When calamity strikes, people often ask themselves where is God? We also witness immense cruelty, and we wonder how could God allow such behavior? If God does allow such behavior, what does it mean? The short answer is that I do not fully know but have a few thoughts about seeing or finding God. For Christians God is personified in Jesus. It is easy to feel a distance from the historical person and challenging to understand a spiritual communion with him. Through a combination of chance and effort (perhaps divine intervention) I found a song and later a Sunday reading that gave me a vision, if not a greater connection to God. Instinctively when I heard the song I made an image with a bit of the lyric in the image.
Somewhat dissatisfied with the outcome of the image. A few weeks later I was struck by a bible reading that gave me a different sort of vision. I saved the text on my phone and copied it below.
John 4:11-16
11 My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us.
13 This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit.
14 We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world.
15 Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God.
16 We have recognized for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
The Bible passage complemented but also greatly transcended my drawing. Through the text, I could see God as manifest in our friendship. If God is within us and we make God’s love available to others, then others will see God’s work. The challenge it seems is allowing ourselves to be open enough and fearless enough to trust one another. Another challenge is to be mindful of our friendships. It easier to forget then it is to remember the truths that buoy us through the tempests.
Thank you for your reflections on God in both word and image.
Really enjoy your art, but also hearing you talk about it. The voice in which you write is honest, authentic, and full of insight. Beautiful.
I am glad you read this and thank you for the feedback.