John 15:15, 2 Corinthians 6:1, Romans 8:17, Colossians 3:4, 2 Peter 1:4

John Alessi explores the nature of relationship with God we're invited into.

John Alessi

TV's Downton Abbey has been a roaring success and many of us are looking forward to the final series and then maybe a Christmas special and perhaps even a film version down the road!

The series evokes the atmosphere of a bygone age and a different world. It's a world when those at the top (the aristocracy) were indeed the ruling class and those at the bottom (the working class) knew their place in society. It was a world conditioned by deference and demeanour from the bottom up. Old traditions held sway and class distinctions were set in stone.

We live in a different world today. We are in a so-called post-modern society, but we still have a strange fascination with how things once were and it still holds a degree of romantic nostalgic sentiment over us.

The world of Downton Abbey, with its rigid 'upstairs-downstairs' way of being and living could have a lot to say to us about understanding our relationship with God and how we live our Christian lives.

Maybe we view God as being 'upstairs' and we are 'downstairs.' He is the Lord and Master above and we are the servants below. We are grateful for being in the same house as our Lord and are happy to fulfil our duties and 'eat the crumbs that fall from the Master's table.'

For many of us this is a fairly accurate model of the way our relationship with God works and it certainly highlights the transcendence, majesty and glory of God whilst at the same time underlining our dependence and reliance on his grace and mercy.

However, as we explore the pages of the New Testament, we discover that this metaphor or model of understanding things between God and ourselves is inadequate and we are invited to re-visit our spiritual Downton Abbey world and introduce some quite revolutionary thinking.

Jesus (the 'upstairs' Lord and Master) says at one point, "I do not call you servants any longer...instead, I call you friends," (John 15.15.) Hang on a bit...are we being invited to live 'upstairs' and to share in the company and conversations of the One we serve?

Does this now affect the way we view our service? We still serve and work for our Master don't we? I suppose we do. But then we are hit by another revolutionary bombshell that makes us re-evaluate our relationship with God once again. Paul the apostle opens up a brand new vista for us when he talks about not merely working for God, but about working with God, (2 Corinthians 6:1). This suggests partnership (between God and us) as co-labourers or co-workers in a common mission. Wow!

It's almost as if we the working class (...the downstairs lot) are invited to join the aristocracy (...the upstairs lot). It actually gets better! We are adopted into the divine family (the Trinity) and become heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ, (Romans 8:17). As children of God, the spiritual revolution is complete, which is why Paul also talks about 'sharing his glory' (Colossians 3:4) and Peter talks about 'sharing in the divine nature,' (2 Peter 1:4).

God is treating us as friends, partners and members of his family with a share in his nature and glory! No patronising. No condescension. No looking down on us. Talk about sitting at the top table!

In the traditional and classical mystical thinking of the Christian Church there is the thought of union between God and us through Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit. It is the mystical union between the Bridegroom (Jesus) and the Bride (the believers) that Paul talks about. God remains God and we remain who we are, but the closeness between us is deeper than we dare imagine.

Yes, God loves us. Jesus came to give his life for us. To redeem us. We have forgiveness through Jesus. A new life. But we also have the privilege of an intimacy and depth of relationship with God that we will always struggle to fully understand.

We are called to be 'upstairs' people!