One night God came to dinner with me and five of my friends. We’ve never been the same.
We were a team of six college students who found ourselves unexpectedly joined together because our backyard Bible study had blossomed into a small church. Our ragtag group of believers were like the Lost Boys in Peter Pan--not a true adult among us. We sang silly songs and engaged in Bible teaching, even though we ourselves knew nothing. We had seen our fellowship grow into 120 people, but the only thing we knew for sure is that the six of us were called by God into mutual commitment to him and one another.
Alone in a church basement, around the scent of roast lamb rising from our plates we celebrated what God had done between us. We ate a covenant meal and expressed our commitment to one another.
What happened next changed my life: God became present in a tangible way. He was in the room with us. We stopped praying and sat in silence. The room was heavy: the air lay upon my shoulders like a weight. None of us dared speak. The silence was so thick it seemed like a substance. Each of us knew that God had joined us. We felt small and insignificant even while we also felt eternity welling inside of our very bodies.
After he left, we sat together stunned, and shared our experiences. My tiny mind knew that, technically, God was everywhere all the time, but in that moment I experienced his presence for the first time. In the decades since I have encountered God again and again, now aware that there is a difference between the knowledge of his omni-presence and the experience of his presence.
I’ve listened to other people speak of their experiences as well:
“God met me in a hotel room one night;”
“God visited me in my childhood as I looked out my bedroom window;”
“The presence of God filled the room like a cloud as we worshipped.”
I know their accounts are true simply because I have eaten at the same table and sipped the same wine. I’ve read the accounts of people like Jacob the slickster, who awoke one night and gasped, “‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’” (Genesis 28: 16-17)
This week’s Meditation is a two-fold invitation to this community of readers:
- If you’re never experienced the presence of God in a tangible way, ask him to come and open yourself to the possibility.
- If you have experienced his presence, click on the comments below and share your story. Let deep call to deep so we might all hunger again for that banqueting table.
Two weeks ago today, I had a powerful encounter. Prayer was suddenly a clear two-way conversation, remarkably clear. Among other things, I was told to start blogging again, which I did that same day: http://www.blogoneanother.com/2011/09/im-back.html
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager in what was then called the charismatic movement, I was with about sixty people in someone's basement. There was a sort of guest speaker and his spouse present; he a former anglican priest; she a catholic nun - both had been given the left foot of fellowship. They ministered in the "word" gifts, and after this was a closing prayer by the organizer, a united methodist guy. However.... the entire group of us wound up feeling powerfully hushed; we were aware of His presence profoundly; no one stirring. Then the whole group -- I exaggerate not -- began singing a trademark sort of worship song. The significance is that we all began singing the same song together without anything like a leader or a plan, and we all did it together. A few months after that I left for the Coast Guard and the rest of my happened.
ReplyDelete"Intense spiritual experiences sometimes feel too personal to share." I get it! I'm so glad to see you back in the blogosphere, Jon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story, Charles. Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, whatever--It sounds like quite I night, and I *believe* you when you say you are not exaggerating.
ReplyDeleteI do know that when we gather together in the name of the Lord we are filled by the Holy Spirit, and we may or may not feel His presence in a "tangible" way, which i understand as being physical. However, our faith-eyes can see Him, or our faith-ears can hear Him. Here is how i experience my daily epiphanies: http://skyfeast.org/viewtopic.php?t=5
ReplyDeleteMy first time was when I was younger. I was very upset and felt very alone. As I cried and prayed, I felt God come an feel him wrpping His arms around me. Nothing like it.
ReplyDeleteI was writing a paper this summer about how God uses women in ministry. As I wrote about Jesus and the woman who broke the perfume on His feet, it was like I became her. All I could do was cry and sing, and the word 'healing' kept coming to mind. His presence made my position in Jesus become reality.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Caleb. You understand correctly that I'm talking about his tangible, physically felt presence. I don't know about India, but in the West Christians are frequently taught to avoid "subjective" experiences with God and to concentrate only on the intellectual. I do agree with you that we also relate to him through faith, especially when the awareness of his presence is not with us.
ReplyDeleteI've met so many people who, as children, have such excellent, warm experiences with God. Isn't it sad that so many of us set such expectations aside as we "grow up?"
ReplyDeleteBendiciones para ti!
So sweet, and so wonderful. I believe that each experience recorded in scripture is an invitation to us to have similar experiences as well. Thank you for sharing such a tender moment.
