In his latest essay, Bishop John Shelby Spong explores how it is one can know God:
The fact is that I do believe in God deeply and profoundly, but I cannot tell you either who God is or what God is. Nor do I think that anyone else can do so either. All any of us can ever do is to tell others how we believe we have experienced God. God and our experience of God are not the same.
So What?
The only way one can know God is to experience God. This understanding can be refined in many ways, including study and conversation (both with others who have experienced God and those who have not).
This perspective is especially well suited for our increasingly postmodern world. We who follow the way of Jesus must be story-tellers and also story-listeners. Church – as a community of faith – is a good place to find and learn to use tools that help us more fully connect to our experiences of God. All of life is an ongoing opportunity to regularly and intentionally share our story with those we encounter – including our stories of experiencing God.
- How have you experienced God this week?
- Share one story someone else shared with you of her/his experience of God that helped you better understand your own experiences.