Lenten Journey: Religious Experience

They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.

- Luke 9:36 

For Reflection...

So-called religious experiences can be slippery things.  Something happens.  I see something or hear something in prayer that strikes me as exceptional.  I am aware of a message or an idea or a deeper meaning that feels like it's come out of nowhere, something I've never thought before.  Or I see an image in my imagination that is so vivid and original and yet so descriptive of my current situation that I can't help but wonder where it came from.

Who can I tell?  With whom can I verify such experiences as both real and of God?

We've all heard of people who say they hear voices or see things that aren't there.  We call them schizophrenic.  We've probably also encountered people who, in one form or another, claim to speak for God.  We think of them as deluded or fanatical.

What does it mean to have a direct experience of God?  How do we know?  What do we do with it?

I don't know, but I can imagine, that Peter, James, and John, discussed their experience among themselves and with Jesus.  A first step in grounding a direct experience of God has to be conferring with mature people of faith.  If I think that God has a word to say to me, I need to bring that word to at least one trusted friend , a pastor, or a spiritual director, someone who I know to be of at least as mature in her walk with Christ as I am.  What does she think?  Does this word strike her as consistent with what she knows of God and of me and my walk of faith?

Another test is to hold the word I have received in the light of scripture and the Christian tradition.  Orthodox Christian belief holds that there is no new revelation in the present age, so anything that I might hear from the Lord has to be consistent with the revealed word.  God's revelation has come to us through the Bible and also through the experiences of other believers through the ages.  Is what I hear in keeping with that revelation?

Finally, God's word for me is for me.  If God is speaking directly to my heart, God's word is an intimate message within our relationship.  God's communication is not like the president to his press secretary, a movie star to his publicist, or a CEO to her public relations manager.  God is instead like a lover whispering to his beloved in the dark.

As we draw close and closer to God, we will hear God speak.  Now we must begin to learn how to listen.


For Entering In...

- Spend a few moments in silence becoming present to yourself and to the God who dwells within you.

- Reflect on these questions:

• What is your opinion of so-called religious experience?  Have you encountered any such experiences, positive or negative, personal or something you've heard from others?

• Are you willing to be open to hearing God speak directly to your heart?  Have you heard God speak to you?  Plan again today to spend time in the silence, listening.

• Do you have mature believers you can turn to in order to confer about your experience of God?  A pastor you trust?  A friend whose walk with Christ you admire?  A professional spiritual director?*

• How well acquainted are you with the Bible or with the stories of people of faith?  Consider engaging in a program of reading, even if it's just a little bit each day or most days.  Some people find it helpful to start with the Gospel of Mark, which is the shortest, quickest account of the ministry and passion of Jesus.  For reading from the tradition, C.S. Lewis is an easy place to begin.  Try Mere Christianity.

• Have you chosen a word to "fasten to your heart."  Continue to carry your word with you, letting it speak in your heart.

- As you finish this quiet time, take a moment just to be aware and present to your soul and to the God who dwells there.

* Spiritual Directors International has an on-line guide to help you find a spiritual director near you.  Members of SDI come from a wide variety of faith traditions.  If you are looking for more information, or if you have something you would like to share privately, please feel free to e-mail me.

Lenten Journey: Setting Up Camp

As [Moses and Elijah] were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  But he did not know what he was saying.  

- Luke 9:33

For Reflection...

Perhaps, had we been there with Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, once we shook ourselves fully awake to bear witness to God's glory, we would likewise have been tempted to set up camp.  It's hard not to love the mountaintop.

When I go to the mountaintop, I feel my doubts melt away.  I feel the presence of God so tangibly.  I know in my bones that God is good and that, however much worldly woes might seek to dissuade me, all shall be well.  All I want to do when I'm there is set up a tent and move in.

The Jewish Feast of Booths or Sukkot -- to which Peter's tent building likely refers -- is a commemoration of the provision of God for the people of Israel as they wandered forty years in the desert.  It is also a harvest festival, a celebration of the time for reaping what had been sown.

Maybe Peter believed that they had arrived at the harvest, here, on this mountain.  Jesus talks about the harvest (e.g., especially, John 4) as a way of pointing to the appointed time for God's fulfillment of God's plan.  Peter sees the radiance of God's glory in Jesus transfigured and believes that they are home at last.

It is not insignificant that a few verses early in the ninth chapter of Luke Peter has affirmed his understanding of Jesus as Messiah.  In Matthew's gospel (chapter 16), immediately following Peter's declaration, that same Peter roundly rejects the idea that the Messiah "must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (v. 21).  Although Jesus rebukes him in the strongest terms ("Get behind me, Satan!" v. 23), perhaps Peter is still determined that the fulfillment can happen on the mountaintop.

That's what I want too.  When I'm riding high up on the mountaintop, I want to stay.  I want to believe that, at last, all of my problems will be solved, that I can be forever peaceful and carefree.

But I, like Peter, do not know what I'm saying.  There is only one road to ultimate freedom, and it leads through death.  I don't want to hear it.  I don't want to think about it.  Like Peter, I want to say to the Master, "God forbid it, Lord.  This must never happen to you!" (Matthew 16:22), by which I also mean, this must never happen to me.


For Entering In...

- Spend a few moments becoming present to yourself.  If your mind is preoccupied, allow the thoughts to come and to go.  Notice what you feel in your body, in your heart.

- Invite God to be present with you.

- Reflect on these questions:

• Have you had a mountaintop experience where you wanted to remain?  Close your eyes, take your time, and really remember what that felt like.

• Have there been times in your life when you have been faced with a truth ("[The] Messiah must...undergo great suffering...") that you didn't want to confront?  What was that like for you?

• Have you experienced a significant death or deaths in your life?  Are you ever willing to pause and consider your own mortality?

• This season of Lent can be a time of reckoning with our own mortality.  The Christian creeds include the confession that death is not the end of our existence.  What are your beliefs about death and mortality or immortality?

• In "The Weight of Glory", C.S. Lewis says something about immortality that is worth quoting at length:

"It is a serious thing to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship [like Jesus in his transfigured state], or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.  All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations...There are no ordinary people.  You have never talked to a mere mortal...[It] is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendors."

What does this passage say to you about immortality -- yours and others'? 

- As you finish this quiet time, take a moment to connect with your soul and with the God who dwells there.  Rejoice in God's intention for you to be reborn as an everlasting splendor.