God on the Bus

Remember Joan of Arcadia --the tv series that began with the song "What if God were one of us, just making His way home on the bus..."?  I loved that show, and I loved that song.  Unfortunately, it seems that what I love on tv does not have much appeal for the general public.  The show was canceled after one season, if I remember rightly. 

What I loved about Joan, though, was its portrayal of an ordinary, good, family with trials and difficulties and joys, struggling to hold themselves together in an ordinary life.  And God was in their midst, speaking to and through an ordinary teen-aged girl who could hardly believe that God was with her every day.  "Church" was part of their lives, but God was closer than church. 

It seems to me that the whole purpose of any religion is union with God.  To the extent that religion brings us into union with God, it is successful.  To the extent that it remains a social practice, bringing a community together under God, it is somewhat successful also.  After all, there are few social organizations that will allow God to be a recognized part of their club.  The sad thing about religion is that people tend to spend a great deal of time and energy criticizing or applauding the "club," the organization, the structure, and in the process of doing so, pushing God Himself further and further into the background.  Of course, reform is always an on-going process in any organization, and we always need fresh perspectives on where we have gone stale in our religious practice.  The entire history of the Old Testament is one of religious practice growing stale and static, and of God once again trying to enter into the religious practice through prophetic awakenings.

In our day, Pope Francis seems to be a new prophet, awakening the church to the areas where we have grown stale and static.  But my point is not to point out those areas -- but rather, to say, that regardless of where the organization has failed, God is still just as present to us in our daily lives as He was to Joan of Arcadia.  He is still riding the bus with us, still walking through our difficulties with us, still in union with us ---whether the church itself is alive and growing or dead and dying.  The church hopefully always reminds us of that union and strengthens us in that union, but everyone who is paying attention knows the organizational church has gone through 500 year cycles of decay and renewal.  And always, always, 'the gates of hell" have not prevailed, for Jesus Christ is greater than the powers of darkness, and He has promised that He would not leave or abandon us.  And, just as the history of the Old Testament reveals to us, He has never left us to our own devices. 

The human institution of marriage is supposed to be a sacrament -- something we can taste, hear, see, and touch -- of the intimate and indissoluble union of God and man, planned from all eternity, desired from the beginning of creation -- and finally realized in the Person of Jesus Christ.  We know that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; we know that our union with the Divine Presence must come about in and through the Spirit of God.  And we know that its perfect expression is the Person of Jesus Christ.  In Him, we are united to the Divine Presence, despite our failings and wanderings from the Truth.

Christ's death was not "punishment" for our sins; it was our progressive and on-going death to the things of the flesh that separate us from the Divine Presence--power, pride, arrogance, depending on our own resources, lust, greed, abuse, etc.  We were not supposed to "wait for pie in the sky;" we were always designed to walk with God, sit with God, talk with God, commune with God.  With Him, we were made to rule the earth and to have dominion over it.  Without Him, however, we have no knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to govern wisely -- so our dominion is one of power and ruin instead of harmony and peace.

The purpose of religion is union with God, and peace/blessing on earth "as it is in heaven."  At the birth of Jesus, the angels sang, "Peace on the earth to men of good will."  They did not sing of this religion or that, but instead announced a final day of union /marriage of God and mankind.

 Unfortunately, people will spend their entire lives dealing with the surface aspects of religion, and fail to achieve its ultimate goal -- union with, friendship with, God, who described Himself as a Shepherd, holding the ewes in His arms and gently leading the lambs.  Jesus wept over Jerusalem, perhaps the most religious of all cities, because they did not recognize the hour of their visitation.  And I also weep because of those whose "religion" is religion and who fail to recognize God in our midst, making His way home (with us) on the bus.  Some, like Pope Francis, are called to be prophets among us and to reform the church.  The rest of us, however, need to know the Presence and Power of God-with-us  -- Emmanuel--- even while the church reforms itself.