Lent 33

In CPE this week, we were asked to reflect on one significant "encounter with the holy" and I found that it is so typical of me to encounter the holy this way (posted below). How do you encounter "the holy" and how or what do you perceive "the holy" to be?

On a Wesley Foundation retreat in college, we traveled to the Methodist summer camp, Asbury Hills. Because a storm had come through recently, a bridge was washed out that meant we couldn’t use the regular indoor meeting facility. This meant we hiked up a mountain trail to an outdoor shelter for all of the Bible study and worship events of the weekend. The guest speaker was a campus minister who had never done one of these events before and found herself a little unprepared for the amount of programming she had to fill. As a result, we spent the entire weekend reflecting on one Bible passage, two short verses. 1 Kings 19:11-12 was the passage she chose. There was no big lecture and no in-depth Bible study. When we gathered the first time that weekend on the side of a mountain in the midst of nature, she read, “He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.” We spent the weekend in quiet reflection, on a mountain.

After one of the sessions, we were challenged to go off and spend some time alone, seeking the silence and stillness that the outdoor setting offered. I wandered down the hill a little ways and found a nice spot away from other students. It was a very spiritual experience for me. I reflected upon God and God in my life. I got this sense of being so small, yet I experienced a great sense of peace. Silence and stillness is something I crave, something I long for in life. My life is always so busy and hectic that sometimes I feel disconnected from everything, a rag doll bouncing around. To refill my cup, so to speak, I seek God in the quiet space, the sheer silence. What that encounter with the holy taught me is that I have to find space and time to get out of the way. Sometimes I, and the busyness of life, get in the way and I don’t recognize God’s presence. The fact that the speaker wasn’t prepared and thus kept us from being overprogrammed, meant that nothing was in the way.

May we all find the holy in our lives, however God comes to us.