"Wherever you are, I Am"

 "Wherever you are, I Am."
This is the message I got this morning.
It's funny, a while ago I started reading many of the books I was warned against by my initial Christian faith tradition. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Gospel of Buddha, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching, and many others. And instead of leading me away from Jesus Christ, they all led me straight back to Him, complimenting His teachings and making me see them in different ways. I started asking questions, started learning psychology and the workings of the brain in order to answer those questions, and it still led me straight back to Him. Not to the interpretations or theology about Him, but to Him. Now, I've been watching the series "Lucifer" of all things, where the actual devil is the main protagonist "anti-hero", and still, it leads me back to Him and His Father who is love who isn't willing that any should be destroyed but that all should come to redemption.
     In Evangelical Protestantism, really, you're taught to be afraid of a lot of things, depending on the church in question. You're taught to stay away from anything which might disagree. You're taught to not question. You're taught the devil is this huge monster waiting for you to put a toe out of line. Fear is what laces everything. Somehow God is omnipresent, but not in those dark spaces where they don't want you to look. God is everywhere, but apparently not in hell. God is infinite except for these boundaries here.
      God is everywhere, even in the darkness. The true darkness is only you shutting your eyes and plugging your ears to Him. He hasn't gone anywhere. God reveals Himself in everything if you've eyes to see and ears to hear. 
     The other day I got acquainted with a song I had only heard a couple of times before, and then only parts of it in passing, "One of Us," by Joan Osborne. It asks the question, "What if God was one of us?" As I learned, upon its release, many within evangelical protestantism condemned it as blasphemous. Many protested at her concerts.
     But isn't this question answered by the incarnation? You know, when God actually became one of us? When divinity was born as a human being who had to eat, sleep, and poop like the rest of us? Who sweated, got tired, got thirsty, had to deal with a plugged nose every once in a while, and so on?
     It was Mother St. Theresa of Calcutta who said that she saw the face of Christ in the poor and dying she served, and when she washed them, stayed with them as they were dying, and took care of them, she was doing so to Christ.
      What if God was one of us?
     It was Jesus Himself who said whoever feeds the hungry, gives water to the thirsty, visits the sick or the imprisoned, clothes the naked, welcomes the foreigner, that they do it to Him. Jesus was directly saying that how we treat others is how we treat Him. He was also asking the question, "What if God was one of us?" and answering it with, "Treat every human being as if it was Him."
     Sometimes I think the god that many churches want is Zeus, or Ba'al, or Marduk, or one of the pagan warrior gods who, if you propitiate them enough they'll fight for you and give you what you ask. But that's not the God and Father of our Owner Jesus Christ. The God who has already revealed Himself through His Son, and continues to reveal Himself within and through each one of us as He works to reconcile each and every one of us to Himself and will not stop or give up until He has accomplished His goal. He doesn't need to conquer. He already owns everything and only loans it to us for a few moments. He's already given us everything we could ever need. We're the ones who hoard it and keep it from each other. He's always present and willing to work with us and bring us into union with Himself. We're the ones who choose blindness to Him.
     "Wherever you are, I Am." That's the message He gives this morning. He'll meet us right where we're at, and will gently guide us with our cooperation like a guide to a stubborn blind man to where we need to go.

The Character of God in the Television Series "Lucifer"

