Shane J. Wood: Letters from the Desert

Shane J. Wood: Letters from the Desert

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Shane J. Wood: Letters from the Desert
Shane J. Wood: Letters from the Desert
Connection

Connection

An Ode to Introverts and Extroverts

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Shane J. Wood
Jun 03, 2024
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Shane J. Wood: Letters from the Desert
Shane J. Wood: Letters from the Desert
Connection
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“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness…”

~ Genesis 1:26a ~

In the beginning was connection. Connection was with God. Connection was God. And then, connection became flesh. Embedded in creation. Every aspect. Every atom. Every Eve. Every fiber and neuron.

Connection teems with each child’s cry. Each elections disappointment. Each animal decomposing. Each tree inhaling CO2 and exhaling what’s essential for every bearer of God’s image.

In the beginning was connection. God-in-three-persons infinitely emptying themselves to create space to fully receive the other. God-in-three-persons contemplating all that unfolds in the six days to come, where light emerges to feed the flowers of the field, dew descends to quench the seedling’s thirst, and sabbath provides the punctuation to ensure connection permeates all that creation holds.

“I have an idea,” the triune God quips, “Let us make humankind in our image. In the image of connection.”

And it was so.

We were created in the crest of connection. Forged in the fires of belonging. The tides of our heart ebb and flow to the rhythm of connection, at times courageously lurching into friendships with short shelf-lives and then retreating into the recesses of our heart wondering if anyone cares enough to follow. To fight. To pursue us in the name of connection.

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