Called to Other
“The Holy Spirit holds the tension of God, and is both the abyss and the summit of knowing between Father and Son. The Son is the first Other in the universe. The Spirit is the secret path of affinity that holds the path of kinship warm.”
-John O’Donohue
Every morning each of us awakes to the tension of otherness, of a world outside our own self. Father, it is easy for me to retreat inward, to the comfortable, to the familiar, to what I know; but this is not your calling. Father you have gifted us with your Holy Spirit to fill us with your wisdom, your power, and your guidance where our own is failing us – your Spirit leads us to know the other, and be known by the other. Father, today I ask that you soften our hearts to your Spirit’s moving, to the call you have placed in each of our hearts to not retreat inwardly, but to step out boldly towards kinship and friendship with the Other.
Lord, not every step on our path is easy. Strengthen us for this journey, help us to find support from every “other” we gather into community with. Let our prayers lift one another up when we stumble, let us be keenly aware of your presence when we step outward and gather; and Father, protect us from the pull inward and away.
We ask this in your Son’s name, amen.
-Coop
