Availability and Vulnerability

I'm exploring what it means to be available and vulnerable these days. That's the dual vow of the Northumbria Community, a Celtic community in England and dispersed throughout the world. Being available is a difficult practice in today's society. It just doesn't seem like there is enough time in our fast-paced schedules to be available—especially if we already are in service vocations like teaching or chaplaincy or even medicine. And what if my availability ends up hurting me? What if I feel crucified by those to whom I make myself available—crucified by their indifference or lack of gratitude that I was there for them?

Ah, but there's the rub! That attitude is a definite indication that my being available really wasn't for the other, but rather for some narcissistic act that I thought perhaps would make me feel good; that would only massage my ego. Jesus gave us the ultimate model of availability when he submitted to death on the cross. I am reminded of that vulnerability when I think of Jesus at his most human moment. In John’s Gospel there is no great outpouring of agony at being abandoned by God as there is in the synoptic Gospels. His death is recorded simply as “When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (v. 30). Jesus is available and vulnerable all in the same moment, and he goes to God knowing he has shown us what it means to live as Christ. There really seems to be no need for subsitutionary atonement when one realizes that something very different went on in those days in the First Century in Palestine.

God is infinite in goodness and mercy, and that goodness and mercy is revealed to us in Jesus. John Scotus Eriugena says, “ He who made of God a human being makes gods of men and women. And dwelt among us, that is, he took possession of our nature so that he might make us participators in his own nature.” To me, this means that we simply follow Jesus and become Christ. That’s the same thing as saying we’re Christ-like, and hardly anyone could argue with that being one’s goal as a follower of the Christ!

Another Celtic theologian, Pelagius, in his Letter to Demetrias, says “Do not let your mind be seduced by theological speculation; the human mind can never grasp the supreme glory of God. Simply follow Jesus wherever he leads.”

What this boils down to is that God’s presence is among us in the world. We are all invited to use our spiritual eyes and ears to seek that presence in the sick, the downtrodden, the poor, and those in prison. We are invited to be available and vulnerable, risking our lives like God risked his life in Christ to know the fullness of human life from birth to death. In doing so, God gave us the model to follow, and Jesus is both our path and our destination.