11-18-09 Reflection(Yaconelli)

(Posted: 10:43:18 11/18/2009)

Blog: Dangerous Wonder (Yaconelli)

There are people whose love for God and for Jesus makes me feel like a huge imposter. I know I shouldn’t compare myself to anyone else, but there are some passionate lovers of God at whom I am in awe. One of those people is Mike Yaconelli, a Protestant youth minister. Mike was over the op in love for Jesus. He has a few great books I would recommend if you want to be provoked: Dangerous Wonder and Messy Spirituality.

This following excerpt comes from pages 93-94 of Dangerous Wonder.

A couple of the young people decided they wanted to attend as well. We spent the day reading different Scriptures, meditating on the Scripture and then journaling an assigned task. All participants were asked to journal, individually, what they thought Jesus might say to them if He wrote them a letter. When we gathered as a group to read our journal entries, the adults found it difficult to read theirs. Many were so concerned about interpreting their lack of understanding. Janie, a seventeen year old high school girl, volunteered to read hers first. “First of all,” she said hesitantly, “I think I messed up. You wanted us to write about what Jesus would say to us, and instead, I wrote a dialogue between Jesus and me.” (Interesting, isn’t it? Her first concern was that she messed up, which is why children lose their ability to listen to God.) We assured her that whatever she had written was fine. Here is her dialogue:

I feel awkward because it’s been so long since I’ve been near you.

I’ve missed you too; I think about you every day.

But I’ve messed up; I’ve done a lot of things that I regret.

Its okay, child. I forgive you.

I don’t understand, I turn away, I ignore you….

I’m still here right beside you.

I try to live without you even though I know deep inside that you’re still a part of me.

You don’t have to make yourself lovable; I love you how you are.

Even after everything I’ve done, and everything that has happened, would it offend you if I called you bizarre?

I am bizarre; more so than you’ll ever know.

This may seem strange, but could I please ask you to hold me, for a little while?

My child, I’ve been waiting for you with outstretched arms.

After Janie read her dialogue, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place….and all the adults said, “I’m not reading mine.” Janie was still able to hear the “thin silence” of God.

Christianity isn’t so complicated, is it? All we need to do is listen to the whisper of God.

We can find our hearing again. We can learn once again to hear the thin silence of God.

If we don’t understand God as the Whisperer, the Thin Silence, then maybe we need to look at God in a new way. Maybe we need to abandon our “sophisticated” adult ways of understanding God and remember what we knew about God as a child.

Recently I had the throat-swelling and heart filling experience of praying with my own daughter (via computer because I was on the road.) The frankness and rawness of her prayer blew me away and made me realize something. I know how moved I was as her father by the REALNESS of her prayer. I caught myself remembering my Father feels the same way—joy and care and a desire to help. God feels those things when I pray.

My friends, I invite you: pray.

Today.

And…pray for me while you are at it.