Sacred Normality

Who would ever have thought, this moment, sitting on my couch could be sacred. God turns up in the most unexpected moments, he takes hold, to show his character to those around him. In a moment that seems utterly mundane, the God of ultimate glory can show his face and bring in the beauty.

I have been thinking about how we have set the bar too high for God. We create elaborate sets, have highly produced songs and music, but God is sitting on the couch waiting for us to just have a coffee with him and hang out. We sing about we desire for him, but he is hungry for us to hang out with the poor and the outcast. We try to create elaborate artwork, but God just wants us to go and take in the breadth of the beauty he has created in the world.

I have been thinking of the story of the Elijah and the Baal prophets. Elijah meets up with this gang of prophets and lays down the beat, prove that your Gods are true by starting a fire. You say, we thats easy, just get some matches and some wood. No no, it was a little more difficult than that, no matches, no propane lighters, It had to be pure prayer. The Baal prophets come and do thier moves - singing and dancing up a storm for thier god, Baal. Nothing happens, they begin cutting themselves and doing other things to get thier god to show its power. But nothing happens.

Elijah gets up, he puts water on the rocks, and creates a nice little wet area. Now you got to think, this aint too smart, how is he going to start a fire. But he prays to God, and the simple act God moves and acts. Very different from the way we often shake and bake to try and get God  to act.

Jesus showed us how close we are to the sacred in our life, when he took a few peices of bread and some wine, left over from dinner and declared them to be his body and blood. That when we took these two simple emblems, these two very normal things, we were partaking together in remembering the ultimate moment, where Jesus sacrificed himself to heal the world.

Iif God is present in our lives, are we remembering that he is there, are we allowing him to interact with the mundane and allowing to make it beautiful?

How can you live simply, in a way that allow yourself to interact with the God all creation in your everyday moments?