Last week, on Easter Wednesday, the gospel appointed for the day was the same one we have for today, the resurrection appearance of Christ Jesus to the couple on the way to Emmaus. As those of us in Trinity’s mid-week healing service in the Memorial Garden that day reflected together on that scripture, I realized that their experience is the pattern of our spiritual journey today.

Just like those two, we so often walk through life completely unaware that we are in the presence of God. We seem to be oblivious to God’s going before us to make the rough places smooth, lifting us up when we are discouraged or sorrowful, strengthening us in our weakness, picking us up and dusting us off when we stumble and fall, saving us in so many different ways. And then one day, something happens! All of a sudden, our hearts are opened to experience God’s presence within and without. Our eyes are opened to see the hand of God at work in our lives. Like Christ’s blessing and breaking of the bread for the Emmaus couple, God’s touch shakes us down to our toes. We are stunned, and before we can catch our breath, before we can get our thoughts together to respond, it is over! We can’t hold on to it, nor make it last forever as much as we would like to.

When we pause and take time to reflect on our numinous experience, however, we begin to notice how we can recognize the reality of God’s presence at previous times in our lives. Like the two in Emmaus, in retrospect, we realize that “our hearts [were] burning within us,” although we missed it at the time. And finally, once we’ve experienced the power of God’s grace in a personal way, we want to share it with others, to witness to God’s presence in the here and now, to encourage their hearts with the good news that our journey is in God’s loving hands. Does that resonate with your experience?