Being with God (I): Being with God Alone

Being with God (I): Being with God Alone

Samuel WELLS

This essay sets out the framework for the other following two essays and details the eight dimensions of “being with”, the core notion of the lecture series to be further deepened subsequently. Being with God alone constitutes the life of discipleship. The essay begins with contemplating the practice of personal prayer, which is fundamentally about showing up, or “Presence”, and is a recognition that God has already set the world to rights. “Attention” is the moment when showing up turns into being with, not just present in body, but also mind, spirit and heart. What “Attention” requires is to see God as giver of superabundance of grace. These two dimensions are the preliminaries for the other four. “Mystery” is different from “problem” because it cannot be solved but only be entered, just as we enter into the mystery of being with God in private prayer. A prayer of “Delight” is “letting go”, rather than “taking on”, best illustrated by theatrical improvisation. The difference between “Participation” and “Partnership” is that the former celebrates the “with” for its own sake, whereas the latter emphasizes the different roles of the two partners. “Partnership” therefore looks like “working with”, more than “being with” . If “Mystery” and “Delight” describe the encounter with the otherness of God, “Participation” names the “closeness” of God. Yet, prayer of “Partnership” should stir us to wonder if we ourselves might be part of God's way to answer our prayers, and leads back to “Participation” and opens into “Enjoyment”. Because the chief end of Christian life is to worship and enjoy God forever, but our common mistake is to “use” what should only be enjoyed for its own sake. Therefore we have to learn how to be with others from the way God is with us. Finally, God is praise, and “Glory” is the word to describe “being with” as a constant state of praise. The time of personal prayer of the disciples teaches them an “ethic of being with” – which will be subject of the other two essays.