Holy Encounters

Jacob's wrestling match; Joseph's dreams; Moses and the burning Bush; Elijah on the mountain; Early stories of biblical heroes include these holy encounters with the divine other, with the LORD.  They are usually transformative, life-altering experiences.  Jacob gets injured, get a new name, gets humble, and gets reunited with his brother.  Joseph becomes a victim of attempted fratricide, gets incarcerated, and gets promoted from model prisoner to economic advisor of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.  Moses is chosen to lead God's people Israel out of Egyptian slavery, to freedom, through the wilderness, and to the promised land.  Elijah initiates the age of the prophets, God's messengers  to the powerful and proud, who call the nation to sorrow for sin/injustice, and remind the nation of God's covenant promise to be with them.
The premise of the New Testament gospels is that God encounters humans in the person of Jesus, the traveling Rabbi from Nazareth, Israel.  An encounter with Jesus is an encounter with God, because Jesus teaches with authority.  Jesus heals, shows mercy, declares the unclean clean, brings dignity and hope to the poor.  Jesus confronts satan, evil, and even death itself.  In his own body, Jesus experiences human suffering, sorrow, and grief.  He experiences pain and death itself.  But death encounters a more powerful force at work in Jesus, the power of God---the source and sustainer of life.
After Jesus, his followers collectively embody his presence through their words and actions.  They seek to imitate his ways, speak his words, continue his works.  As they do, those who encounter the church are transformed.  Baptism is part of this transformation, as people are physically united with Jesus in the water.  The old self is drowned, the new self emerges.  A new person is born. 
Christians encounter God at the table, where Jesus promised to become bread and wine.  So that we might take his life into our bodies, absorbing his powers to heal and forgive.  Like medicine, we are transformed, made well,  by the encounter with Jesus there.
Jesus also taught that God is present to us in the last, the least, the lost, the left out, and the losers.  Lepers, prisoners, the mentally ill, the blind and deaf, the poor, the meek, the peacemaker, the merciful---these embody the Spirit of Jesus, and therefore reveal God's nature to us.  A Samaritan who shows mercy to a wounded Jew becomes a person of peace who embodies Jesus.  Today, this might be represented by an Israeli soldier who puts down his weapon to assist a Palestinian Arab soldier who lie wounded on the streets of Jerusalem. Or a white police officer who attends a Black Lives Matter rally to walk in solidarity with the black community he serves and protects. 
Holy encounters occur daily.  Last week, I was invited to a luncheon for Muslims and Lutheran Christians.  We discovered a common hope for peace and a common desire to learn from each other.  We respect each others' faith practices and hope to find ways we can serve our neighbors.  I met several Muslim Men who want us to see them as friends, brothers, and people of compassion and peace. 
How do we know when we have experienced a holy encounter, a moment with God?  If we know the biblical stories, especially the story of Jesus, we can compare them.  I believe the bible is not a collection of stories about things that happened.  It is not merely historical.  Some of it is ahistorical, perhaps even mythological.  But the bible is also Word of God, alive, current, happening now.  The bible tells stories about our own life experiences.  We may not all have a burning bush, but we may be wrestling with our past selves.  We may be afraid and in need of assurance.  We may encounter the stranger, the other, even the perceived enemy, and find ourselves looking at the face of God.  This is biblical.  And it is an alternative to a prejudicial, exclusionary, protectionist worldview espoused by too many people.  It seems that the bible offers the world an alternative way of seeing ourselves and others.  It proposes brotherhood, harmony, neighbor, kinship, compassion, and welcome. 
This week, notice people and have a holy encounter.  See God approach you in the disguise of someone in need, someone generous, someone remarkably different from you.  See God in the face of the stranger, the newborn, or someone suffering. 
Realize that you may be a way in which someone else has a holy encounter too.  You may embody the goodness of God.  And if you do, the world gets brighter, safer, and more alive.