How do you experience/see/meet God in your own daily life? Do you ever talk to people about your experiences of God? Are these two questions too personal for you? If it is true that God created each of us, and knows and loves us individually, then perhaps some people think that their experiences of God would not be of interest to other people.

Or perhaps because of your work, your family, your sickness or a variety of valid reasons you don’t have time to talk or either read or write a blog about some one else’s experience of God. Maybe you do not believe in God, or have never reflected about your experiences of God. Perhaps you have been offended by something that happened to you, or by something the Church said or did. Maybe you think people who talk about God in their lives are delusional. Or you might see such people as hypocrites because you can see that they do not always practice what they preach To which a Christian might reply, “Saints are just sinners who never gave up trying”.

Christians sometimes experience God as revealed and named in three distinct but connected ways. First, there is “God the Father”. Perhaps in a culture that is becoming more aware of feminism and inclusivism, “God the Creator” will become a more common name than “God the Father”. Second, there is  “Jesus”, the historical person whose life and teachings are so inspirational. The third way we view God is as “the Holy Spirit”, a translation that has gradually replaced God “the Holy Ghost”.

Some Christians experience God the Creator in the varied and beautiful forms of life in our world. The words of the thrilling hymn “How Great Thou Art” deepen the faith of such people. Similarly, a growing number of people throughout the world today seem to deplore the destruction of the Creator’s world. Erratic weather patterns, global warming, continued disregard of human over-consumption and ignorance are all seen as signs that many of us are ecologically irresponsible stewards of God’s creation. Personal and social awareness of the environment problems must be harnessed into political action at all levels of government, including at the international level. The pope’s letter last year, Laudato Si did a wonderful job of addressing this disrespect of the Creator.

Today, in a more tolerant and ecumenical age of mass media, TV, computers, the Internet, movies, newspapers, and books , it is not difficult to learn about the wisdom and historical life of Jesus, the Son of God. St. Paul referred to him as “ the image of the invisible God”. Jesus’ words “Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself” are stunning in their simplicity. His Beatitudes and words on race, poverty, non-violence, faith, social justice, and mercy seem exactly what our world needs to hear today. But Jesus did not just talk about building the kingdom of God, he walked the talk.

The third way Christians experience God, is as the Holy Spirit (from the Latin “spiro” meaning the “breath”, thus as the “Breath of God “. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, shows God breathing on mud to create human beings. God’s Spirit is thus a part of our individual DNA. We see parents caring for their children, and others looking after their aged parents. We see people working for the common good, for peace, for the poor, etc. All these may be seen as experiences people have of the Holy Spirit in building of the kingdom of God. Jesus also promised that after he left this world, God would still be present in the context of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Spirit, the Breath of God that “in spires” our good behaviour. We experience the exact opposite behaviour when we act under the mean spirit/the selfish spirit. It is also easy to observe that when a person dies, the Breath of God/the Spirit of God leaves that person. The living individual has become merely a corpse.

So, if we think of our self as a Christian who experiences God in one or all three of these ways, and are able to overcome the hesitations mentioned, why are we reluctant to talk or write about our God? Fear of other people? This was why most of the prophets in the Bible were reluctant to talk or act upon their experience of God. But some Christians, strengthened by their experiences of God, have talked/written and acted upon their experiences in building the Kingdom of God.

I have been blessed to have known many people who told me about how experiences of God influenced their life. Perhaps the most famous of these people was the American Jesuit, Daniel Berrigan . Born in Minnesota in 1921 he died this year on April 30, at the age of 94. In 1968, at the height of racism and the War against Viet Nam, Berrigan , his brother priest,  Phillip,  and 7 others decided to use Christian non violence to protest the war.  They destroyed military draft files in Catonsville, Ohio. Berrigan wrote about his protest in these words:

“We confront the Roman Catholic Church, other Christian bodies and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our country’s crimes. We are convinced that the religious bureaucracy in this country is racist, is an accomplice in this war, and is hostile to the poor.”

Some years later after hearing him speak at St. Paul’s, the Jesuit College in Winnipeg, I asked Berrigan if he had worried that his protest at Catonsville might be seen as the action of a crazy man. He looked at me, smiled, and said that he always prayed and consulted with his friends before making such protests. Forty years after Catonsville, in 2008, he admitted: “It is very rare to sustain a movement in recognizable form without a spiritual base.”

This may be the easiest time in history to tell other people about your experience of God. Literacy rates are high, and many people, not just ordained priests, have been educated about God. Computers, the Internet, television, books and other forms of mass media allow more people today to testify to their personal experiences of God. And as in teaching, a real dialogue about your experiences of God may strengthen the faith of both you and the other person.

 Has the Spirit ever hinted that perhaps YOU should share your experience of God with other people? Maybe the Spirit is suggesting you could testify on IgNation?

As Jesus said, the harvest is great but the labourers are few.  Amen.