I will put my laws in their minds,
Hebrews 8
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
nor will they need to teach their relatives,d
saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
will know me already.
And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.
I’ve written before about how I think God “is not far from any of us” regardless of what kind of religion and spirituality experiences and communities we associate with.
And here in this poem describing the new covenant, we see God telling the same story: “For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already.”
A lot of Christian service talks about different types of roles – like pastors, who care for those in the church, and missionaries, who reach out to those outside.
How different would it be if in your care for everyone, you didn’t weigh too heavily their prior religious experience, but you assumed that in some way, they know God already?
That in some way, each person has had experiences of something transcendent, something meaningful, a little mysterious. That they’d once felt a love bigger than anything that made sense. That they’d felt a caring spirit staying with them in the most lonely moments.
So much of pastoral caring work is not just to offer your own care and love, but also to help them see where God might be in their situation – because God is a far greater source of love and care, and if we can help them connect to that source, it’s more than we can offer on our own.
If someone I’m supporting doesn’t think of themselves as Christian, but I find myself in their world to offer support, I need to remember: they probably know God too, already, in some way. They might not use the same words I use to describe it, but there will be something in their life, some evidence, that the spirit is close by.
And if I can help them notice that and find that, in the language they use and connected to the experiences they already know… that is beautiful.
It’s transcending the categories of “missional” or “pastoral”, but recognising, honouring, and fostering the relationship between God and this person that’s already there, somewhere, if we’re open to seeing the different ways and finding the different words.