Encounter

“The same great power that moves the stars, that
orders the seas and sets the winds in motion,
that gives birth to all that lives and makes the
Moon rise in pale beauty, this same
power stands by your side.”
Steven Charleston    Hope As Old As Fire

The mystery that I know as God is hard to pin down.  This God can’t be put into a box, or a book or a particular way of believing that has to be defended.  So, I was struck just the other day when I became conscious of the Mystery practical in the moment.

My friend and I were exercise walking when I asked him if he could give me some advice.  He agreed and I began to lay out my dilemma that was producing some confusion and uncertainty in my mind.  He listened.  He’s good at that.  Then he made a couple of observations, a suggestion or two, and stopped short of telling me what he thought I ought to do.  He listened, understood, gave me thoughtful comments and then gave it back to me for deliberation and finally a decision.

Now, my friend would not claim to be God, and I would never burden him with that load, but upon reflection, that walking conversation represents what Steven Charleston says in the quotation above.  I choose to believe that in ways I cannot explain, the conversation came about as close to a sacred encounter as I will ever have.  My friend may disagree, and you may not see it as I do, but very honestly, neither he nor you has to validate the moment.  I do.  And that’s the way the Mystery rises from the deep incarnation that I know and steps into the light of a practical moment that I experience.

My encounters with the Mystery, therefore, are unexpected, unpredictable, unplanned.  We happen to show up at the same place at the same time.  Sacred surprise in hindsight.