      I finished binge watching season one of "Lucifer" yesterday. I've seen seasons five and six, but was hesitant to see the first one because I wasn't sure I wanted to see the main character when he was at his worst, before his growth and redemption arc. But I got it anyway, for a good price too, and decided to have a gander. What surprised me most was in discovering that this growth and redemption arc began from the word “go” in the pilot. But what continued to amaze me is to see how the character of God is actually portrayed in the series.
     Underneath the obvious surface blasphemy inherent to the series is actually a portrayal of a God, Lucifer's Father, who cares deeply for His son, and all of His children. It's a portrayal of a Father who had a plan for Lucifer's life for him to grow past his narcissism, self-absorption, and self-indulgence, but it required him coming to growth and conclusions on his own. In the series, much to Lucifer's misunderstanding, God sent him to govern hell for his own growth and to teach him compassion for the suffering of others. Instead, Lucifer believed it was his assignment to judge and torture the guilty. As a result, he became the mythological face of evil and blamed for all the human evils in the world, an image which hurt him tremendously and he felt was forced onto him unjustly. He believed his Father didn't love him, even though he yearned for it and never stopped loving Him though he hid it even from himself. He rebelled and lost and was locked out of Heaven. But God's plan took this into account as well.
     In the series, Lucifer decides he's had enough of hell and enters Earth with no intentions of returning. He has his servant Mazikeen cut off his angel wings to ensure it. He sets himself up as a wealthy nightclub owner in L.A. and attempts to “reinvent” himself. Then, five years later, he meets Detective Chloe Decker, L.A.P.D., who is totally immune to his supernatural charms, something which has never happened to him before. What neither of them know at the time is that Chloe was born specifically as a "gift" to him: the one woman immune to his charms and so she was free to choose him or not for who he himself was. He also meets and begins seeing a psychologist, Dr. Linda Martin, who at first believes he's completely delusional but goes with it anyway. Dr. Martin begin getting Lucifer to see things in a different way and begins making breakthroughs with him almost in spite of his total cluelessness about his own psychology, and between his therapist and his budding relationship with Chloe, her daughter, and her group of friends and coworkers at the L.A.P.D., he begins to change and grow.
     And all the while throughout the series, his Father keeps gently reminding him that He's there, He's got a plan for him, and He works with Lucifer where he's at. He doesn't really push, He waits. When Lucifer does call out to Him, not for himself even when he's dying but to save Chloe's life, His Father responds by healing him, sending him back to rescue Chloe, and giving him a task he's suited for. When Lucifer's Father shows up bodily in season four, He's kind, non-judgmental, and always has a look of deep concern and compassion for everyone. He's also presented as fair, and knowing everything that's going on even when another brother of Lucifer's tries to twist the truth. He intentionally makes Himself human and mortal, ostensibly to be a part of Lucifer's world for a while, and when He puts Himself in real physical danger, Lucifer becomes protective of Him stating "no one hurts my dad!" perhaps surprising even himself as he realizes that he still loves and cares for Him.  Again, part of his Father's plan to heal and redeem His fallen son. By the end of the series, Lucifer finally understands His Father's intention all along. It was never about punishing him, but entrusting him with the care and treatment of fallen souls so that they too could be ultimately redeemed and sent on to "the silver city," because He didn't want anyone to remain in hell forever. For as much of a "bad father" picture that the character Lucifer complains about, the show itself reveals God to be the "hound of heaven" who refused to give up on His hurt, angry, rebellious, fallen son.
     And Lucifer is not the only one whom his Father’s plan affects. Amenadiel, Lucifer’s brother is sent ostensibly to recover him and return him to hell. When we first meet him, he’s harsh, judgmental, and without compassion. He just want’s to get the job done and return home by any means necessary and he becomes one of season one’s “villains”, lying, deceiving, and even trying to get Lucifer killed once he discovers his growing mortality so that he can return him to hell that way. But then he learns the human cost of his actions. The deaths of innocents which he cannot justify. He understands the wrong he has committed even while trying to do the “right” thing. He then really starts trying to understand humanity and take part in it, and in so doing, he learns to care and have compassion. And you can see his Father’s hand here as he begins to truly reflect God’s love and become like his Father by the end of the series, and eventually, reluctantly inherits the throne of heaven after He retires (no, not theologically accurate by any means).
     There is also Mazikeen, Lucifer’s demon servant. She begins the series focused on nothing but sex, violence, serving her boss, and wanting to return home. But as the series progresses, she too is made to really confront her past and her traumas, and she begins to actually make friends, to grow beyond what anyone expected of her. In season four, she asks Lucifer’s Father for a soul. He responds that “you’re perfect just the way you are.” Angry and believing He denied her, she storms out. But then in a later conversation, it’s revealed that He couldn’t give her what she had already grown herself. Again, His plan throughout the show included more than just redeeming Lucifer.
     If we were to go through all of the characters in this series, we can see Lucifer’s Father’s hand touching all of them directly and indirectly, gently guiding them to self reflection, growth, and ultimately their redemption. Even with the main villains of seasons five and six who do end up in hell. Once Lucifer returns, he returns as its chief therapist working to help them and all the souls trapped there to work through their guilt and pain so that they can be freed to move on to heaven.
So really, this is a show about God working behind the scenes gently to bring about the best possible outcomes for everyone while working within their free will and not against it. He’s infinitely patient with all of them. Never responds harshly to anyone. Never actually turns anyone away. Puts up with continuous accusations and verbal abuse from everyone, and in the end, ensures that all of them reach their full healing and completion just the way He planned.
     Regardless of the polytheistic theology, isn’t that the essence of who God actually is? Love?