[Propertalk] 2 Epiphany a 2017 - Part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

Part 2
 Yet someone said something. Someone may have pointed at or to
something in our lives, just as John did, twice, on two consecutive
days. Whatever it was for us, it grabbed us and has been dancing in
our hearts ever since, no matter what else may have gone on, or been
said and done. Even if the person, the event, the experience may seem
relatively indistinguishable from anything or anyone else; even
something unprepossessing, like that sheep whose mother may have been
the only one not to have run away from it; no matter who or what,
something has drawn us close. Something has piqued our curiosity, or
drawn us forward. Something has brought us to make a commitment, even
when there has been a small voice inside or outside of us, saying,
“Are you crazy? Have you seen what that whatever looks like? Do you
know what you’re getting into?”

	 But some chemistry has been discovered.

	 “Attraction. What other explanation can there be for being a
Christian? But what does this mean? It's like this: having fallen in
love, other values, goals, dreams, ideas, interpretations of reality
fade in light of the allure of the unknown.
_ “‘Where are you staying? Where do you abide? Where are you
going?’_ The enigmatic answer is, _Come and see._ No simple answer
suffices for the complex, beautiful, and terrifying transformation
awaiting the questioner. ‘_If you COME with me you will SEE where
and how I dwell’._ There's nothing else I can do but go and perceive
along the way that which is completely new, one-ing myself to luminous
truth along this mysterious journey.”

	 That’s how Suzanne Guthrie put it.

	 “The season of Epiphany draws the Christian through light,
perception, insight, from the star at the manger, to the theophany
over the Jordan to the theophany on the holy mountain to see the
presence of God (almost) 'face to face'. The story of the disciples,
the story of Christ, IS the story of the Christian experience from
baptism to transfiguration and beyond, into death and resurrection.
This call toward our spiritual destiny may come even within the most
obscure circumstances. Always implied is the message of Pentecost, the
necessity of sharing the wisdom derived from the encounter with the
Holy.” 2
 I like that last thought of Suzanne’s, reminding us that encounters
with the Holy DON’T always, in fact, seldom come with a brass band,
or a blinding light, or anything beyond what’s around us every day
– a man walking through the Market; someone shopping on the same
aisle at the grocery store; a person sitting in front or behind us in
a theatre. The Holy DOES sneak up on us sometimes precisely because we
aren’t expecting it. Suzanne describes the way that we’ve been
drawn into a relationship despite what could go wrong, what could
bring difficulty.

	 And this is not simply a one-on-one event. It can be used to
describe all those with whom we come into contact on our faith
journeys.

	 Maybe this is the point that we should recognize about ourselves. I
don’t know if Andrew and his friend thought about the fact that they
were on a faith journey. I don’t know how often WE think that
we’re on a faith journey. WE may think we’re running out to get
the milk that we forgot to pick up; or to take back something we
borrowed from the neighbor; or, well, it was so snowy and icy last
week that maybe I should go to church this Sunday just to see what’s
going on, what I may have missed hearing about.

	 It’s not publicized front-and-centre in the Gospel here, but
it’s obvious after-the-fact that everything those two young men were
doing had a spiritual, a faith effect on their lives and on the lives
of every single other person with whom they’d come in contact for
the rest of their lives.

	 Just so with us, we may seldom think about it, but everything we do,
every word we speak, every thought we have, every person with whom we
interact or with whom we refuse to interact – absolutely everything
in our lives speaks about our spiritual journey. In fact, those who
openly disavow having the slightest use for the spiritual or faith in
their lives, they too are making a spiritual journey, if only from the
standpoint of a lack of acceptance of it. They may well be saying,
“I don’t need you.” And, for some reason, at that particular
point in their lives, they’re saying, “I don’t have need of you,
or anything outside of myself.”
 Something with the lives of Andrew and his friend, something within
our lives, even if this is the only time we’ll stand or sit here,
something has aroused our curiosity.

	 “These two disciples seem to ’fall in love’ with Jesus; his
words to them reflect the invitation of divine wisdom,” as Bruno
Barnhart put it. 3 Jesus’ words here are the first that are recorded
He said, with the exception of His comments to His parents when He was
about twelve.

	 Somehow, when Jesus was pointed out by John the Baptist, somehow,
the aura of the Holy Spirit, or the effect of the Holy Spirit’s
anointing Jesus at His baptism, surrounded Him and drew His first
disciples to Him, albeit unknowingly.

	 Somehow, when we meet someone; or perhaps it’s more useful to
think of when another meets us; somehow, we’re called to be prepared
to show how God is present in us and is blessing us all the time,
using us to make an impact on others’ lives.
 Possibly without our knowing it, Jesus is saying to us right now,
“What are you looking for?”, knowing that we need Him, what He
will say to us, what He will do for us.

	 We have no idea where walking this road may take us. We have no idea
what dirty, rough paths we may have to take, what awkward, what
difficult people we may meet. And, it seems Jesus is content to give
us an invitation to follow and walk with Him – or not. Once again,
the choice is ours.

	NOTES:

	[1]  _“Eschatological symbols – sheep”,_ from Art in the
Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library,
Nashville, TN. 
http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54426 [1]

	2 _“At the Edge of the Enclosure - __SOULWORK TOWARD SUNDAY:
SELF-GUIDED RETREAT EPIPHANY 2 (YEAR A) - COME AND SEE”__ _15th
January, 2017 Suzanne Guthrie 

	http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany2a.html [2] 

	3 “_The Good Wine: Reading John from the Center” _by Bruno
Barnhart. Wipf and Stock Publisher, Eugene, Oregon. Previously
published by Paulist Press © 1993. Page 246.
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Wine-Reading-John-Center/dp/1606083406 [3]
Quoted by Suzanne Guthrie, Op. cit. 

	 

Links:
------
[1] http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54426
[2] http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany2a.html
[3] https://www.amazon.com/Good-Wine-Reading-John-Center/dp/1606083406

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20170114/61602418/attachment.htm>