Hagar in Genesis 16 is feeling very alone, very hot, very lost. She is the only person, and a woman too, and a non-Jew too, who gives God a name. You’re familiar with God, God Almighty, the LORD God and so on. An angel comes to Hagar and gives her hope and she replies “You are the God who sees me” (El Roi in hebrew).
The photo is of Donna who has kindly walked me from Christchurch up to get the tram to the train station, to get the train to the airport, and then upstairs where the El Al departures are. She’s been my super support these 10 days. Note that I’m in a clergy shirt. This worked on the way in, I think i got interviewed less, but on the way out i did not feel that there was any fast tracking to be had.
I’ve got a window view on my flight and see vast ranges of mountains so far below like toy models and I wonder ‘What does this look like from God’s point of view – the God who sees everything?’ The cumulonimbus clouds are beautiful and fluffy and just indescribable. And then as we come in to land we see all the little cars and houses like toy lego but you know that each one contains someone looking for hope and help, for the God who sees.
How to re-adjust to living in an ordinary place having walked where Abraham, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul walked. I’ve not found the answer to this just yet. But perhaps it starts with remembering the God who sees, and praying to see as God sees – to see hope and help opportunities through the day.
The woman selling Lucy a train ticket questions why she only wants one ticket as she can see that I am with her. ‘Oh he’s being romantic and seeing me to the train’. She loves this idea and you can see its given her a big smile. How romantic indeed! My prayer is that i might continue to see people and places in the same way that I did when in the Holy Land, because I suspect that Seaford may be holy too.
I return home to hang out my washing, sift through my receipts, and do the chores that need doing. I’m listening to a Cadfael story when the hero says “And to think that you’re beyond forgiveness, beyond redemption, beyond the love of God, well that is an arrogance too”.
El Roi is the God who sees – this God sees you with that same love and we are never beyond His love.