Deep Church

 Dr Luke Bretheron, one of the editors and contributors towards ‘Remembering our Future’ prepared 3 mediations on the Presence and Absence of God, using words and art.

Luke introduces the mediations by saying…

“Words: The theme of these meditations is the absence and presence of God or more precisely how relationship with God necessarily involves both God’s presence and His absence.  The first meditation will focus on the Old Testament and explores how Israel’s relationship with God can be seen as a dance that involves moments of both intimate closeness and withdrawal.  The second meditation will invite you to consider the paradoxical dynamic whereby God is made present through his absence and made absent through His presence.  This will be done through comparing the sculptures of Rachel Whiteread and the waxworks of Madam Tussauds.  The third meditation draws our attention back to central drama of Christianity and reflects on Jesus’ crucifixion and entombment as revelations of how God is absent and present to us in the midst of a sinful and suffering world.  

These meditations are not a systematic overview of the rich and diverse theological theme of absence and presence.  Instead, they are meant to be explorations, mining the theme, uncovering points for reflection and elliptical or indirect in how each meditation relates to the other.

At the end of each meditation there will be an invitation to reflect on a particular question or point.  These are meant to be an aid to your thoughts and prayers but feel free to go in other directions.

Pictures: There are some images relating to the text.  Some of these will be referred to directly in the meditations, others are meant to complement what is being said but will not be referred to or discussed.  Again, they are there to be enjoyed and to serve your prayers and reflections.”

Meditations:

Number 1: a dance of withdrawal and intimacy

Number 2: presence in absence and absence in presence

Number 3: cross and tomb