Seduced by God

I recently saw Into Great Silence, a movie about the Carthusians. The movies attempts to capture the silence and sensibility of the life practiced by the monks. Occasionally a printed statement will flash onto the screen, and repeated throughout the movie. The statement that captured me was "You have seduced me, Oh Lord, and I have been seduced".

Although not a Carthusian monk, God has seduced me and I have been seduced. During this Holy Week, I have been reflecting on what that means. God has seduced me--drawn me into God's love; pulled me into an interior life centered on the presence of God in prayer. I have been seduced by God to shift my center of gravity from the concerns of the culture around me to the concerns of God.

As a result of God's seduction, I am seduced into a radically different life from that shaped by white middle class values. I am besotted with the one who is besotted with me, and my life is shaped by that crazy, upside down gospel-culture known as the realm of God. All of which puts me in a precarious position vis a vis the culture that surrounds me.

You have seduced me, O Lord

and I have been seduced.