Have you ever had an experience or a feeling that you just can’t put into words? We search and search for the words that will explain our experience but no words will do. It is beyond our human capacity to explain to someone else what we felt – what we experienced. Consider some of these everyday experiences – a beautiful sunset, a spectacular sunrise, waves rolling or crashing on the shore, the buds of trees and flowers in the spring, a lover’s gaze, a starry night, the blue of the sky… For many of us, these images invoke feelings that can’t be put into words. We take pictures and videos so we can show others what we’ve witnessed because it is beyond words. And even then we almost always say that the picture or video doesn’t “do it justice”. Even those with a huge vocabulary struggle for the most simple expression but it’s just not possible. No human language can express these experiences and feelings. Why is that…?
Perhaps it is beyond our human expression because our experience was something other than human. God’s ways are not our ways and sometimes we have the awesome opportunity to experience God’s ways. And when we do, it is beyond our human capacity to express God’s ways. We have had an encounter with the divine; an encounter that leaves us literally speechless. And these encounters are not confined to just a few of our senses. Consider the gentle touch of friend in your time of deep need or the sound of a loved one’s voice or even a fragrance that reminds you of a particular moment in time. These sacred encounters can leave us wanting for expression. How often have we said that “words cannot express” my gratitude, the peace I felt, my love for… Sometimes we just have no words because words will just simply not suffice. No human expression can truly get at the heart of the experience. Laughter and tears come close but, again, we oftentimes don’t know why we are laughing or crying. Our human-ness is incapable of expressing our divine - our sacred - experiences.
I think of the story from the gospel according to Matthew when Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. They saw him in all his divine glory with apparitions of Moses and Elijah alongside Jesus. Peter fumbles around for something to say so he suggests putting up three tents for these three great men. But Peter doesn’t really understand what’s going on. And neither do James and John. After this experience, Jesus tells his apostles not to mention it to anyone else until a more appropriate time. What a gift this was for Peter, James and John – to know that they did not have to try to put into words what they had just experienced! Can you imagine if Jesus had told them to go and explain their experience to everyone they knew? I can just see them fumbling around for words – talking to each other about it and, because each had a different experience, how it wouldn’t have been very fruitful conversation. They may have been able to put a few words to what they had seen but to give the actual experience any expression would have been nearly impossible. Perhaps when they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and their divinity was enlivened they were able to “speak so all could understand” but likely not before that.
Divine and sacred experiences require divine and sacred expression. We must dig deep into our self if we are to find this expression and bring it to the fore. We must allow the Spirit to guide us in this expression if we are to “do it justice”. When opening ourselves to the Spirit, sometimes “words can express” our experience of the divine. Just as the apostles were able to “speak so all could understand”, we have the same opportunity if we allow our divinity to be awakened within us through the prompting of the Spirit. If we are patient with our self, perhaps we will, over time, be able to give human expression to some of our divine and sacred experiences. Or we can just sit with the knowledge that we have been touched in a special way by the divine – by the sacred…
Perhaps it is beyond our human expression because our experience was something other than human. God’s ways are not our ways and sometimes we have the awesome opportunity to experience God’s ways. And when we do, it is beyond our human capacity to express God’s ways. We have had an encounter with the divine; an encounter that leaves us literally speechless. And these encounters are not confined to just a few of our senses. Consider the gentle touch of friend in your time of deep need or the sound of a loved one’s voice or even a fragrance that reminds you of a particular moment in time. These sacred encounters can leave us wanting for expression. How often have we said that “words cannot express” my gratitude, the peace I felt, my love for… Sometimes we just have no words because words will just simply not suffice. No human expression can truly get at the heart of the experience. Laughter and tears come close but, again, we oftentimes don’t know why we are laughing or crying. Our human-ness is incapable of expressing our divine - our sacred - experiences.
I think of the story from the gospel according to Matthew when Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. They saw him in all his divine glory with apparitions of Moses and Elijah alongside Jesus. Peter fumbles around for something to say so he suggests putting up three tents for these three great men. But Peter doesn’t really understand what’s going on. And neither do James and John. After this experience, Jesus tells his apostles not to mention it to anyone else until a more appropriate time. What a gift this was for Peter, James and John – to know that they did not have to try to put into words what they had just experienced! Can you imagine if Jesus had told them to go and explain their experience to everyone they knew? I can just see them fumbling around for words – talking to each other about it and, because each had a different experience, how it wouldn’t have been very fruitful conversation. They may have been able to put a few words to what they had seen but to give the actual experience any expression would have been nearly impossible. Perhaps when they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and their divinity was enlivened they were able to “speak so all could understand” but likely not before that.
Divine and sacred experiences require divine and sacred expression. We must dig deep into our self if we are to find this expression and bring it to the fore. We must allow the Spirit to guide us in this expression if we are to “do it justice”. When opening ourselves to the Spirit, sometimes “words can express” our experience of the divine. Just as the apostles were able to “speak so all could understand”, we have the same opportunity if we allow our divinity to be awakened within us through the prompting of the Spirit. If we are patient with our self, perhaps we will, over time, be able to give human expression to some of our divine and sacred experiences. Or we can just sit with the knowledge that we have been touched in a special way by the divine – by the sacred…
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