The following paragraph is designed to be thought provoking with some shock value added. BUT thought provoking!!!!
"Peyote faith." According to Wikipedia, "To many followers, peyote itself is personified as "Peyote Spirit", considered to be either God's equivalent for the Indians to Jesus for Mainstream Christianity, or Jesus himself." That in turn, according to the footnote, is drawn from "Native American Church: Peyote Religion, Ceremonies and History" www.britanica.com.
I lead with that because this is where some people of faith land when asked to consider a "mystical" experience. Some kind of external mind-altering stimulant, or at least some smoke-sagey, 'incensey'. A Godly 'mystical' experience? If someone is familiar with the mystics of Christian history, frankly, they come off as a little odd.
An attempt to tame down this 'exotic' nature of "contemplation" and "mystical" is the term 'transcendent'. I like the touch of attempting to normalize an 'exotic' expression with a more complicated one.
What I am pushing on is where our soul finds itself when we are seeking to Love God. There is a whole grid about that which is a coming blog post.
The Lord is Good Pastor, but what are you talking about?
I am talking about a moment of beauty beyond ourselves. It is to be seen in nature, the stereotypical 'beautiful sunset'. (I am told this also works for the sunrise, but that's beyond my experience, too early). We are speaking of 'God's paintbrush' as the trees turn in the autumn. It could be the gift of artistry that God has inspired into we humans (Grounds for Sculpture comes to mind). You may notice I lean into the visual because I my self-awareness is as a visual person.
But music lifts me even more powerfully, I am not as self-aware of that. But a hymn, an orchestral piece, a musical, a praise song.
Or a well made pie, oh my..... It is in all of our senses that we can be transported to something more wonderful. Like there is a zone of wonderment.
As Christians, if we can recognize the most amazing moments of beauty as they occur around us, even in this sinful and broken world, how much more can we expect from our God in Heaven? We refer to God as things like "All-Knowing" and "All-Powerful", it is a fair addition to that list to refer to God as "All-Beautiful".
As surely as God is love, God opens for us those moments of beauty that remind us there is something greater, is something more powerful, is something more beautiful than even the most beautiful things of the creation. Things FAR more beautiful than all the ugly things of sin and brokenness.
Easter morning, Jesus broke back into life from death. Such a moment of transformative beauty, from death to new life. Such is the beautiful, mystical experiences offered to us by our God. What a thing to consider. Dare I even suggest...contemplate...
From under the pinions of the wings of our Lord,
Pastor Peter
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