Dear Friends
Jesus is here among us, sometimes all that is necessary to be church, to do church, is to call upon Matthew 18:20 and take Jesus at his word. At the same time, Jesus showing up is not always good news, at least for some. The promise of Jesus’ presence, “for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them,” is comfort only insofar as we are comfortable with Jesus being that close. And I suspect that some of us, if we are honest, don’t always want Jesus in such immediate proximity.
It appears that a lot of what happens goes on without thinking about Jesus’ words at all either intentionally ignoring them or choosing ambivalence. We assume them rather than rely on them. We take them for granted rather than ask ourselves, what difference does it make that Jesus is in the midst of everything we do as a community of faith? Everything we talk about? Every decision we make? Maybe our mantra should not just be, “What Would Jesus Do?” but, “What Would Jesus Hear?” “What Would Jesus Think?”
Immanuel is not always the God we want, this God who insists on staying close, persists in being in the middle of what we do and say, especially when it comes to those things we do and say in God’s name. Because a God whose primary identity is that God is? Well, that’s a God we won’t be able to pin down, systemize, and control. Immanuel is often far more difficult to confess than we are willing to admit. No wonder Jesus will then have to make this promise again, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
When you are at work, in a session meeting, a hospital room, fellowship time, bible study, Jesus is there among you. When you are making decisions about where your benevolence will go or whom our church will welcome, Jesus is there. When our church questions if it will speak up or stay silent, Jesus is there among us. When we are discussing our vision, our mission statement, our future, Jesus is there among us.
I wonder what difference will this truth have in our lives, the actions and decisions we make if all of us remember that Jesus is there among us? Think about it!
Solomzi