Relationship with God
March 5, 2017
was the first Sunday of Lent. Lent lasts for 40 days but not really because
Sundays aren’t counted so that adds six days. There are sects that use
different numbers for determining how long a period constitutes Lent.
Christians
deal with Lent in a variety of ways including doing nothing. If we’re giving up
something for Lent there are some that say that we aren’t supposed to talk
about it just like there are those that say we’re supposed to go off and pray
by ourselves. Others use Lent to focus on service to others.
I have given
up things for Lent in the past. The year that I gave up hang gliding was my
most successful. That really wasn’t keeping in the spirit of Lent. The year
that I gave up beer (Alcoholic beverages but primarily I drink beer.) was
probably my least successful. I took penalties twice and they were not fun.
Don’t ask. There are also habits and actions that I try and get better at with
limited success.
What I often
hear around Lent but at other times of the year as well is that I should use
Lent as a time to work on my relationship with God. Seriously! What does that
even mean?
“You know, God,
it seems to me that you’ve been kind of moody lately. Things just haven’t been
the same between us. I asked you to make those last lottery tickets winners and
frankly you let me down. What’s with that? Is there something that you would
like to talk about?”
Just off the
top of my head I’m going to postulate that isn’t a good way to work on my
relationship with God and is not what people are talking about.
There’s always
the recommendation to study the bible. Well, that’s kind of reading about what
other people think about God. Bible study is about words and what do they mean.
That doesn’t seem to me to be a good way to build a relationship. I have
studied a lot of different things including religions. While my understanding
improved nothing happened in terms of building relationships.
Now when it
comes to the bible I am NOT erudite. I have a minimal grasp of scripture. I am
happy if I can just get through the Lord’s Prayer in church. I’m getting older
and I wasn’t that sharp to begin with. Scriptures are often less than useful
especially when they can be used to support or oppose the same issue. What a
person should or should not do becomes dueling scriptures. I prefer information
or insight that makes some sense. You know—something that’s useful. If I’m
going to build a relationship I want to know what’s going to work.
It seems to me
that to say we need to work on relationship implies that there will be some
communication in the way of feedback. I watched a TV show where two people were
praying for a particular something. One said to the other, “Are you getting
anything yet?” “Nope!” That just about sums up the way I feel when it comes to
working on a relationship with God. There is no back and forth dialogue. It’s a
one way communication initiated by us. Not a great way to improve a
relationship.
In my history
I have only had two instant communications from God. I know that this is where
people say, “Uh oh, he’s a little cray” but there you are. In both instances I
hadn’t been to church or even thought much about God for years. One instant
occurred when I was stooped over working in a factory on second shift; the
other when I was driving to the hospital to get to my dad after he suffered a
heart attack. I did feel Holy Spirit when I was “saved” in a Southern Baptist
church but that really wasn’t a communication like the other two.
It’s usually after the fact that I
realize God has been communicating with me. My wife and I were talking about
this the other day. We were going over all the many decisions that led us to
our current situation and talking about how everything worked out for the best.
Then we talked about how we pray for guidance and direction on a daily basis.
We can’t help but see how we often would both come to the same conclusion and
make the same decision without fully understanding why. We acknowledge that as
prayers answered.
We aren’t
engaged in a Q and A or direct sharing of words with God. God communicates with us in the background.
It’s hard to discern that in the present when things are happening. For me I
think it would be better to say that I’m working on acknowledging and realizing
my relationship with God rather than working on it. I need to be a better
listener. God is.
NOTE:
I downloaded
the picture from The Met, Metropolitan Museum of Art. They have made their
collection available for use in the public domain. The oil on canvas painting
titled “The Dead Christ is by Edouard Manet, 1832—1883. The painting was criticized
for the wound being on the wrong side and the realism. (Christ looks dead.)