It's always good when you go to church and actually have an epiphany, especially with Epiphany coming up. This morning when we were listening to the readings, I actually felt as if God hit me over the head and said "SEE!" I believe it was during John in which he said that those who believe and follow Jesus will not be born of human parents but of God. I never got it until then. That's what it means to be reborn!!
All this time I really hated the term reborn...and I mean hated. It brings to mind people coming up to you on the street and asking "if you had accepted Jesus as your lord and savior" and "are you reborn?"and don't forget to add sister to the end of all their questions and a nice southern accent would finish it off nicely. Think tent revival and TV evangalists. It was all of the things about organized religion that I wanted nothing to do with.
It's unfortunate that a small group of people can ruin such a wonderful concept. Reborn. No longer belonging to your human Mother and Father but to God. Coming to life again. Able to see the world with new eyes.
And it doesn't even have to mean that you left religion and came back again later in life. Someone who has been devoted their entire life can also be reborn. It's that time in their own lives when it all makes sense and it is something THEY believe in, not because their parents/teachers/nuns/priests/pastors told them to, but simply because they believe! They accept it.
Well, there's not much more for me to say about this topic. I just wanted to share. And sometime in the future if someone asks me if I am reborn....maybe I won't try and bite their head off. I'll probably say, you know what, I think I am.
4 comments:
Now the faith is YOURS... not your parents, not what you've read in a book, not an intellectual idea, etc.
Sometimes a person who comes to this realization may want to scream out to the world... "I've found God!!!", in the sense that now God seems REAL and PERSONAL RELEVANT to their lives in a way that God hadn't been prior.
But... further along their journey, they notice this happening a few more times. There are other "revelations" or Epiphanies along the path. They "find" God again... and again... etc.
Then another Epiphany... they realize they were NEVER out of God's sight! God was always there! They hadn't "found" God in the sense that God wasn't there prior, or that they weren't within God's love prior. They just hadn't been noticing. Then they begin to notice EVERYTHING!
There is a line from William Blake (which incidentally inspired the Auldus Huxley book "The Doors Of Perception", which in turn inspired Jim Morrison to name his band "The Doors".. and here's the quote...) "If the doors of perception were cleansed, then everything would appear as it is.. infinite."
People on this journey you find yourself on begin to "clue-in" to a whole lot of things once this "Big Clue" is grasped. It's almost like this was one of the missing puzzle peaces that kept many others from falling into place. See if this doesn't happen... as you begin to delve more into this clue, over the next few years watch to see if you begin to clue-in to a whole lot of things more and more. And I don't necessarilly mean "theological" stuff as much as God-is-real-and- very-present-in-my-life kind of stuff. I'm not saying you don't feel God as personal now, I'm saying... just wait and see what's behind door number one.
I once read a book where the authors described spiritual experiences; there is the Liminal- where a person goes up to the threshhold, and passes over into the Transformative events. After this event, they are transformed! The Liminoid is where the person walks up to the threshold of the sacred, they pause there, get the warm and fuzzies, and touchy-feelies, etc, but they do not pass over the threshold, and thus not transformed by the experience. Liminoid experiences aren't bad, they're just not transformative.
What you experienced was a Liminal
event. You crossed over the threshold. The thing is, I bet you've had experiences like this before... liminal experiences. And what I've found is the more open you are to these kind of things, the more they seem to show up.
And, as you may have experienced, things may not fit into neat little theological boxes. God is God... what can I say?!
If I sound condescending when I talk about your journey, I don't men to be. It may come across as offensive. Please don't be. I'm just trying to share about my experiences along the journey.
We'll talk more!
Another conversation starter...
Anyone...
Remember the movie??:
The war of 1812 was started IN... anyone.... anyone... Buehler?
First of all, Happy New Year to everyone!!! And on that note, let's all share a new year's resolution: say your thought how you want, don't apologize or try not to insult someone,and assume that they will take it how you wanted them to. Now if you want to insult the person, then put a note at the end saying "this WAS an insult". (I obviously started a bad precedent and its apparent that we're all friends here not out for the "kill" shot)
Anyway, you are completely right. I've started noticing all sorts of ideas and revelations. I've always known that my life has been blessed; but I have to say that at some points I started wondering "who" was blessing it. Since it was going so smoothly and I thought that God made the journey more difficult because of the demands and things you're not supposed to do, I started to think that maybe I was being wooed by...well...you know....the devil (whisper)And I was scared of the good things happening in my life. Of course that was the perfect time to just say I don't believe in any of it and ignore the problem all together.
So if this is a limonal event, is that where sublimonal comes from? That which our conscious doesn't grasp openly but our thoughts are changed non-the-less? hmmmmmmm
Karen Said:
"All this time I really hated the term reborn...and I mean hated. It brings to mind people coming up to you on the street and asking "if you had accepted Jesus as your lord and savior" and "are you reborn?"and don't forget to add sister to the end of all their questions and a nice southern accent would finish it off nicely. Think tent revival and TV evangalists. It was all of the things about organized religion that I wanted nothing to do with."
Its a good thing I am thick skinned and not easily offended - "Elmer Gantry" is one of my all time favorite movies! Every time I see It I want to go marching off to "Onward Christian Soldiers" and take an ax to the door of some speakeasy.
Sorry, I couldn't resist this. I realize you are being very sincere,but I guess I am just a "born again" wise-ass! :-)
Life would be very boring without a couple of wise-asses to stir it up a little. I've never seen this movie, but I looked it up and read a synopsis. Mike seems interested in seeing it...I guess I'll endure it. :)
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