Jesus as model—not icon

Jesus as model—not icon (excerpt from 5:10 min)

And so Jesus to his disciples—or given these words by the writers of the gospels, when he is about to disappear and he knows he's going—saying: "Don't be afraid, I will always be with you." He somehow knew something about the way we are capable of being with one another that didn't necessarily require our eyes and our ears, but more was a requirement of the heart. So as we go into this season of fall, which is so beautiful, um, and yet it's coming with a bit of dread, because we're all going into colder season when we may not be able to be outside as much as we have been this summer, and being outside has saved many of our lives. And when the nights are getting longer and colder, and therefore there may be a little bit of anxiety because some of us will become a bit more isolated again as the fall moves into winter, I wonder how we can express to one another, "Don't be afraid, I am with you always." Yes, I'm a phone call away, or I'm an email away, or I'm a social distancing visit away. But more than that, let us imagine that we are connected in cosmic ways that we have not necessarily thought of before, when our lives were very different. And maybe we need to think a little bit more deeply about what it means to be with one another. And I think that every major spiritual tradition speaks about our humanness as being a clothing of a deeper spiritual presence and identity, and that deeper spiritual presence and identity maybe has the ability to time travel, distance travel. I'm not talking about walking through walls or anything like that, but it's a way of, I think, recognizing that even in our aloneness, or in our isolation, that we are able to bring one another close if we go to that deeper spiritual identity within ourselves. So we say we do it with God. Oh, the mystery that we call God is with us always. Jesus is with us always. Okay, but if we are the body of Christ, if that is our understanding of how, how the mystery is living amongst us, then it's bigger than what we can touch and feel and see and hear, isn't it? So I invite you to consider who it is you need to share your identity with in the coming week. Who is it that needs to hear from you, "Don't be afraid, I will be with you always." As we would say to our loved ones, our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, our parents.

Covid Sunday practice: For such a time as this: living with curiosity, creativity and courage