There is a context that must be in place before
we can examine how we experience God in church. We must first look at how we as
human beings experience God in our own individual, limited ways.
Prayer is the most basic and the most powerful
way that we experience God. Prayer is our attempt to reach up to God. Grace is
God’s hand reaching down to us. And somewhere in there, a connection is made
and we experience God. Martin Buber was a Jewish philosopher and author. He
wrote a book called I and Thou in which he examined the relationship between people and things,
and then by extension, he looked at the relationship between humanity and the
Divine. The Divine, he explained, was always out of our reach. We cannot
explain the Divine. We cannot fully know
the Divine. We simply reach up, struggling, opening ourselves up, not
understanding, yet yearning to connect. This, he said, was prayer. I have never
found a more satisfying explanation of prayer anywhere.
To explain the experience of prayer is difficult.
Each person feels the experience personally. It can be liberating. It can be
frustrating. It can be lengthy or short. It can be angry, thankful, impertinent
or peaceful. It can be pleading. It can be praising. It can be blaming. The
process of opening oneself up to God is a very personal experience, and God, I believe,
treasures our honesty. David was called a man after God’s own heart. He was not
perfect, but his prayers found in the Psalms are the most honest you can find.
In return, God reaches back to us. Sometimes we feel the connection, and other
times we must accept it on faith.
Nature is another way we experience God. Ellen
White writes, “To the little child, not yet capable of learning from the
printed page or of being introduced to the routine of the schoolroom, nature
presents an unfailing source of instruction and delight. The heart not yet
hardened by contact with evil is quick to recognize the Presence that pervades all
created things. The ear as yet undulled by the world’s clamor is attentive to
the Voice that speaks through nature’s utterances.” (White, Child Guidance, p. 45) Nature is God’s creation,
and through His creation, we can see the Creator. Looking up at majestic mountains,
staring at the lip of a great glacier, listening to the pounding of ocean
waves, watching the path of an ant or feeling the kiss of a gentle breeze,
nature shows us the amazing intricacy and detail that went into even the
smallest snowflake or insect. When we look at nature, we can see the good in
the world, the last remnants of the perfect world God once created.
Music is another medium through which we can
experience God. Music is one of the languages of Heaven. It was with music that
the angels announced the birth of Jesus. (Luke 2:14) And Ellen White says of
Heaven, “There will be music there, and song, such music and song as, save in
the visions of God, no mortal ear has heard or mind conceived.” (White, Maranatha, p. 361) Music can lift us
up to the sublime, and God can work through a humble composer to create music
that will touch people in a miraculous way.
Handel’s Messiah is an example of such
music. Handel was a human being like any of us. He was tired, old and
frustrated. He was commissioned to compose the piece and he did his job.
However, when he started to work on it, something amazing happened. It is said that
he confessed to a friend that he had a religious vision of Heaven where he saw
God himself while he wrote the piece. The Messiah is so moving that King
George II, upon hearing the first performance in London, rose to his feet
during the Hallelujah chorus and did not sit down until it was complete. The
entire assembly rose to their feet as well, following the king’s example, and
the tradition has remained to this day. (British Broadcasting Company, 2002)
Anyone who has heard the Hallelujah Chorus sung feels the power of that music
to bring your heart towards God.
Another way we can experience God is through
other people. For example, a loving mother or father shows us what a loving God
is like. When you experience parenthood for the first time, you feel a depth of
love you had only heard about before. When you hold your newborn baby in your
arms, and first see that tiny face, you realize that you would walk through fire
for that child. You would lay down your life to protect that little one. Through
our experiences with our own parents and the experience of parenthood, we learn
about God’s love for us.
We can experience God through people we come in
contact with in other ways as well. Sometimes, God’s love and kindness shines
through from the most unexpected people. When strangers risk their lives to
save someone in a burning building or who has fallen into a river, we are
amazed at the nobleness of spirit. When a poor woman empties her purse and
gives everything she has to help starving children in Africa, we a dumbfounded
at her selflessness. But sometimes it isn’t the magnitude of the action that
shows us God, it is something as small as a smile on a child’s face or a kind
look from an old man. We are God’s creation, and when we are open to Him, He
can move through us to show other people His love for them. God doesn’t need
our hands or our faces to show kindness to his children. He could easily send
angels, or come Himself. It is a privilege to be used by God to give such a
personal message.
We experience God in a multitude of different
ways. Perhaps the most impactful, is the way we see God through other people.
People are what make up a church. And it is the church experience that we will
be examining in the upcoming days.
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