God told Moses, I am that I am. Jesus told the masses of weary, desperate, oppressed people who pressed upon him, tugging at him as a child tugs at his mother's apron strings for something to eat, "I am with you always, even until the end of time."
While Christians organize around some kind of understanding of Who that Great I am is, He is here for all people, of all faiths and even is in all faiths. Imagine that He is like water. We all drink it, not just some people, but all people, and it flows everywhere on the planet. Christ teaches us how to enter into a deeper relationship with the Great I am.
Since He is here for all of us, many spiritual people from various faith traditions and spiritual walks have accepted this awareness in a kind of non-religious, open-ended human anthropological consciousness. They have chipped away the church stuff, to reveal the spiritual truths which were once exclusive to Christianity, but today are non-liturgical, and are there for all of us.
Since He is here for all of us, many spiritual people from various faith traditions and spiritual walks have accepted this awareness in a kind of non-religious, open-ended human anthropological consciousness. They have chipped away the church stuff, to reveal the spiritual truths which were once exclusive to Christianity, but today are non-liturgical, and are there for all of us.
That Great I am is in all of us and with all of us. It is part of Who We Are. It has always been there and always will be there. It is fully conscious and the ultimate fullness of beinghood. It is He Who Jesus met in the desert and on the dusty roads in Palestine. In His encounter with that Great I am, Jesus was changed, transformed, reborn into Christ. He was made fully perfect by the encounter.
He was unique in the level, quality and perfection of His awareness of the power and eternality of that presence which is everywhere, Whom we have called God. In His awareness, Jesus found that He was not alone. There was a mysterious someone, something, presence with Him no matter where he went. If he went up into the mountains, that someone went with him. If he went into the storms at sea, that someone went with him. If he went into the presence of hostile adversaries, that someone went with him. If he went into a cruel, jacked up trial, that great loving Other went with him. If they put him to death on a cross, even there, that someone went with him.
The unique part of His story, which He said can be our story also, is that He knew that Great Other, that Someone. The more time He spent with that Someone, the more familiar He became. That may be one of the most beautiful gifts He left to us. He told us that we also could know that Great Other, that Great Lover of our souls, that awesome Creator. We could know Him. There are ways, he taught us, to get to know Him.. The first way, he seemed to say, was to drop all the baggage we haul around - that guilt and feelings of inadequacy - and then "seek" and we would surely find that He is always there.
The unique part of His story, which He said can be our story also, is that He knew that Great Other, that Someone. The more time He spent with that Someone, the more familiar He became. That may be one of the most beautiful gifts He left to us. He told us that we also could know that Great Other, that Great Lover of our souls, that awesome Creator. We could know Him. There are ways, he taught us, to get to know Him.. The first way, he seemed to say, was to drop all the baggage we haul around - that guilt and feelings of inadequacy - and then "seek" and we would surely find that He is always there.
I don't presume to write to you about things I don't know about. That would be like Julia Child writing a recipe in her French cookbook that she had not first tested. I have prayed and asked the Great I am for help, for strength, for vision and wisdom to get through a challenging situation when I couldn't see through the fog, and He has never let me down. I simply turned my thoughts to asking Him to help. And, help was always there. Slowly I began to sense a presence beside me, a loving presence, a kind of soft warmth beside my cheek, a lift in my heart when I felt weary and heavy inside. He is there and always is there.
When I was thinking about this and wanting to share this with you this morning, I imagined a flock of radiant angels gathering on a hillside. As my inner eye panned the scene, it seemed the hill was brilliant with their radiant white wings. From a distance, it almost seemed there was a great light there. Then, I zoomed in, came closer, looked more intensely, and there I saw amidst the great throng of light, a fleck - a little human fleck. I saw you, and me, and realized that while we cannot visually see Who accompanies us everywhere, that great presence is there with us all the time. Because it is so loving, it will not interfere. It is so non-controlling that it won't so much as utter a breeze or lift a wing to affect any choices we make, unless we invite It to enter into a situation to help us. Sometimes I even think that we somehow find ourselves in difficult situations, so that we can call on It for help and then be helped and realize the great company that moves with us wherever we go. There's a saying from my daughter's Episcopal teen summer camp that claims, "10,000 angels go before you" wherever you go.
It takes a real stretch of your mind and may be a miracle in and of itself, to hold onto this thought. You are not alone. You never were and you never will be. You are part of something so much bigger than your little personhood. All you have to do is ask for help, ask for guidance, wisdom or love on any given occasion and wait - maybe for a second, maybe for a year - the length of time depends on your own willingness to believe - and He will never disappoint you. He is there in whatever form He chooses to be there for you. You are not alone. The Great I am is with you always.
Top art: Prodigal Son, Rembrandt 1669
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