Conversation with God

The world turned upside down. People have taken leave of their senses, how could we let this happen and is this what we have come to are all cries which have been heard from many people over the past few weeks - I think the current slide really started for me when the News International story broke - some sort of blinking incomprehension hit me that anyone could think this even might be OK. And then, of course, the riots - although I am not surprised in many ways - I was appalled that we seem so unable to fix our own problems with any degree of success. We are definitely out of kilter.
The Bible has this theme of being out of kilter too - sometimes in minor ways but more often the whole nation of Israel veering off from relationship with God in a rapid and destructive way. The stories of Gideon meeting with the angel in  Judges and the warning against riches in Matthew are points of turning things the right way up - or at least beginning to. They are about restoring relationship in the way that relationship should be - so in Gideons case (as in the case of many of the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs) he is afraid that his encounter with the angel will kill him, holiness and humanity cannot mix in his mind - but over and over again God comes to God's people and offers hope and presence which far exceeds their expectations.
Jesus warns that riches will hold them back from the kingdom and in a typical moan Peter wants to know what, then, they will get out of all this. Something else, says Jesus, something else all together.
There is a website called Sacred Space, run by the Jesuits in Ireland, every day they offer a short set of readings and prayers - but one of the hallmarks of the way that they encourage people to pray is that they encourage people to imagine that Jesus is in the room with them. They encourage readers to take a moment and talk to Jesus as if He was sitting in a chair next to them. This may be the way you pray anyway, but if not it is quite a challenging exercise - to remove that transcendence of God for a moment and really allow ourselves to believe that we can talk to God as we would to each other, and that more important that God will talk back to us.
In the letter to the Romans Paul uses the word conformed several times - the most famous verse being "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." The idea is that by paying attention to God, by spending time in the presence of God and acknowledging that presence as real we will be shaped and moulded more and more into the image of Christ. This is what Peter was missing, the image of Christ was something which was bigger and better than he had imagined and in that image He would find fulfilment - not in worldly gain.
We need to spend that time in discernment - there are lots of clever people making lots of clever points and no doubt at least some of them are right - but the Biblical model is to be brought into the presence of Holiness and then to fulfil God's mission in the world. We would do well to remember that quiet ministry when we are beset by an upside down world - when our grief has subsided and our anger dies down then we need to sit alongside Christ and simply talk and listen - simply let God's presence rub off on us - both in the Eucharist and in our private devotions.
We often say Jesus turns the world upside down  - but not in a destructive way - Jesus simply tells us to look for our full humanity in Him - to find who we are in the presence and practice of Holiness - it is a very simple and yet extremely challenging charge. Anger and despair our our enemies as unchecked they lead to apathy in the face of feeling hopeless and overwhelmed - there is another path - and that is conversation  - yes with each other - but most of all with God.