Occasionally, I get what feels like a grand sense of things. It is as if I get to see a landscape from altitude. As if looking down from 30,000 feet as though I were flying in a plane. I don't claim any "special" insight, I think it is just a function of being present in the moment and listening.
One of the venues where I experience this most is in preaching on a weekly basis and hearing what others are preaching in the same season. I hear commonalities in the intersections at which what I have been led to speak to in my faith community and where speakers are led to speak in other faith communities from all over the world.
I've experienced this phenomenon with some consistency over the past 30 years. At pastor gatherings, conferences, even simple lunch meetings, there are threads of similarity that appear with timely consistency. Now with the advent of social networking, not only has the frequency of these occurences increased, but the worldwide footprint of them has as well. Another instance happened for me just a few minutes ago.
Today, I shared with my faith community the thought that God has a hand in placing us in specific space and time for divine relationship and purpose. I asked people to consider how life might be different if, rather than thinking of us "choosing" our friends, to consider how it might be if our friends are perhaps "chosen" for us (to fulfill divine experiences). If we follow the opportunity, our friendships can be mutually gratifying and create transcendent experiences. I suggested that we have been "brought together" as a faith community for a divine purpose that is beautiful and good and greater than what we can merely achieve on our own.
A friend posted on his social wall that his pastor said the following this morning... "I didn't plant this church. This church planted me." Though I don't know the full context, that quote would have fit seamlessly in the gist of what I was sharing this morning.
Ironic? Coincidental? I want to think that it is more than that. I want to believe that we "live and move and have our being" in the God who is trying to lead people into relationship that is far greater than anything we can create for ourselves and it excites me to imagine where the grand scheme of things will lead us.
I'll keep listening.
What are you hearing?
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Sunday, September 09, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Connected
Do you ever get a sense of connectedness that you simply can't explain? It can be somewhat overwhelming and yet, comforting at the same time. Whatever the notion is, it seems to come from far beyond us and summons up deep recesses of what is real.
Some will call it Spirit, some may call it intuition, some may have other nomenclature for it. I find myself increasingly less concerned with identifying it and more compelled to listen to it.
For me, connectedness appears in random places and at unexpected times. This past Tuesday, while lunching with my younger daughter, I felt the connection in the face of a little child. A total stranger to me, she sat in her high chair with her parents on both sides of the table. For a long while, she didn't even acknowledge our presence, but then she turned around and looked at us. Both Ciara and I were drawn deep into her countenance. Her smile was adorable and she grinned at us with the sweetest of affections, but I felt myself almost falling deeply into her essence. It was as if her smile was the cover of the book and once opened, there were chapters of things to know and love. I've not yet talked with Ciara to ask her experience, but there was "something" there. We "connected" and then, as quickly as she engaged us, she turned around and began to play with a piece of garlic bread. Connection achieved, move on.
I've felt this connection as long as I can remember. One of my earliest life memories was of a waitress in a strange restaurant. I must have been no more than four years old, I remember the moment like it was yesterday. She did speak intentionally to me, but I don't remember what she said. It was something about her -- something beyond her -- that I've never forgotten. A 30 or 40 minute meal, a momentary gesture... and a lifetime memory.
And then there are those friends with whom the connection transcends the duration of acquaintance. Those friends you've "known" for perhaps only a few years, and yet the connection goes much deeper as if you've known one another forever.
What is that about? What are these connections? Is there something available to us that too few explore?
What are your experiences? What are your thoughts?
Some will call it Spirit, some may call it intuition, some may have other nomenclature for it. I find myself increasingly less concerned with identifying it and more compelled to listen to it.
For me, connectedness appears in random places and at unexpected times. This past Tuesday, while lunching with my younger daughter, I felt the connection in the face of a little child. A total stranger to me, she sat in her high chair with her parents on both sides of the table. For a long while, she didn't even acknowledge our presence, but then she turned around and looked at us. Both Ciara and I were drawn deep into her countenance. Her smile was adorable and she grinned at us with the sweetest of affections, but I felt myself almost falling deeply into her essence. It was as if her smile was the cover of the book and once opened, there were chapters of things to know and love. I've not yet talked with Ciara to ask her experience, but there was "something" there. We "connected" and then, as quickly as she engaged us, she turned around and began to play with a piece of garlic bread. Connection achieved, move on.
I've felt this connection as long as I can remember. One of my earliest life memories was of a waitress in a strange restaurant. I must have been no more than four years old, I remember the moment like it was yesterday. She did speak intentionally to me, but I don't remember what she said. It was something about her -- something beyond her -- that I've never forgotten. A 30 or 40 minute meal, a momentary gesture... and a lifetime memory.
And then there are those friends with whom the connection transcends the duration of acquaintance. Those friends you've "known" for perhaps only a few years, and yet the connection goes much deeper as if you've known one another forever.
What is that about? What are these connections? Is there something available to us that too few explore?
What are your experiences? What are your thoughts?
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