An article from the Cathedral Times
By the Rev. Canon Carolynne Williams
What is your image for experiencing the love of God, the Christ? Do you have an image? Is God in your life truth; does your image contain and allow a presence within you that is unmistakable and true?
Jesus clearly promises his presence and the presence of the spirit to those who keep his commandments, to love and serve one another.
My image of truth, through the Son of God, represents a presence within me that allows and encourages me to move forward when I become discouraged. It is an image that I walk with and reach out for when I am feeling alone and I just want to check in and re-plug into that place of peace and love that is always there for me. That touchstone always takes me to a level of peace, love, patience, and understanding, where I realize that I cannot do anything without the connection to the love of Christ for me and for you and all of humanity, even when we are not aware.
Do you believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit? How do you know that the presence of God is within you? What do you do, personally, when circumstances prevail and persist and pull at the very fabric of your beliefs? Has your faith ever been shaken?
I am not speaking of any circumstance that you are directly responsible for because of your will against God's will. I am speaking of life's events, events that capture the attention of humanity one way or another.
Your image of God and how God is in your life is important. Being an active participant within humanity, being enabled by the Holy Spirit to be who you are, draws and calls for authentic living. When we live authentically, God can and does work with us and through us.
Also the Holy Spirit allows for me to be who I am. All of us being created in the image of God says that we individually are enough. We as a community are connected by the presence of the Holy One - God in our lives. God in community.
The bottom line of all that is happening in this complex world is this: We are not in this world alone, and yet we have a responsibility as one human being to another to be vigilant, be awake, and continue our involvement in community. The utmost action is to pray. Pray within community, pray within oneself, pray into eternity, because the Spirit will and does intercede.
The Reverend Dr. JoAnna Adams said, “The function of the spirit is not now and never has been to give us what we want or to whisk us away from this wretched, wretched world; it is to fit us for life and witness in this world, for which the Son of God lived and died.”
A spirit of love makes a tremendous difference in our lives. If you don't know it try it sometime. Even when you are not in the frame of love to care or to acquiesce. Try moving to a place of gratitude. That works wonders especially when it is difficult to love.
Paul has said to us that the love of the one true God cuts across the dark intervals of meaning, reaches into the depths of human despair, embraces those who live in the shadow of death or the over bright light of present life. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Absolutely nothing!