He will feed his flock like a shepherd;

He will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead the mother sheep. Isaiah 40:11.

In Genesis there’s a wonderful story about God’s desiring communion with the creature man/woman he had made. When Adam sinned, that fellowship was broken. God arrived in the garden for their usual fellowship-time, but Adam was hiding.

The ‘Fall’ was a fall from fellowship, not only between us and God, but between humans themselves. Cain killed his brother Abel, and we’ve had to work very hard to maintain fellowship, particularly where our fallenness has led us to create barriers between persons and groups.

And yet, though God in the Old Testament is characteristically sovereign, and holy, in his ‘apartness’ from sinners, his statement to Moses – ‘I will be with you’ (Exodus 3:12) – indicates his desire to commune with his covenant people. As Psalm 23 tells us, he feeds us, cares for us, protects us, guides us and encourages us.

O God the Father, good beyond all that is good, fair beyond all that is fair, in whom is calmness, peace and harmony; make up the divisions which keep us apart and bring us back into a unity of love which may bear some likeness to your divine nature. And as you are above all things make us one by the unity of a good mind, that through charity and affection we may be spiritually one, through that peace of yours which makes all things peaceful, and through the grace, mercy and tenderness of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. (Dionysius)

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