Holy Encounters

Moses encountered God in a burning bush. I encountered the Holy in a blueberry bush. In the early cool of a summer morning, quiet except for a mockingbird serenade, I focused on transferring plump-ripe blueberries from branch to bucket without dropping too many. Enveloped in stillness broken only by my earnest picking, I though of the hard-earned joy of a harvest. God-Nature, with some assistance from humans, produces abundant harvests to meet all our needs.

An abundant harvest is no accident. It is the result of careful husbandry – planning, preparing, planting and tending come before. Growing up on a farm, I learned to live in the rhythm of the seasons – to live in the truth of Ecclesiastes 3: 

“1 There's a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens: 2 a time for giving birth and a time for dying, a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted, 3 a time for killing and a time for healing, a time for tearing down and a time for building up, 4 a time for crying and a time for laughing, a time for mourning and a time for dancing, 5 a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones, a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces, 6 a time for searching and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for throwing away, 7 a time for tearing and a time for repairing, a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking, 8 a time for loving and a time for hating, a time for war and a time for peace.”

I am thankful for the farmer who planted these blueberry bushes in anticipation of today's harvest, who mulched and mowed and tended to make his orchard productive. I reaped without putting in the work. In my own garden, I must do the work in advance in order to reap the rewards. With my head among the branches and my hand busy, I thought of the many harvest seasons in my life experiences, of picking blackberries and dewberries as a young child of 6 or 7, of learning gardening skills, of learning the arts of food preservation, of mother and grandmother in the kitchen and Willis in the garden, patiently guiding, of more than 45 years of my adulthood -planting, tending, picking, canning, freezing so that my family could enjoy the abundance of a harvest sustainably produced.

Alone among the bushes, another bit of scripture came to mind: Luke 10:2 “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few...” Not many people appreciate the satisfaction of harvesting their own food. Our contemporary lives are ordered differently and most people do their harvesting in a store. When I enjoy raspberry jam on my toast or make blueberry pancakes for my grandchildren or serve green beans for dinner, I intimately know that food's journey. The harvest is multiplied. The Holy is encountered again and again, every step of the way.”

Pastor Kristie and I encounter the Holy in different ways. She finds God everywhere and for her those experiences have a mystical aura. She is a charismatic in that sense. I find God in the repetition of practical tasks. There is nothing mystical about picking berries or beans or tomatoes. It is a very physical act, but one that I often experience as Holy. Each of us encounters the Holy in our own way. Sometimes, we even find God in church!

I say that somewhat lightly, but if you are busy with the preparation and production of worship, like our choir and musicians and pastor, it may be hard to reflect on God's presence. But even preparation itself can be a Holy encounter. Preparing food for Meet & Greet or Wednesday night dinners, or washing dishes or cleaning and decorating the Fellowship Hall or serving food to neighborhood children, or preparing a Sunday School lesson, or weeding a flower bed or writing cards & letters, or counting money, or keeping books, or recording worship and posting it online or purchasing and delivering mattresses, and giving generously of your time, talents and money. All of it, any of it can become an opportunity for Holy encounter. It depends your turn of heart and mind and, dare I say, soul.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning expressed the same ideas in some oft quoted lines from her poem Aurora Leigh. I want to thank my friend Marie Cantrell for giving me this quote over lunch recently:

...“ Earth's crammed with heaven

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,

and daub their natural faces unaware.”

She had it right. Encountering the Holy is simply a matter of seeing, being aware, that Holy encounters are always there for the taking. He and she who look, will find God, always and everywhere – even in church. As our gospel lesson tells us:

“Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened. If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"  Luke 11:9-13

A simple task or conversation may become a Holy encounter for you, but might be nothing special for me – and vice-versa. Something may be quite ordinary one day, and open up the Holy on another day, depending on our state of mind at the moment.

John Wesley laid out for us mean of Grace by which we may up our odds on encountering the Holy – Prayer, Studying scripture, Worship participation, Holy conversations, and Holy Communion are among them. But we know that just going through the motions is not enough. We must enter into these experiences expecting to find God. These acts are the means by which we open our selves to God's gifts.

Ask, Seek, Knock. Look with eyes open and heart mind and soul open. God will not disappoint. The Holy will be revealed – in bushes and gardens and kitchens, in mountain hikes and beautiful sunsets, in shared meals and deep conversations, in children's laughter and the smiles of our elders. The Holy will be revealed, even in church – through music and prayer and word and table and fellowship. All is Holy.

I'd like to end with another quote, then we'll sing it. Take my Life and Let it Be, p 399.

“Take my life and let it be

consecrated, Lord, to thee.

Take my moments and my days,

Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move

at the impulse of thy love.

Take my feet and let them be

Swift and beautiful for thee.”

Benediction: May we take our whole selves out into the world to love and serve, expecting Holy Encounters in unexpected places.