Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome to our new series,
Stay Here.
This is a series of short reflections to help hold us through various times,
Stages and moments of each and every day.
But today we're going to start by reflecting on that story on the road to Emmaus,
In particular that verse there in Luke 24.
Where it says their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
Speaking of the two men walking to Emmaus recognizing Jesus.
And this is the moment in the story that I love.
You got these two guys walking,
Talking about everything that had happened.
They're confused and disappointed.
They're trying to make sense of things and Jesus joins them and they don't recognize him.
They walk with him,
They listen to him,
They talk with him,
And they still don't know who he is.
And eventually,
They sit down to eat.
And at that point,
Jesus takes bread.
He blesses it and breaks it.
He gives it to them.
And then we get that beautiful little verse.
Their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
And it makes me wonder how often that is our experience of God.
That we're going through life and then suddenly we recognize that God is there.
And it's not as if God has suddenly appeared.
God was already there.
Sometimes we imagine that finding God means discovering something new,
A new insight,
A new experience,
A new sense.
Of God's presence,
But Maybe.
.
.
Spirituality is sometimes less about finding God and more about learning to notice.
Because I wonder if God's already closer than we realize.
God who is present in conversations and in kindness and in moments of beauty.
And in all the other ordinary rhythms of a day.
Present even in the questions and the doubts that still have no answers.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn't recognize Jesus while he was walking beside them.
They didn't recognize him while he was talking to them.
They didn't recognize him while he was opening the scriptures to them.
He was only later.
That they realise that.
He had been there.
So maybe there's moments in our own lives.
That we only understand afterwards.
You know,
You meet the person.
Someone said something.
A door opened,
A door closed.
There was a moment of unexpected peace,
A strange sense that you needed to stop.
Maybe at the time it didn't seem particularly,
Well,
No spiritual.
Looking back you might see something different.
You might say,
Maybe God was there.
And it doesn't just have to be a good thing,
Even in those bad,
Difficult,
Hard and hurting moments.
And maybe that's something worth remembering today.
That sacred moments don't have to be created.
And we don't have to be doing anything necessarily special.
All we have to do is be attentive,
To look again,
To listen again,
To stay with what is already here.
Because sometimes you'll never quite know what you might recognise.
So as we come to a close,
I'm just going to give you some time.
Just to be.
You might want to look around you.
Look at the people who are around you.
Notice light coming through the window.
You might notice you're breathing.
You might contemplate something that's happened or something that's happening.
And rather than ask the question,
Where is God?
Maybe ask,
What if God is already here and I simply haven't recognized it yet?
Or to use the words of Jacob.
God was in this place and I,
I did not know.
Let's just take a moment to sit and be with those questions for a time.
Just take a nice deep breath in.
And out.
And just in your heart for a moment,
Just give gratitude to God.
For whatever it was that came in that time,
Even if it was nothing.
Just gratitude that you've been able to have this time and be here now.
And as you go,
Just remember,
Sometimes.
.
.
The sacred moment doesn't have to have some sort of fanfare announcement.
Sometimes.
.
.
Our eyes are simply open.
And we realise whether it's something that's happened or something that's happening.
That God was and is here all along.
And all we need to do is stay here.
Grace and peace friends,
Until tomorrow.
Bye for now.
