This week's question is: How do I know when Jesus appears to me?
We've all heard visitation stories. Jesus' image appeared on a wall in a church to a group of nuns...Jesus' image appeared in the clouds to a group of school children....and the latest, my personal favorite, Jesus' image appeared in a half-eaten Kit Kat bar. Apparently, god has good taste. Often, after such experiences, these places become pilgrimage destinations. And although I don't think it's impossible for the image of Christ to appear to us in everyday objects (I am a creativity junkie after all -- let me stare up at the clouds for a while and I'll see all kinds of things) I think that's not the real question here.
Maybe the real question here is: how do we know when we've experienced the presence of Chirst? The answer to this question is, both, incredibly personal and profoundly communal. I have had my own private moments of feeling that there was something beyond what I could see, touch, or smell -- something bigger than myself -- with me. Some of those moments have extended beyond that flashpoint to entire seasons of my life when I knew, without a doubt, that God was with me all the time. Rather, since God is indeed with us all the time, those are times when I have made myself open to the continual presence of God in my life. People experience the presence of God in different ways. The best way to answer the question for yourself is to keep asking it and trusting what you feel.
Beyond the personal, though, there are communal experiences of the risen Christ. The times that come to mind include worship experiences that left us moved and exilerated. Here at FCC, a few come to mind for me: late night devotions at mission trips with the Sr. High, Good Friday worship 2008, many an Awestruck service, including, the annointing service we did during Lent a few years ago. There are so many, many more! But, we've also experienced the risen Christ together on work trips and in conversations, at the hospital bedside and in the most ordinary of situations. I recall a moment caroling with the Sr. High youth one Christmas when, suddenly, the Holy was so boldly in our midst that most of us were moved to tears. Amazing.
Do you recall your own moments? Moments we've had together? Would you share your stories here?
