Posted: December 12, 2020   •   Posted in: Discussions

Experiences of God/Love

‘Treasure your experience of God/Love, however it comes to you.’  

My view is that God equals Love and Love equals God. That is, the two are the same.

Bring the whole of your life under the ordering of the spirit of Christ. Are you open to the healing power of God’s love? Cherish that of God within you, so that this love may grow in you and guide you. Let your worship and your daily life enrich each other. Treasure your experience of God, however it comes to you. Remember that Christianity is not a notion but a way.

Advices & Queries No. 2 (https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/)

I would like us to think about the different ways we have experienced God in our lives. I will use the word “God” as then we can all put our own interpretation on the word. I’ll start by giving you some examples from my own life to hopefully simulate your thoughts.

• My first midnight service to our home church in Wellington, Somerset, with all the people and lights. This brought feelings of awe, wonder and mystery.
• At aged 18/19 I visited Mirfield monastery and their amazing church full of chapels and incense, and lots of monks. At the time I believed I had a calling to the priesthood. The Church, thankfully, disagreed.
• We visited Norwich Cathedral for a concert. Our seats were behind pillars where we couldn’t see the performers. A soloist sang Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus. The beauty of the sound alone brought me to tears.
• Watching the Rite of Spring danced on TV, with its powerful music and dancing gave me a feeling of something that’s difficult to explain, but I can only ascribe to Love/God.
• The fields of spring flowers in the Pyrenees. Visiting an incredible cirque high up in those mountains, where the wall of rock and peace and majesty of the place was awe inspiring.
• Venice in the sunset, paintings, some novels, and beauty in many things.
• The love and kindness of friends and family, and LAUGHTER.
• Meeting and loving Mary and being present at the birth of each of our four sons.
• Being present at a Quaker Meeting which has reached a depth beyond understanding; they do happen, but not every time.

And during our discussion on Friday, Mary reminded me of many other experiences that we have shared, especially the visit to Taizé.

Experiences of God have, and do, come to me in many varied ways, almost all of them unexpected; indeed seeking to experience God is often disappointing.

What have been your experiences? They can be very ordinary or ‘out of this world’. Our experience of God is OURS and not anybody else’s. Those experiences can be neither right nor wrong, they just ARE.

(A Friday discussion led by a Friend, December 2020)