God Came to My House Last Night

Sometimes I am taken aback by how little God is in the world.

Selfishness abounds. Grace is noticably lacking. Hurt is intentional. Enforcement of rules means more than helping someone. People lie. They take advantage without concern. There are wars and there are rumors of wars.

And these things happen everywhere. Congress for sure. State Capitols and City Halls. Academic institutions. Business' large and small. Churches and Synagogues. And inside of too many homes.

And we live our lives by either diving in and participating , justifiying it by often believing in a God that doesn't require anything of us save love that God.

Or we love God by loving others.

"Beloved if God so loved us, then we should love one another," is how St. John or whoever wrote those books put it. It is a great play on words! What is should read, and the way that most people define God, is "Beloved if God so loved us, then we should love God." And that is how most people go about their religion. Loving a God that only requires love allows us to do whatever the hell we want. And so the lying, intentional hurt, selfishness and the bad things of life are born.

What it actually says though turns everything upside down.

If God so loved us, then we should love one another. And in doing this we offer acts of kindness. Grace is lusted for. Honesty abounds. Love is all around, as the old song by the Troggs puts it.

In the Bible there is this reference that I have always liked, "the Remnant Community" meaning leftover, residue, the last of it. The term is used to describe those who are still at it while everybody else has moved on. I think that it is very applicable today. Most of the world seems to have moved on to loving a God that requires love.

But there are these pockets. These tiny groups sprinkled everywhere. And they are still at it. Playing it forward. Stopping their agenda because someone is hurting and needs them. Breaking the rules because it makes sense to break them. Looking above their own selfishness because they understand that you express love of God by loving other people.

It's not rocket science is it?

But we choose to make it so with theologies and practices and prayer closets and the thousands of things that we do in the name of God which she really doesn't give a damn about. The righteous become self-righteous. And that is the majority party these days.

So I spend my time looking for the remnant communities. I've been very fortunate to discover many of them. And we do stuff for one another. And we try to do things for those who are hurting or hungry or without. Last night a small group of us gathered at my house. We ate and drank and told a lot of stories. We embraced and thanked one another. We expressed our love.

And as we did so God descended from the heavens.