A thought occurred to me during sung worship on Sunday. It was a corrective word, perhaps for me (almost certainly for me) and I knew it was a God thought because I felt compelled to bring it, but the moment was too short for me to grasp it, and maybe too long for my courage to hold out.
I was having a lovely time singing, and what was adding to this experience (as is often the case with me) was looking around at the faces of others who were singing. I always find it a privilege to sing in the company of saints. To see the expressions of those 'lost in wonder, love and praise' and also those for whom singing is costly and an act of faith in the midst of turmoil.
What I also felt was that there were some who were struggling to engage, to connect. This thought triggered the following. I was reminded by the verses from Isaiah 65. All day long I have held out my hands to a stubborn and obstinate people. To a people that did not call on name I said, 'Here I am. Here I am'.
What I took from this is that The Lord Is PRESENT.
I had the privilege of worshiping in a church in Spain last week, and although I was 1100 miles away from my usual place of Worship, the Holy Spirit was the same there as in Oxfordshire. As Psalm 139 tells us, there is nowhere we can go to flee from his presence. He is present everywhere, though we are not always sensible of it. But not only is he present, just in the sense that he occupies every space (that there is nowhere that he is not) but also that he is present to us. Holding ut his hands, as it were. He presents himself to us. He makes a present of himself to us. But are we too stubborn to see it? To respond.
The next part of what was bought to my attention was from Romans 12:1. Paul tells us we are to present ourselves to God, as living sacrifices. Here we are, always in his presence but do we present ourselves to him? Or perhaps we "walk in ways not good, pursuing (our) own imaginations"? Do we, do I, refuse to make myself present, or make of myself a present, to The Lord.
The words we sang on Sunday as some of these thoughts occurred to me were "You are here, moving in our midst, we worship you, we worship you".
When I began with a Spiritual director, many years ago now, he would always, as the two of us sat in his cozy office, at the start of each session 'welcome' the third person in the room. But it was more than a welcome. It was acknowledging his presence with us. He had been there all the time.
It must be hard for us as Christians to acknowledge that the triune God, has been holding out his hands, all the time, saying here I am.
Once we acknowledge his Holy presence, like Isaiah himself, we also must be present to him, and say 'Here I am'.
This is the nature of the relationship and intimacy that God has designed for you, that You are present, and presenting yourself. to the ever omnipresent God.
If you doubt, simply look to the Cross, where Christ Jesus was presented, as the Fathers heart, to us, the obstinate.
