Fully Alive 10

Fully Alive 10 January 14, 2011

The glory of God is a human fully alive,” so said Irenaeus, and this line is both quoted and a theme for Trevor Hudson’s new book, Discovering Our Spiritual Identity: Practices for God’s Beloved.

Signpost #: The living, actively loving presence of God pervades all things and every experience. We need to train ourselves to become aware of God’s pervading presence.

Have you practiced the presence of God? What have you learned? Who has helped you the most? What has helped you the most?

Brother Lawrence made “practicing the presence of God” a household expression for those interested in spirituality. The sacred and the secular are not to be separated.

Isaiah: “whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa 6:3). Paul: “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). But even more: Ephesians 4:6: “who is above all and through all and in all.”

The Holy One is not just in spiritual places and spiritual spaces. Everywhere is holy ground.

And the God who is present is defined by Christ — who gave himself for us.

Some sense of an eternal life flows out of this: If God is present, then God is present to us for all time as well. He tells a powerful story about Henry Nouwen whose near-death experience led him to experience the presence of God. How?By turning our minds in a Christward direction.

By being constantly thankful.

By doing everything we do for God (in God’s presence).

This chp, like the others, reflects Trevor’s own experience of practicing the presence of God.


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