This week’s letter is from Renovaré’s Content Manager, Grace Pouch.

Dear friends,

Our ability to get to know someone personally depends on what the person givesdirectly to us… what they disclose about who they are or what they think. Without this personal exchange, our knowledge is limited to knowing about them — a propositional kind of knowing. 

Thankfully, God is a great self-giver. A thrilling reminder that we can know God on an intimate level is memorialized in the writings of the 14^th-century mystic Julian of Norwich, who said ​“For God wishes to be seen, and he wishes to be sought…”

I’ve been toying with the idea that mystics are explorers of the givenness of God — and their writings are their maps. While each of us is invited to become a seeker in our own right, we proceed with a bit more clarity about what to expect and where to pay attention thanks to those who have gone before us. We benefit from the maps of the mystics.

On this week’s podcast, Lacy Borgo talks with Nathan Foster about a true explorer of the depths of God, Thomas Kelly. His book A Testament of Devotion offers what Lacy calls a ​“grand vision of what is most real in the world.” 

Following in the footsteps of Bible characters who gave God creative names like Ancient of Days and God Who Sees Me, Kelly uses descriptive titles for God like ​“Invading Love” and ​“Singer of all songs.” He uses his imagination to paint a verbal map for us of God’s character and God’s whereabouts: ​“Within the Now is the dwelling place of God Himself.” 

When it comes to imagination and encountering God, we aren’t image-making, for that would be the very definition of idolatry. We are image-receiving. We can illuminate and describe truth, but we can’t spin it out of thin air. 

It may feel a bit humbling to accept that our invitation is to discover, not to invent, but it isn’t any less delightful. 

Look at how little children delight in discovery. Lacy Borgo knows this well. She has written a storybook (for children and adults) called All Will be Well… Learning to Trust God’s Love. The story is a tender reminder that God ​“wishes” to be seen, sought, expected, and trusted. It calibrates our senses to an invisible, but ever-present God. It is, in its own way, a little map for our ongoing encounters. 

With all due regard to mystics, the real praise belongs to God, because spiritual maps are nothing without the one who creates and reveals. Thomas Kelly writes ​“Count on God knocking on the doors of time. God is the Seeker, and not we alone…” So let’s give thanks to the Giver of understanding, the Host of encounters— who wishes to be seen.