God is not out there

An epiphany is a parting of the veil, a life-changing manifestation of meaning, the eureka of awareness of self and the Other.  It I the radical grace which we cannot manufacture or orchestrate…  We cannot manufacture epiphanies.  We can only ask for them, wait for them, expect them, know they are given, keep out of the way, and thank Someone afterward.

                               Richard Rohr

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let’s hear it for epiphanies

for those moments with the veil is parted

and we get a glimpse, if only a glimpse

 

of something deeper

more powerful

more beautiful

more loving

 

for those moments when

perhaps for the first time

we “get it”

 

Aha!

Eureka!

 

it was an epiphany

when I suddenly realized

God is not out there

 

for so many years I had seen God as something, someone,

bigger than myself

 

Up there, out there

Somewhere

 

and then one day

I had an epiphany

and I understood for the first time

that God is not out there,

God is “in here”.

 

and that my greatest need

spiritually

is not to find God

is not to “invite” the Sacred into myself

 

but to realize that God

is already here

in me

down deep, in the depths

in that place that determines who I am

 

and let God

transform me

at that deepest level

by simple presence

 

how many times, even as a pastor

have I prayed

“be with us this morning Lord”

“come to me…  show yourself!”

 

as if

 

God is ever absent

 

the secret truly is this

Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1)

 

And we are changed

re-birthed

re-created

when we move to our deepest level

and find the God who is there

 

when we become awake to the presence

when we become intimate with that presence

and in the process

become intimate with ourselves

in a new way

 

it is in that moment

of awakening to the presence

that those inner, foundational realities

 

that shape the way we live

are transformed

 

and that is the only way we can be transformed

when we are changed at the core level

the soul level

the heart level

 

when we let the Sacred shape us

move us

from the inside out

 

creator, created

potter, clay

parent, child

 

that is why, on this morning

and every morning, my heart echoes the words of the Psalmist (51)

 

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.”