Experiencing God

I was reading Bookgirl's blog, and was struck by this post.   This paragraph is from that post:

This last week, I followed a reflection from the Daily Feast: Meditations from Feasting on the Word from the Genesis text. The writer (Bert Marshall) points to Adam’s line, “I heard the sound of you in the garden…” (Genesis 3:10a), imagines how God might have sounded, points out that the God of the written word is silent, and wonders how we might hear the sound of God in our world.

What does God sound like?  How might we hear God in our world?

Hold that question for a moment. 

In an MLC meeting on Monday, the Chairperson said that we do not find God in nature (or something like that).  God isn't found in a beautiful sunset.  As a person who often finds evidence of God in nature, I have to disagree with him.

When I look at Bookgirl's question, I realize that many of the sounds of God I would list are part of nature.

• waves at the ocean
• music, especially with words I can grab onto
• the wind and the sound it makes
• laughter
• communion liturgy

So, if I expand the question, then how do my senses experience God?

• the feel of the wind
• the heat of the sun
• the beauty of color
• the intricacy of flowers and plants
• the testimony of friends
• the smell of baking bread (or maybe that's just comfort)

What would your lists look like?

When I think back to the sermonette at MLC, I remember a book I read a few years ago.  I can remember WHERE I read it, but I can't remember which book it was.  It could have been an Ortberg book.  Anyway, he said that there are ways in which people relate to God -- some through service, some through nature, some through worship, some through -- well, you get the idea.  It's important to both discover how you relate best to God and to realize that your way is not everyone's way.  We're made that way. 

This is a rambling post, but it's all tied together for me today.  Good luck with it.