The Mystery of God

Dear Friends in Christ,

Maybe you were brought up like me where I always heard that God was a mystery. Phrases like, “God shows up in mysterious ways” or more contemporary I have heard God’s mystery explained as

“God-incidences.” As an adult and as I grew in faith, I began to identify moments when God showed up. I really do believe that he does show up. He shows up in our speaking, in our prayers and in our encounters. He shows up in so many ways and through so many folks, too.

I remember my 79-year-old senile grandmother telling her priest with tears in her eyes as she received communion kneeling at the altar rail that her dog, Danny, had passed. Rev. Eve mentioned this experience to the family after the service. Everyone who heard him recognized the mystery of God in that moment. We didn’t understand it, yet God showed up.

Similarly, I have learned to trust the Holy Spirit speaking through me during sermons where on any given Sunday my prepared sermon becomes two different sermons. Maybe similar in theme and phrases here and there, but also what I am calling some “ad lib.” It is this “ad lib-ing” that I am trusting as the Spirit moving through me in the moment so that the people of God hear what the Spirit has to say at that time on that Sunday.

It has taken me a long time to trust that God will speak through me. I have, and others have agreed with me, that the writing of a “narrative” sermon is Spirit-filled. I truly believe that it is because the process by which a sermon is crafted is holy and prayerful. It has been a process of slow acceptance and increased reliance that all that is said, are the words that God wants spoken. In those moments, at some level there is great vulnerability, and the veil feels awfully thin.

I am learning that I am allowing God to be who God is. Just as he spoke through the prophets, so also he is speaking through me. That is the mystery of God. St. Augustine understood this best when he wrote, “If you comprehend it, it is not from God”1 How have you experienced the mystery of God in your life?

Citation: 1. Augustine,Sermon 117:5(on John 1:1). Original text: “Si enim comprehendis, non est Deus.” From the Richard Rohr, “Letting God be God,” Center for Action and Contemplation, Blog 12/10/2024, meditations@cac.org

Blessings,

Anne+