Why does Jesus say he will be with us when “2 or 3 of us gather” – isn’t God present when I pray alone too?
Jesus often stressed the deep significance of community and his wish for all those who follow him to “be one.” Of course God is with us when we pray as an individual, but something essential to our growth happens in community that is a non-negotiable component of our faith. But why?
First, as Michael Himes so brilliantly points out in his fabulous 90-page, power-packed, itty-bitty book entitled The Mystery of Faith “Christianity is not a series of conclusions that any one of us could have reached by simply sitting down and thinking about them very seriously and carefully for a long time. Christianity is a report, a Gospel, ‘good news’ that requires that someone bring the news to us.”
Secondly, ALL of us are made in God’s image: this is one of our most ancient and foundational beliefs. Also very ancient and foundational, is our belief that God is a community of persons in equal and loving relationship. This is the essence and significance of our doctrine of the Trinity. God, in and of God’s self, is a community, and we are made in God’s image. Our scriptures tell us that God IS Love. God IS the kind of love the ancient Greeks called agape; perfect self-gift. God is the stuff between us, that holds us together. In other words, God is a relationship among persons (the Doctrine of the Trinity in a nutshell). So when Jesus said that he would be present when 2 or 3 gathered, it was not because he was some kind of diva who needs a minimum audience in order to show up. Rather when 2 or 3 are gathered together in true mutual love (agape) in genuine care and concern for one another, Jesus will be discovered in what happens among them….for THIS is God.
“Being community” reveals important things about God’s nature and our calling that cannot be revealed anywhere else. Though it is hard sometimes to find God in the messiness of our shared life as family, church, etc. with all our conflicts and awkwardness, nonetheless Jesus tells us that is precisely where we need to look. We discover and draw nearer to God in and through our relationships with one another.
Jesus says people will know we are his disciples not by the way we love God, but by the way we love one another. God is not the object of love. God IS the love that exists among Jesus’ disciples…among us. The highest experience of God’s presence is in community. God is revealed primarily in the “WE” not the “ME.”
Jesus instructed us to follow him not to worship him. Jesus’ mission was to guide us to God; to true agape, self-giving love of one another. Just imagine what would happen if we all “followed” Jesus in this way; if we all put each other’s needs before our own, if we actively promoted that which connects us rather than what separates us, if we all lived the radical inclusion and compassion that Jesus modeled for us. God would be incarnate…embodied…Perhaps this is what is meant by the “second coming of Christ”; Christ truly arriving, anew in each of our hearts so we can better live the love that is God. An ambitious mission indeed. No small dream.
Send your Crazy Catholic Questions to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org.
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