This blog belongs to Fancy Gap Friends Fellowship, an emergent worship gathering in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We have recently been reading Michael Frost's awesome book "Seeing God in the Ordinary" and really felt like we wanted to share our stories of how we have caught glimpses of God in the world around us and invite other people to share their own experiences about when, where, and how God has shown up in their world. Now we know that some people think that you have to have all your theology right and believe all the right stuff for God to show up, but that's not true, even in the Bible. In fact, you don't even have to believe in God for him to be active in your life. Nature shows us that. Incredibly awesome sunsets still happen, the mighty oceans still role, and the stars still come out at night even in places where people don't believe in God, or don't necessarily believe the same things about God.
In other words, this is an experiential conversation, not a theological one. So don't worry about whether or not you're saying it the right way or using the right words, just tell your story in your own words. Maybe you're not even sure if it was God or not. Share it anyway and let's talk about it.
My favorite story about this is one that I heard Philip Yancey tell in Nashville a couple of years ago about a woman named Joanna who worked in a prison in South Africa. When she was being recognized for her work there, she said something pretty profound about seeing God at work there. "I didn't take God into the prison, he was already there. All I did was make him visible."
So the question is, who or what has made God visible to you and what was it like? Tony
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I read a book in which one of the characters told the other that somewhere during the season there was a moment when Christmas really came alive. I had several of those moments last Saturday night when we Christmas caroling in the community. But the one that really stands out as a God glimpse happened in an elderly lady's house. She lives with and takes care of her mentally challenged daughter who is now in her late fifties, but loves doll babies. As we were gathered around the room singing "Silent Night" and "Away in A Manger", she was rocking one of her babies. A smile of pure joy came across her face as she began to sing along with us and by the time we were done she was just aglo. As we were leaving she came out onto the porch and stood there and waved at us as we backed out of the driveway to go on to the next house. But I left there feeling like we had been given so much more than we gave. The light of love and joy that I saw in her eyes made Christmas come alive for me and the presence of God was written all over her face. You know we were there to share God's love with her, but I felt like it was the other way around. God was sharing his love with us through this gentle, beautiful soul.
One day, a friend in Florida posted a picture on a message board of a Christmas stocking that another friend in California had made. I loved it and told her how pretty it was. She told me to get her to make one for me. I tried to explain that since I live alone, it would hang empty and that would be depressing. I thought no more about it. The next week, I recieved a package from California. It was a stocking with a note saying that there would be packages following that would fill it. I sat and cried holding my stocking and reading the note. Sure enough, the packages came. There was too much to fit in my stocking. I had to start putting them under my tree. It still amazes me that people I have never met care enough about me to do this for me. All I know is that God is bigger than all my fears and sorrows and I need to learn to rely on him in all situations. Even filling a Christmas stocking.
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