WHERE CAN I FLEE FROM YOUR PRESENCE?

As we draw near to our departure date (Sept. 29), numerous things require our heart and mind’s attention. My wife began packing. She does not pester me to start packing. She knows I will eventually get to it in my own time. But she reminded me recently that in recent trips, I have forgotten to pack certain things or not pack enough. In the meantime, my mind and heart are all over the place. Thus, this week’s post is about my rapt in thought.

Among all the helpful names and descriptions of God, Paul Tillich’s idea of God as “the Ground of Being” has resonated with me, or should I say, grounded me in recent years, especially this week. Looking back, the ground, in a physical sense, has been shifting beneath our feet as we traveled across Asia. The thought and assurance that we are walking on and with the Ground of Being gave me comfort, knowing that I am known, like David’s question: “Where can I flee from your presence?” No matter which ground we stand on, there is God. This realization also highlighted our desire for a more permanent “ground” to stand on. Behind every experience, there is meaning. Our experiences serve as clues to uncover our true essence based on the meanings we unearth. Discovering meaning through our unique journey will continue. We are eager to settle on a more permanent ground in Yangpyeong, Korea. I am sure I will write more about this later.

I was asked to give a talk in my former organization to a small group of leaders, the missiology group. Curious, I accepted the invitation and asked, “Do you want me to prepare anything?” “No, just share your latest update and reflections,” was the reply. I ended up talking for an hour and a half, responding to thoughtful questions. After the talk, I felt honored that my years of focus and effort still had some steam left and learned that my main emphasis on formation, or contemplation, actually became a major focus within the organization. I received it as God’s way of encouraging me on the eve of our departure.

A few days later, I presented a paper over Zoom during the Asia Society for Frontier Mutualism (used to be Missiology), which just took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As a founding member of the society, I have witnessed its transformation over the last twenty years. It has been one of the very few meetings in which I did not hold back my tendency to push the existing boundaries of missions endeavors. This was the forum in which I proposed Nouwen’s hospitality as a blueprint for missions more than fifteen years ago. I presented a paper titled “From Imago Dei to Missio Dei” more than ten years ago. They represented the early seeding years of my eventual focus on both contemplation and action. I am grateful that ASFM provided me with a safe space to speak my mind.

Besides family, my wife and I have been celebrating friendship. As we get older, our relationship with friends gets simpler. During our younger days, there were multiple layers of relationships, including friendship, which were often muddied and complexified. As those layers peel off and melt away, this season of our lives allows us to enjoy the purity and joy of friendship. Friendship has many names. Among them are depth, joy, childlikeness, acceptance, and freedom. The word childlikeness surprises me even as I write. The friendship space is safe and sacred to access the inner child in me, and radically different from other spaces enough that I do not have to work to fit into a system of expectations and proprieties. The unadulterated quality of such space is precious, and it brings me a smile as I reflect on it.     

“In the kingdom of love there is no competition; there is no possessiveness or control. The more love you give away, the more love you will have. One remembers here Dante’s notion that the secret rhythm of the universe is the rhythm of love, which moves the stars and the planets. Love is the source, center, and destiny of experience.”

Then there is love as the ultimate quality, as John O’Donohue writes in *Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom*. This soul friendship, known as anam cara, meaning “soul friend,” creates the rhythm of love. It allows us to be part of the entire cosmos’s way of existence and experience, joining in the revolution of love and the evolution toward love. We leave behind a certain group of friends in the US and will find ourselves welcomed by a group of friends in Korea and Asia. Even then, geographical distance no longer acts as a barrier but becomes a doorway into more joy and love.