I called a friend recently to wish him a happy birthday.
We enjoyed a pleasant chat, then as we wound down our conversation he said, ‘Can I ask you a question?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ He said, ‘You called on my birthday, how did you know?’ I paused for a minute – then told him, 'Facebook.'
As many Facebook users know every day we log onto Facebook this powerful social media platform gives us a notice on whose birthday it is. We don’t have to consult the sources we’ve been programmed to check, our calendars, diaries, or memory, we have a way of learning through a new and different path.
For many of us our bibles and church services are the way we’ve been programmed to find and experience God. We have come to see the Word and our faith community as central mediators of the Divine in our lives.
However, in this Sunday’s gospel we see that God is intent upon giving us experiences of the Numinous well outside traditional delivery channels. When we understand the Three Wise Men from the East came upon the revelation of God with Us BEFORE the rest of the Chosen People, we have much to ponder. We see that God’s way of revealing God’s self is not, at all, limited to the ways we might traditionally think of God being made known.
So the question is: how is God coming to us today – outside of the ways we’ve grown accustomed? In what ways is God using other people, movies, books, and our own rather average life experiences to communicate important truths to us? It’s been said that the most common and repeatable transgression there is, is not paying attention to our lives. Perhaps by doing this more intentionally in 2014 can bring us closer to the One to whom our lives belong.
We enjoyed a pleasant chat, then as we wound down our conversation he said, ‘Can I ask you a question?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ He said, ‘You called on my birthday, how did you know?’ I paused for a minute – then told him, 'Facebook.'
As many Facebook users know every day we log onto Facebook this powerful social media platform gives us a notice on whose birthday it is. We don’t have to consult the sources we’ve been programmed to check, our calendars, diaries, or memory, we have a way of learning through a new and different path.
For many of us our bibles and church services are the way we’ve been programmed to find and experience God. We have come to see the Word and our faith community as central mediators of the Divine in our lives.
However, in this Sunday’s gospel we see that God is intent upon giving us experiences of the Numinous well outside traditional delivery channels. When we understand the Three Wise Men from the East came upon the revelation of God with Us BEFORE the rest of the Chosen People, we have much to ponder. We see that God’s way of revealing God’s self is not, at all, limited to the ways we might traditionally think of God being made known.
So the question is: how is God coming to us today – outside of the ways we’ve grown accustomed? In what ways is God using other people, movies, books, and our own rather average life experiences to communicate important truths to us? It’s been said that the most common and repeatable transgression there is, is not paying attention to our lives. Perhaps by doing this more intentionally in 2014 can bring us closer to the One to whom our lives belong.
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Reading
The Social Media Gospel – Meredith
Gould
A Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman
Codependent No More – Melody Beattie
Codependent No More – Melody Beattie
