In God, There Is Room
/“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In [God’s] house there are many dwelling places. . . . And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”
In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus tells us that in God’s house, there are many dwelling places. He assures his followers, including us, that he’s preparing a place for us in this mansion of many rooms. In Christ, we each have a place of belonging. It’s not just a random, unoccupied corner, but a place made intentionally for you, and for me, and for us all. We’re welcome there.
I’ve always assumed that Jesus is referring to the afterlife. I’ve often heard this passage read at funerals, so I guess I’m not the only one who’s thought that! However, what if he’s not just talking about after we die but about now, in this life, at this time? Within Christ and the beloved community he’s established, we’re all at home, and we each belong.
I’ve sometimes struggled with belonging. There’s something in me that can feel like a kid in the cafeteria with no one to sit with. As I think about times when I felt like I didn’t fit, those feelings didn’t necessarily come from outside of me. I mean, sure, I’ve had experiences of actual exclusion, but sometimes what causes my sense of not belonging was really some insecurity. Brené Brown* says that if we don’t do our inner work, if we don’t find a way to belong to ourselves, we’ll see everything as a confirmation that we don’t belong. I think there’s something to that for me. Also, I tend to color outside the lines, and so I don’t easily enter into group think and group identity. So, even though I do belong to some groups, I sometimes feel like I don’t fit.
As the youngest sister in my community, I know I’m different from most of the other sisters. Whenever a conversation starts with “We all feel . . .” or “We all think . . .” or anything that begins with “We all,” I know it likely won’t apply to me. However, over the years of living in community, I’ve also come to see that I’m not the only one who doesn’t fit into “we all.” We should probably stop generalizing that way! Plenty of other sisters feel disconnected sometimes from the “we” of community life. I’ve also learned that I don’t necessarily have to have a lot in common with people to feel close to them. Communal relationships run deeper than our surface commonalities. We’re not all the same, but we really do love each other. Even if some of us struggle to feel included, we all belong.
This revelation about belonging is an invitation to work on belonging to myself, loving and accepting myself. That’s very hard, at least for me. I don’t know if I can ever come to self-acceptance on my own. I need God to help me with that. I need God to remind me over and over again that I belong to God. And because I belong to God, I can learn to belong to myself. Once I trust my place in God, and God’s place in me, well, my belonging doesn’t depend on other people, whether they accept me or not. I belong wherever I go.
In God’s house there are many dwelling places, and each one of us has a place. And those are not individual rooms that keep us apart. In God’s Kingdom, we’re all drawn together into the beloved community. I think there’s an invitation here too. We don’t just arrive in this spiritual community. We have to work for this sense of belonging, not only doing our own work to feel connected but also offering a space of belonging for other people. In our world, in our country, in our local neighborhoods, there’s a lot of disenfranchisement. It’s not just happening at a feeling level, not just people’s insecurity, but a real dynamic of privilege and lack of privilege that keeps people in or out of a circle of belonging. Racism, sexism, cissexism, anti-immigrant bigotry, and all the “isms,” exclude people. In the Kingdom of God, we need to work that out. Belonging looks like a circle, not a hierarchical line. We must work for deeper inclusion for everyone. When some members of the body are excluded, the whole body suffers.
This Gospel reading offers us a strong call. We’re called to trust that we belong to God. It’s not about worthiness, because who among us is really worthy? Worthy or not, God loves us and always makes a place for us. When we trust our own belonging, we can be less insecure and more magnanimous. We can see that God holds a special place for the vulnerable, that God is close to the brokenhearted, that God has a special love for poor and tender people. And God calls us to love poor and tender people too. We not only trust that we have a place in God, but we’re called to make a place for others, especially when society keeps trying to take away their place. When secular systems disenfranchise, we welcome. When society offers only a few places at the table, we scoot over and pull up more chairs. When society says there’s not enough to go around, we know there’s plenty, and so we offer a place of belonging for each of our neighbors.
In God, there are many dwelling places. We dwell there together, and together we belong. Thanks be to God.
For reflection
How about you? Have you ever struggled to feel a sense of belonging? What was that like and how did you work through it? How do you feel now?
What are the places in your life that help you feel connected to other people? And how is God present with you in those spaces?
In what ways is God calling you to help to prepare spaces of belonging for other people? What’s God‘s invitation for you and how are you respond? Maybe just take a little time with God and see what God has to say, and notice what wells up in your heart.
To listen to Brené Brown reflect on belonging, you can listen here: https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-on-strong-backs-soft-fronts-and-wild-hearts/. You can read more in her book Braving the Wilderness.
You can find all of the Scripture readings from the lectionary here: https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar
Subscribe to the Providence Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts or at godspacecommunity.com/providencepodcast.
At God Space, you can come as you are. You belong here. God Space is an outreach ministry of the Sisters of Divine Providence of Kentucky, an international community of Catholic sisters with a mission to be witnesses of God's Providence. We place our trust in God as we care for God's people. Connect with the sisters at CDPKentucky.org.
Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a vibrant spirituality ministry building community in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. A Sister of Divine Providence, she holds a Master’s in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. Sister Leslie guides retreats, offers spiritual direction, and nurtures vocations within her community. Passionate about helping people encounter God in everyday life, she delights in meaningful conversations, dancing, and spicy food.