Hanging Out with Jesus

Hanging Out with Jesus

January 31, 2018

Eastern Point Retreat House

Gloucester, Massachusetts

The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling

She told me to just hang out with Jesus. How do you do that? I mean, I’m not very good at hanging out with anybody, but how do you hang out with someone who is not there. Well, He is.

I was frustrated, and it was time for my afternoon walk. Jesus had not shown up that morning as He had in the past three days. And while I didn’t want Jesus to be ‘on demand’ for me, Little Miss Much Afraid in Hinds Feet and High Places told me yesterday that He would.

So I put on my hiking boots and went out into the cold. It had been snowing and blowing all morning, and the storm had finally stopped. I wasn’t eager to go outside, and gave myself plenty of excuses not to go out. What else was there to do? I had already been down the “evil distraction” lane after lunch. It’s called FaceBook. If I stayed inside, temptations would remain, perhaps even escalate, and is that really what I wanted? Choosing the lesser of two evils, I went out.

My pace was quick, partially because I was frustrated, partially because I wanted to generate some heat, and partially because I wanted to get this over. The roads were minimally plowed and icey. Many small plows were out on the roads and I decided I needed to be careful for many reasons. At first I just paid attention to where I was walking until I hit clearer roads and could enter into a stride. That’s when I began to think about my relationship with Jesus.

I thought about my personal relationship with family and friends. How did I hang out with them? I recalled that I didn’t spend 24/7 with them, gazing into their eyes, exchanging our thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams. I thought about how Paul and I would go out alone and do the separate things that we loved. He likes to fish. I like to walk. Right, so here I am Jesus, walking with you. And in a moment of “pique” and challenge, I said to Jesus, “I like to walk. What do you like to do?” And immediately, without missing a stride, He replied, “I like being with you.”

Well. There you are. Hanging out with Jesus. On a cold and snowy day in Gloucester, Massachusetts.