Rohr: Good and God
“God does not love you because you are good; God loves you because God is good.”
—Adapted from Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (Franciscan Media, 2008), pp. 163-164.
making butterflies
We once had a very intelligent friend who told us that as soon as she became a better person, she would come back to the church. I actually hear this same attitude from so many people who come for spiritual direction. They either see church as a house full of hypocrites or as the opposite—a gathering of the most holy among whom they would be deemed unworthy. My favorite answer, of course, is that a church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners! We go to meet God, to give thanks, to praise God, to ask for forgiveness, and to share the God within each of us with the God in our neighbors. Rohr is teaching us, reminding us that it is God who is the good one—always present, forgiving, supporting, encouraging, loving. This is a hard concept for people who have been raised with a judgmental image of God—because often they as well have unknowingly become most judgmental.
We most often first experience this love by being in community.
Rebecca Spooner is leading a morning retreat about the Enneagram at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Saturday February 29th from 9 to 1. The Cost is $15. Sign up on St. Mark’s website lovesaintmarks.org. Go to What’s on, then Events.
joanna joannaseibert.com