Presence

 . . . you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

From the Second Chapter of Acts

I've always loved the homophones: "presence," and "presents."

We give presents at birthdays, and at Christmastime. We share gifts on other days, like Fathers Day, Mothers Day, Valentines Day, wedding days and anniversaries, graduations, and other various special days along the way.

Some years, I try to give mid-year birthday presents to my daughters, if it has been a particularly rough year financially.

When you think about it, we enjoy giving presents to people whose presence we enjoy.

Sometimes, we may not particularly enjoy that person's presence (we don't let them know that), but we give them presents anyway. This is the practice of godly love and grace. If you want to love someone as God does, pretend as though you do . . . and over time, you will.

If God were just present with us, in a full, material, bodily form that we can relate to, it would solve any of our problems. In that very moment that God is with us . . . we have no problems. None at all. The moment is perfect. You do not worry about illness or death, because we know that God isn't going to just be standing there fellowshipping with us, and stand by as misfortune befalls us.

This is how it was when the Apostles were with Jesus. No worries, no concerns. If they expressed fear or doubt, He quickly addressed it with a word, or even, a miracle. Jesus' friends and followers learned not to worry or fret, at all, when they were with Him. For three years, perhaps for the only time in history, a group of humans lived totally worry and guilt-free.

This is why the horrible events in Jerusalem were so devastating to them.

The Presence of God - His accessible, touchable, relatable Presence right there before us, or of His Son, gives us peace, confidence, and joy. It gives us life. It's all we need. And all we ever have needed.

He is the Source of Life, and the Source of everything. We were made to thrive in His Presence, and to wither away when we draw away from Him.

Our presence with one another has a similar effect. It is good for us to be in proximity to others. Good things happen when humans get together, when they agree, when they dialogue. If we practice the Golden Rule when we congregate, there isn't a single problem we cannot solve. If we ask God's blessings upon our unity, we can accomplish more than anything.

But we're in a season now, of absence, and not of presence. To keep us safe, or that is . . . "healthy" . . . we must stay away from each other.

If you wanted to foil God's plan for humanity, wouldn't you want us separated? If we separate long enough, we form into tribes, adversaries, rivals. We cannot brainstorm, or create, or thrive.

Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty, or give me death." This is the attitude of a person with great faith.

His words seem, to most people in 2020, to be the grumblings of a privileged and selfish fool.