We live in an age of scientific discovery and continuing exploration. There’s a new space race and lunar exploration is back in the news. We’re also devoting resources and energy to exploring more our inner worlds as well as outer space. Do an internet search on self-help & self-discovery and you’ll get millions of hits for books, diets, podcasts, courses… Someone is always happy to sell us something.
It seems we always want to know who we really are!?
We also discover that there’s usually a gap between the person we want to be and the person we actually are now. Sometimes the gap seems enormous and impossible to cross or close. We might feel like we should make warning messages like on the London Underground – “please, mind the gap.”
When we are aware of the gap. . we shouldn’t feel overwhelmed or discouraged because in one way we are making room for God + grace. Who do you say I am?
We can’t answer this question as a group or by a category. It requires us to first identify and own our gaps.. When everything is sailing along smoothly we don’t notice the gaps. We are content with quick + easy answers. But that never satisfies. We want more. We need more.. When things fall apart, we create space for vulnerability + honesty. The old answers won’t cut it anymore. We need new personal categories that are only going to make sense for me. Peter gave us his answer today. And it’s a great answer! But would his answer have been different when he was sinking into the Lake in the middle of the storm? Or when safely ashore? Or after denying Jesus three times? It’s only as we embrace the gaps in our lives and enter into these liminal spaces that we make room for the categories to expand and grow. As we grow, our answer to the question that Jesus keeps asking is also going to change. This shouldn’t shock us or dismay us. But we do have to keep exploring our gaps and empty spaces.. This is where the spirit of Jesus is found. Not is simple and comfortable formulas. But always in deeply personal encounters with the living God.
