How often do we ask ourselves “Where are you?” Many, many times. A very regular question. On the phone, on web messaging, social media apps.
The “where are you?” also asks about the imaginery “where”, for example, on which page and on which paragraph / line in the book you are reading.
It’s not important whether we know “where” the other person is:
- maybe they are on the bus
- they might not want to tell us
- saying / describing where they are might deviate the conversation
A relation frequently asks “where are you?” on the phone; a relevant question if I answered the mobile phone. I laughed at him when I answered the “landline” phone. It points to the a phenomenon where there are different levels of interest and signifiance in our relationship with others.
?
“Where are you” places the focus of the conversation on the other person in the “you”.
If the “where” for me was preparing the business case of a project, and the clients for whom this project will be delivered are moving my attention from the rigour of project management to financial risks of a totally unrelated project, I will be at a wrong place if I followed their suggestions. This will cause problem to my work when the project board evaluates progress of the project and I have very little to deliver. Should they ask me “where are you?”, my response will be something like I am in the wrong place.
The Church is wherever God’s people are seeking to reach out…
Moving from “Who am I?” to “Where are you?”, we have moved from the seeking to the reach out.
We do ask “where are you?” frequently. There are, however, occasions we’d rather distance ourselves from the other person(s), and procced to talk about something else. In some ways, we bypass the “social” part of conversation. Developing from above, the reasons could be
- Not sure our ability to cope, e.g. they might be in hospital with their loved one
- We assume they won’t want to tell us
- They end up telling all the things about why they are so happy about where they are, I don’t really want to know or have the interest
- It’s complicated
- No time
- To prevent them asking back where I am, and I don’t want to tell them
The crunch point is that “where are you?” takes others into our environment – time and space. We make room for them in the time we spend and the space we use. It is a dangerous question to us, it is costly to us, because we need to listen to what they say; and there is really no point in hearing and not listening: to say the least, they will find out we didn’t get anything from what they say.
Does our church ask “where are you?”
To whom do we ask “where are you?”
- regular members
- family members
- others?
Where are you?
Jesus attended to the needs of others, he found out their situation (“where are you?”) and met their needs.
When Jesus was in immense pressure of being obedient to the father, being sold out by one of his closest companions, and facing soldiers arresting him, he knew the “where are you” of the solder whose ear was chopped of by another of Jesus’ companions. To this soldier, Jesus brought healing. He took on the person and the needs of this soldier, showed compassion, and attended to the needs of healing.
What do we do with addressing the needs of others?
The Church is wherever God’s people are seeking to reach out…
