Impersonal and Distant

I am wondering what to do when someone confides that they see Jesus as impersonal and distant, especially when they say they are unsure what to do about it. I find that I am often at a loss for words in that moment. Their sentiment always hits me like a phaser on stun. And like I am some red shirt yeoman, that moment seems to happen over and over... and over. While I don't tend to deal in pat answers, I feel the need to speak to their honest and earnestly shared sense that Jesus just isn't engaged at all in their lives. I mean - isn't connecting confused and alienated people to God at least a part of what this seminary degree is supposed to be equipping me to do? When it comes to professed Christians saying that Jesus seems impersonal and distant, my problem may be that I can't relate.

Don't misunderstand... I remember when I didn't give a thought to the existence of God at all. God? whatever... who cares? Not relevant. But he so radically impacted my life in answer to my initial inquiry into Christianity that I rarely if ever doubt his personal nature.

Don't misunderstand... I STILL know what it is like to feel distant from God. I sin, and I duly reap the consequence in perceived distance from my God. There is one key word in that last sentence. Even when I feel distant, Jesus is MY God. Personal. Always. Even in distance.

When that distance is there, from experience I know that it is temporary. The gap between me and God has been perpetually bridged by Christ. If I become conscious that the distance is there, I can turn! i can lay it all down again. I need to do little more than flip some internal mental switch and my sense of God's close presence with me returns.

Maybe I NEED to deal in Scripture's pat answers. But I resist because I want to connect. I want to relate, and woo, and gently guide. Just for fun, let's review some of scripture's pat answers off the top of my head:

God seems impersonal and distant?

1. Confess your sins and he is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
2. Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near!
3. Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.
4. A humble heart, God will not despise.
5. Behold I stand at the door and knock.

That is some good stuff! As far as pat answers Go, I couldn't find many better.