Becoming aware of God’s presence in our lives and in the world is a crucial step in spiritual transformation. It solidifies our faith and inspires us along the way. In Incline Your Ear: Cultivating Spiritual Awakening in Congregations, Rev. Chad Abbott and I write about how faith communities and congregations can become more reflective about moments where they experience God’s presence.
Special moments to Savor
For most of us, the moments of acute awareness of the Spirit’s movement in our lives are special and occasional. Old timers called these “mountaintop experiences,” and we don’t get to the mountaintop every day. But once we’ve been there, it’s helpful to practice remembering those special moments of deep connection and to ponder how they have changed our lives and how we can continue to be transformed by the insight gleaned from these important moments.
What is Spiritual Reflection?
Spiritual reflection is turning our attention to what we deem most important—what theologian Paul Tillich refers to as “ultimate concern,” which he describes as “numinous or holy, distinct from all profane and ordinary realities. It is also experienced as overwhelmingly real and valuable—indeed, so real and so valuable that, in comparison, all other things appear empty and worthless.”
Paying attention to what is holy and being grateful for those moments is countercultural and always has been. Remember the story of Jesus healing ten lepers and only one remembering and turning back to say “thank you” and praise God (Luke 17:11–19)? The world moves very fast, and we become impatient to get on with our lives, like those nine lepers who failed to stop and show gratitude. When we slow down, we may find ourselves out of step with our “moving at the speed of life” culture. But if we simply take all these wonderful gifts without spending time appreciating them, then we are missing out on the fullness of the blessing.
Focus on Listening to God
Spiritual reflection is the intentional focus on how God is trying to communicate with us. Much as Elijah contemplated the fire, earthquake, and wind, wondering whether God was speaking to him through them, we also wonder about God’s voice and presence in our lives. We seek to discern God’s work among us, a practice for which we have biblical guidelines but few absolute commandments. For example, if a voice tells us to kill someone or to steal, we know the commandments that prohibit those choices. Voices and leadings from God on matters for which there are many good choices are more difficult to discern, and we do well to check those out in consultation with our faith community, scripture, historical tradition, personal experience, and reason.
Reflection on the Movement of the Spirit
With all this talk of spiritual reflection and listening to God, you may be thinking: How do we know it’s God we are experiencing, and not just our ego or imagination? How do we know when God’s Spirit is moving, leading, or encouraging us? We have good reason to be cautious about saying we “hear God’s voice,” because we’ve seen examples of people claiming to be acting on God’s behalf while doing ungodly things!
We can test what we believe are messages from God by determining if they are in line with Jesus’s Great Commandment: love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37–38). We also test messages to see if they are in line with what we know about God from scriptures that echo that Great Commandment.
Want to learn more about spiritual direction for congregations? Chad Abbot and I have a book from Fortress Press on this, Incline Your Ear: Cultivating Spiritual Awakening in Congregations.