The Gospel of John records the interplay of the author’s experience of God, Christ, self, and his beliefs. In the third chapter John names the basic nature of the Divine/human relationship from God’s side:  "For God so loved the world…."  We all hope humanity will reach a time in history when with one voice we will say, "For the whole world so loved God…."  As we deepen our spiritual lives -- our personal experiences of God, Christ, self, and our beliefs – we want to be able to say the story that begins, "For I so loved God…."

In an earlier sermon I quoted theologian, Marcus Borg’s view that originally the word ‘believe’ "did not mean believing in the truth of statements or propositions…. ‘to believe’ meant ‘to love’…. What we believe is what we belove. Faith is about beloving God."¹ With this interpretation, we have explored how we belove God, and how we use words to express the congruence of experience and belief.

The heart of faith is the personal experience of that which is fundamentally already true: God loves you, concretely not abstractly, personally not in general. From God’s love, we are to love ourselves. Then, in the embrace of such love, we love everything that God loves.

Ultimately, love and faith, that are anything but static, call us to live consciously and intentionally and consistently in God’s presence – not as a "to do list" but as a natural way of life and being. When people embrace this way of being they begin to balance the demands of work and spirit. Tight schedules make space for practices that provide focus and the harmony of self, tasks, and God. The harmony expresses itself in the refreshing sense that work can be a healthy part of one’s spiritual life. The demands and distractions of office, home, or children are met by disciplines that give us a sense of calm, purpose, and direction. The experience of inner harmony energizes spirituality, spirituality fuels the harmony – it is a perfect circle.

There are times in life when, to some degree, we feel spiritually akin the Israelites in Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. We are enslaved to something that holds us back or down. We feel abandoned and without hope until we realize that God promises freedom and life. We may identify with the Samaritan woman who was socially isolated and trapped in a religious drought. She could not honestly face the origins of her circumstances until Jesus offered her the "living water" of grace, love, wholeness, presence, and peace that would heal her brokenness and return her to the path of life.

Wherever you are spiritually, in every work you may do, and with whatever struggles you have in your personal life, I invite you to look at simple practices that support your intention to:

•• live faithfully and well,

•• sense God’s presence throughout your day,

•• deepen your experience of being loved by and of loving God, and

•• hold beliefs that open you to grow and change with ever new experiences of God.

This invitation is to practices that create congruence between

• our experience of God and Christ,

• the beliefs that guide our lives, and

• our life/work/tasks God that infuses with meaning and purpose.

• I want to offer a practice that will support your spiritual consciousness during daily routines at work and home.

• Details of work or tasks so fill our MINDS that our direct, immediate awareness of God is understandably absent.

• But our HEARTS can maintain a very beneficial background sense of God – a sort of "Divine surround-sound," if you will. The surround-sound helps us unify self, work, and God. This surrounding sense of God does five important things:
 

1. It brings us Jesus’ gift to the Samaritan woman of the "living waters" of grace, love, wholeness, presence, and peace; and it delivers us from Ezekiel’s valley of dead, dry bones

 
2. it clarifies and then supports beliefs that have practical application and purpose in daily life,

 
3. it sustains our intention to infuse our daily endeavors with Divine presence,

 
4. it assists us in being open to God through our work – work becomes a direct reminder of God -- and

 
5. it enhances our focus and the quality of what we do because self, work, and God are in harmony.

 

• Let’s quiet ourselves—breathing deeply and gently, sitting comfortably, eyes closed…..

• Think of a time when you had the experience that God was revealed to you or present, surrounding you in a work situation (office, home, school, retirement)….. Look around the memory: what is the space like, if there is a window what is the quality of the light, where are you, who else is in the room?

• Sense what was going on with your body when you felt God’s presence in that situation (breathing, heart rate, muscles, posture, state of your mind, state of your soul)…

• Note how you might have changed in the quality of your presence as you became conscious of the Divine in the background…

• When you look back at the completed work or task, how did that awareness help you experience a sense of harmony and union between self, work, and God?

• Without rushing or forcing it, offer a simple prayer of your desire and intention to live into your liberating, calm depth in God, to let your work go to God so that you share the mind of Christ.

Gently breathe into your feelings, let the words of your prayer come as they will into your peaceful, inviting, open mind.

• Let us pray for one another, know how challenging it is to live into our desire and intention to live each day in God’s presence.

• Jot down and keep your simple prayer of desire with you to help you honor your intention of being surrounded by God and of holding your self, work, and God in harmony.

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