ReplyDeleteI am not referring to blind-faith, Ray, where you have no awareness of God's presence whatsoever. The still-small-voice that the Bible speaks of, is actually "heard" with our faith-ears and the visions are actually "seen" with our faith-eyes. Simply put they are strong impressions we get as a direct answer to a question we have in mind, when we least expect them or when we are either studying the Word of God or hearing it from the pulpit/radio/tv. It is Remah (jn1:1). It is active wherever and whenever there is agape in our midst.
ReplyDeleteAn October evening a few years ago, I pulled up at home around 1 or 2 in the morning after my shift at the cinema and looked up into the night. The moon was full and high overhead and the air was chilled enough that my breath was visible against the white light of moon.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Lord said, "I'm glad you're mine," and he just hung out with me on the front lawn. I sat there forever on the cold ground just relishing the stillness, the contentment of it all. I felt cloaked, breathed on. Warm rushes of joy and peace. It was invigorating.
Jesus finds me in the front yard a lot.
Remembering a particularly painful childhood moment, I knew the presence of God wrap around me, holding my arms close to me. Then and there, the pain shifted to joy and the tension dissolved. I know he was there during that painful moment and in the "new" memory of it.
ReplyDeleteJesus knows where to find us. And how to find us. He's the kind of guy who will leave 99 and go after the one. Thanks so much for the vivid image.
ReplyDeleteI resonate with this. We can apply "I will never leave you or forsake you" to times past as well as the present. Now, when you look back, he's there. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI was one of the guys in the room with Ray. Full disclosure: of those 6 young men in that room that night, I have been the least faithful. Still, I concur with Ray's account of that night and even after nearly 40 years am blessed to call him brother and friend.
ReplyDeleteEven more to the point, I have always attached the same significance to that commitment and relationship as you do, Ray. I never believed we were just a bunch of hyper-emotional 20-somethings succumbing to delusions of grandeur. It was real. It was a calling. It was eternal. Even through all the years I was pursuing my own ends, I might have performed some mental gymnastics to minimize the significance of our relationship; but could never deny it.
So one question please. What made you write this on this day?
It was a serendipitous choice. I knew I was going to write (at least) two posts about the tangible presence of God, and as I set to work on the first one, that little voice inside my head whispered, "People don't care about theology, tell them your story." So I started where it all started for me.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Don!
First of all, you're using all of my favorite descriptive words—"backyard Bible study," "ragtag group of believers"...sign me up! And you *ate together,* knowing it was a powerful, sacred act. When I add all of that up, I am not surprised God visited you then and there. Thanks for sharing your story.
ReplyDeleteMy one clear powerful experience of God's presence came in a dream, and was experienced two-fold—by the me in the dream (where many of us were following Jesus over a hill, filled with joy), and then by the me who woke up, still feeling filled beyond measure with his presence. I pray that I may continue to understand the "difference between the knowledge of his omni-presence and the experience of his presence."
Eating together rocks. In fact, *anything* together rocks. I've always been skeptical of formalized mentoring or networking for the sake of networking--especially when it comes to life with Jesus. The theme of John 1 (after the prologue) is "come and see." Life together is life in Christ.
ReplyDeleteAs to your dream, well! I can only say that God speaks--and becomes present--in dreams because frequently our defenses are down and he can command our attention: Jacob at Bethel, Solomon's request for wisdom, the *entire* birth narrative in Matthew 2. The Freudian view of dreams and the out-workings of our own subconscious runs counter to the Biblical revelation that God becomes present in our dreams. Oh--and the waking? It's awesome because the discovery is just beginning!
I feel most myself and closest to God when I am either experiencing (playing or listening to) great music or looking at the stars.
ReplyDeleteThere's this piece for band by Alfred Reed - "Greensleeves." The tune of that song is also used for "What Child is This?" When I was in the band at Campbellsville University, we would play it for the annual Christmas Tapestry along with a slide show of paintings depicting the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. That slideshow with that music is one of the most powerful things I've witnessed.
Granted, I was playing, so I didn't get to sit and enjoy just the slideshow, but I knew it like the back of my hand, having helped put on the show and get the slides going before. Plus, there's a screen at the back of Ransdell Chapel that shows what the main screen shows. ;)
When we played that my senior year at CU... it was powerful. God must have been there.
Always liked that song--I can totally see how God could show up in that setting, even when it's so "formal." Check out 2 Chronicles 5: 11-14
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, I've been directed to many a Bible verse concerning music, but never to those. What a powerful set of verses!
ReplyDelete