A Hunger for Presence

Devotional Reflection, Friday, April 28, 2022

The week of the second Sunday of Easter

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” 6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 959)

AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 134, 135

Exod. 16:23-36; 1 Pet. 3:13-4:6; John 16:1-15

David’s Reflections

"An absence is felt only if there is something in us that calls for the presence.”So wrote Notre Dame theologian John Donne.*  The disciples were about to feel Jesus’ absence.  He was going to be crucified, risen, and returned to God.  No longer would his bodily presence be among them.  They would grieve as children orphaned by parents.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes the remarkable statement that his absence would be better for them than his presence.  Why?  How could that be possible?

In John’s portrait of Jesus, his absence would make possible and create space for the release of the Holy Spirit with a new depth and power never before experienced.  His followers would be embraced and filled with that presence, and that Spirit would bring Christ’s presence to them in a way not possible were he still physically present.  Jesus’ presence would no longer be limited by time and space, nor by the normal inner/outer boundaries of personal existence.

Something in them called for Jesus’ presence;  they would feel his absence profoundly. Something within us calls for God’s presence, hungers and thirsts for it,  and seeks it.  For that very reason, we feel the absence all the more profoundly.

Gerald G. May speaks of an inner spaciousness, a God-created empty center within us, a place God knows how to inhabit without filling.  The sense of a void, an inner lack, a spaciousness drives us to seek the God who dwells there but does  not bring the longing to an end.  “It is better for you that I go away,” Jesus says.  It  is better  that we feel that inner space than that it not exist.  Otherwise, our desire for God would dry up;  the inner space, the sense  of absence calls for a presence and  drives us to seek that presence.

As May put it:

Spaciousness is always a beginning, a possibility, a potential, a capacity for birth. Space exists not in order to be filled but to create.  In space, to the extent we can bear the truth of the way things are, we find the ever-beginning presence of love.  Take the time then; make the space.  Seek it whenever you can find it, do it however you can.  The manner does not matter, and the experience you have there is of secondary importance. Seek the truth, not what is comfortable.  Seek the real, not the easy.+

Jesus going away created a creative possibility, a space for the disciples.  The Holy Spirit came into that space and drove them outside themselves and into radical mission.  Yet, the Spirit’s coming did not end that inner spaciousness.  May we relax into the sense of absence, the sense of inner spaciousness.  May we hunger  and  thirst for God without expecting God to remove that space.  “It is better for you that I go away.”  And, may we experience that same intensity of love as they did, that inner imperative about which the collect for The Order of Worship for Evening speaks (see below).  “Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion,”

* John S. Dunne, A Search for God in Time and Memory (Notre Dame, IN:  Notre Dame UP, 1969), p.  173.

+ Gerald G. May, The Awakened Heart:  Living Beyond Addiction (New York:  HarperCollins, 1991), p. 106.

Collect of the Day, Second Sunday of Easter

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 224)

Of the Holy Cross

Especially suitable for Fridays

Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 253)

A Collect for Quiet Confidence

O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 832)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

O God, you manifest in your servants the signs of your presence: Send forth upon us the spirit of love, that in companionship with one another your abounding grace may increase among us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 125)

Daily Office Gospel, John 16:1-15

16:1’I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. 2They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. 3And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. 4But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. ‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” 6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. 12‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer