Wednesday, 10 November, 2004

This week's devotions are written by Redeemer member John Caron.





However loving and sympathetic we try to be, however sound out psychology, however frank and open our behaviour, we cannot penetrate the incognito of the other [person], for there are no direct relationships, not even between soul and soul. Christ alone stands between us, and we can only get in touch with our neighbors through him. That is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbors, and corporate prayer, offered in the name of Christ, the purest form of fellowship.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer

The Cost of Discipleship

All our knowledge of our world, our relationships, even our God, are filtered through the lens of our experience. Experience gives shape to the symbols we use to organize our understanding of existence and provides meaning to those symbols. When we try to know another person, we form our understanding by interperpreting our experience of that person - not the objective reality of the person him/herself. As such our relationships are imperfect. Relationships improve (or at least become more genuine) when we can be willing to lay aside at least some of our emotional clutter. Thus, to an extend, knowledge of self and how our baggage colors our perceptions of others, is key to getting to know another person, at least on some level.



Yet even this is not sufficient, since we can never fully move out of ourselves to experience the other person fully and uniquely. It is Bonhoeffer's assertion that, for Christians, we can most fully engage the other person through prayer in the name of Christ. By doing this, we are trusting in God's essence to bring relaity to our relationship. Christ can be described as the one who was fully knwon by God and who fully knew God (this is part of the Trinitarian formula). If then, we release our relationships to Christ, we are trusting in God to be the active party to bring insight, knowledge, and truth to our interactions with others. Another way of looking at this is that, just as we trust that God alone justifies us in Christ, so also God alone provides the truest context to know others and to be in relationship with them.



Connection: Focus for a moment on your most significant relationship. Look at all you know about that person. Ask yourself how much of what you know might be reflectionship on who you are, rather than who the other person is. Then pray, trusting that Christ will create and inspire new insights to this person and a stronger bond of love between you.



Prayer: Help us to see what you see in those around us. Help us to understand that others around us are not relfections of our own selves, but divine creations of God - each with unique identifies that we now only see dimly. By looking at you, help us to more clearly see each other. Amen.