partner, church friend, colleague, teacher to student, and so on. Among mortals there are first impressions, official title or position, uniform or other identifier, special vocabulary and knowledge, and other status markers and dimensions that form the First Impression. 

Going beyond that surface interaction, common points of interest or mutual stakeholding may bring the persons together in common cause or heartfelt cares past or present. The simple accumulation of shared experiences, easy or hard, adds layers of memory and increased ability to gauge the other's likely reaction to any given situation, too. If there were a science of relationships (therapist? counselor?) then that might offer tools for documenting, comparing, and talking about the nature and shape of relationships - not only the interpersonal kind, but by extension the person-to-God kind, as well.

So much of Jesus' life, parables, and person is about 'heart'. It is no wonder that imagery across many centuries and generations shows 'sacred heart' and 'passionate heart' and 'broken heart' and 'flaming heart' to signify the layer of love that forms in relationships of quality and durability, ones with deep trust lived out in good faith. The one about the widow's mite carrying greater value than the rich man's heavy gold coins teaches several things, including the worth that comes from great sacrifice (not the face value of the coins, but the importance within the giver's own heart). Elsewhere we learn that God wants us to lend our hands and feet to do holy work; the Great Commission ends with the command to "feed my sheep" (flocks of people). It is not that any one person's contribution is indispensible. No, God's Will can succeed no matter who does or does not help. The value from each generation's participation in God's World comes from being present in mind (attention) and in body (embodied: taking up volume, having mass). 

In summary: knowing God better and better is similar to personal friendships in some ways. Mutual respect, responsiveness, sustained common cause, and so on fill out the framework to make it alive. Specific examples are marked out for special attention: "care for the least of these," and "caring for widows and orphans," and "preach and teach when others ask of you." But beyond the actions, words, and thoughts/attitudes closely attached to the embodied religious experience of moving through time in a body that changes from young to old, the Bible seems to be most concerned with one's heart. As a heart grows cold or hard, it needs to be broken or softened so that the lives of others can touch it and thereby add life to one's own life. Beyond the real-world improvements, relieving suffering, and dispelling ignorance, the pattern of (spiritual) growth of a person's heart seems to be a way to gauge how well one knows God, above all other gods, the Great I Am. Growing from being timid and fearful to being generous with the abundance of God's Love is one indicator that one has gotten to know God in a personal kind of way.

The poetic lyric about "I drink from the saucer because my cup overflows with God's Love" seems to say it all. Sin is not so much a recordable offense as a distraction from looking for; looking at God. "Missing the mark" (as in archery) is one of the images that goes with sinning. In the end, it is worshiping God that started everything in the Garden of Eden; making man in order for man to worship God. So the better we can know God and God's Will, the more we will continually focus and give attention to God winks, God's marvelous creations of land, sea, and air, and indeed the life of God's only begotten son, the Son of Man, Living Word and Prince of Peace.