#106: Skill Set: Holding space for the mystery of God with Reverend Summer Joy Gross

So many of us struggle with our inability to quantify or measure God. While we appreciate His infinite nature and His lavish love and do not want to worship a God we can fully understand, we are far more accustomed to swimming in the sea of:

Transactional relationships
If this then that statements
Of linear and logical progression; for example, When I work hard, I get the promotion.

In so many ways, our God is a mystery to us.

If you find yourself struggling to comprehend who God is; if you prefer data, knowledge, information, and cause-and-effect, you are in the right place.

Here to offer us hope is today’s guest Rev. Summer Joy Gross.

This episode is the fifth installment in our Skill Set series, one in which we’ll take God’s wisdom and overlay it onto our real-life struggles so we can know what practical tools are at our disposal to help us overcome our struggles with God’s truth and grace.

Key Quotes

“The Lord has infinite attention for each one of His beloved children.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“God is even bigger than what He was able to put in black and white because He is a person.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“We are invited to humbly, with curiosity, with joy, come before the Lord and say, ‘I want to know you. I want to get to know you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“That’s the adventure of our faith: that we get to come into relationship more and more fully.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“We break other people without even meaning to because we are so broken.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“The formula, ‘If I do this for you, God, you’ll do this for me, and my life will look like this’ has never really been true.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“Information is not going to give us a relationship.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“We have a God who wants to catch every tear in His bottle, who brings us onto His lap, who wants to create a hiding place for us in the midst of our suffering and pain.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“Allowing the pain and questions and emotions you have come to the surface and lament is really, really vital.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“Can we rest in the fact that the Lord is at work? That we can trust that He is at work? That we can place ourselves in His hands to be the leader?” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“We don’t give the Lord enough of the responsibility that’s actually his. We take it upon ourselves.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross
“The Lord has an invitation – I believe one of the greatest invitations – to fall back into the arms of God more and more often.” – Rev. Summer Joy Gross

Mentioned in the Podcast

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Previous Podcasts Mentioned

About Summer Joy Gross

Summer Joy Gross is an Anglican priest and a spiritual director and loves to sit with people’s hard and holy stories.

She is passionate about helping people find home base in the tender heart of God. She sets a table for women to attach to God through ancient contemplative practices and modern neuroscience.

She podcasts at The Presence Project and sends out a monthly mini-retreat by newsletter, which includes Lectio Divina videos and personal retreat ideas.