On Social Distancing From God

And other reflections on risk and persistent hope 🤲🏼

“Life is vulnerable—always there is the exposed flank.”

~Howard Thurman

Once a week, I drive past this little church out in the country, with one of those marquee signs out in the front lawn. For the last few weeks, the sign hasn’t changed, it reads: “Don’t social distance from God.”

When I read it, I think I clenched my jaw, blinked slow and nodded my head as if in admission—I felt like I did as a child, when during a game of hide-and-seek, I’d been found out.

I’m curious, have you felt any relational strain between you and God these last many months?

Between the strain of the Pandemic, the many (many) difficult decisions that we are being forced to make daily, and the current political climate, it’s been a real temptation to wall-up my heart and resist exposure. Even to God. Just when I was nearly ready to confirm that I am alone in this experience, I had a chat with a friend that validated the tensions I’ve been sitting with, and gave me hope at the same time.

It turns out, I’m not the only one who has a tendency towards walling-off things that begin to feel like too much. When the risk of vulnerability gets too high, my defense mechanism is to close the door on the threat.

Besides the confirmation from my friend, that this is a real posture that some of us are tempted to assume, I stumbled across this from Howard Thurman’s book, Meditations Of The Heart:

“Sometimes much energy is spent in a vain attempt to protect oneself. We try to harden our fiber, to render ourselves safe from exposure. We refuse to love anyone because we cannot risk being hurt. We withdraw from participation in the struggles of our fellows because we must not get caught in the communal agony those around us. We take no stand where fateful issues are at stake because we dare not run the risk of exposure to attack.”

Guilty as charged.

The problems with navigating vulnerability this way are fairly obvious. If shutting down, or shutting out is our modus operandi, the casualties will mount quickly. Relationships will suffer. We will find ourselves distanced from God, whether that was the original intent or not. There are inevitable byproducts to the choices we make.

Thurman continues,

“But all this, at long last, is of no avail. The attack from without is missed and we escape only to find that the life we’ve protected has slowly and quietly sickened deep within because it was cut off from the nourishment of the Great Exposure. It is the way of life that it be nourished and sustained by the constant threat, the sudden rending.

Then,

‘Welcome each rebuff

That makes life’s smoothness, rough.’”1.

While I cannot be entirely sure what specifically Thurman means by his capitalization of the Great Exposure, what it draws to mind for me, is the reality that we are truly known, and always fully exposed to God.

The risk is where the refining happens. God is notoriously present in the fire. This kind of vulnerability is inescapable. Our discomfort with the Intimacy With the Almighty does not change the reality of it. God is impossibly near—as near as the breath in our lungs—in-dwelling. This Truth, I’m re-discovering, is a great comfort. Rather than turning inward towards our own thoughts and frustrations, we are invited to turn inward towards the very Presence of God dwelling in us. To distance ourself from God is to disconnect from the very Source of our own life. The comfort we seek is closer than we realize—our work is to surrender—to remain open to it.

May we open our hearts in trust that God is present in the pain of the expansion.

🌟Good Stuff🌟

• 🎶 Two of my favorite musicians launched Kickstarter campaigns recently for upcoming albums! This will be the easiest “vote” you get to cast this season. *wink Check out Taylor’s Kickstarter HERE, and Teressa’s HERE, and give your future self the gift of some incredible music.

• 📖 My dear friend and mentor, Shelly Miller is about to release her beautiful book, Searching For Certainty. I’ve had the privilege of reading an advance copy and I am struck by the incredible timing of this book, both with the Pandemic and Shelly’s recent, terminal cancer diagnosis. Kyrie Eleison.

• 🍂🍁The Autumn issue of The Cultivating Project is LIVE. Do your soul some good and make a little space in your weekend to read a few (or all!) of these beautiful essays. This is a bountiful table, you will come away from it soul-nourished. Here’s a peek at what it’s all about:

• 🕯 I am currently hosting a book club in The Refinery for Howard Thurman’s book, Meditations Of The Heart. The book club is one of the many benefits of membership in the Refinery, an Artists Guild. If you’re looking for a creative community, inspiration, education and fellowship check out The Refinery and consider joining us.

• 👩🏻‍💻 If you’re working on a book project and need some help, drop me a message. I’d love to see how I might be able to help you bring your book to print.

• 🥘 I shared this image (below) of my teriyaki chicken on Instagram the other day and several of you messaged asking for the recipe. I followed this recipe for the chicken, BUT because my son is allergic to soy, instead of bottled sauce, I used this recipe to make soy-free Teriyaki sauce. 👌🏼
  

  

May your weekend wanderings lead you into the ever-present mercy of God, and may you find rest from your weariness in opening the doors of your heart and letting God all the way in. 🙏🏼

With persistent hope~

Kris Camealy

writer •speaker• encourager