Which Incarnation Walks With You?

At church on Sunday, our pastor talked about Jesus being with us. He asked us to talk about when we most felt the presence of Jesus and when we most felt the absence of Jesus.

Later, my spouse and I were talking about which part of the Triune God we perceive the most. I've known people who pray fervently to Jesus, but I've always prayed to God, and I tend to picture God in the same way that I did when I was 5. God looks like Abraham Lincoln on that white marble throne in the Lincoln Memorial, only God has a long, white beard.

Yes, I'm troubled by this. Yes, I've tried to substitute other images of God. God as mother, God as womb, God as painter/creator/weaver. Nothing works. When I pray, I'm praying to the God of my 5 year old self.

I've never met anyone who prays to the Holy Spirit. Never. I've known Christians of all stripes and no one talks about praying to the Holy Spirit. However, my spouse and I both agree that when we feel the presence of God, it's the Holy Spirit we're sensing.

Is it strange that Jesus is the one aspect of the Triune God that I experience least in my daily life? Jesus is the one I spend the most time thinking about and reading about. Jesus is the one that inspires me. When I'm structuring my life, I'm desperately trying to use Jesus as a model. But in incarnational terms, God-With-Us? It's not Jesus.

Now in true Trinitarian theory, Jesus is always there. We worship a 3 part deity, inseparable. Except that we often can't get our head around that idea, so I'm guessing that my experience of God in separate parts and personalities isn't so strange.