Epiphany #6 - Walk Away
I saved the most controversial Epiphany for last. As a reminder of where I started…
What is Epiphany? The word ‘Epiphany’ originates from Greek and means “manifestation”. The manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi in Matthew 2: 1–12. They were the first “Gentiles” to meet Christ.
Epiphany celebrates the moment when Christ was illuminated to the world, the discovery of all discoveries. Because of Christ, now everyone is included in the Kingdom of God.
I’ve spent the past 6 weeks sharing some of my most important discoveries in faith that occurred to me on a decade long journey of doubt, despair, and depression. It was an intense season of questioning and searching, of shaking off the junk that I had acquired theologically from leading and pastoring at evangelical churches.
If you want to catch up on Epiphanies #1-5, catch up here.
I read a post recently from a fellow pastor that serves as a great introduction to Epiphany #6. In his post, he mentioned a wonderful influence on my faith journey, Thomas Merton.
“Dear individualistic/independent streams of evangelicalism, Tommy Merton would like a word! Thomas Merton said it was actually dangerous to put the Scriptures in the hands of people whose inner self is not yet sufficiently awakened to encounter the Spirit, because they will try to use God for their own egocentric purposes.” - JR Rozco
Maybe read that again and let it sink in. There are some truths you we can pull from this:
Reading The Bible is probably not the best entry point to faith.
Reading The Bible is not the best method of spiritual formation.
Reading The Bible without understanding “how” can hurt spiritual formation.
Six weeks into the New Year, after many churches have initiated a “Read the Bible in a Year” program as a communal New Year’s Resolution, here I am writing, that may not be the best move for spiritual formation. Here’s the thing, Jesus would agree.
2000 years after Christ, our primary source of information about Him is Scripture. Thank God for the power of His Spirit working through the stories and writings of these early leaders and followers.
And our primary source of formation is the Holy Spirit. Jesus routinely foreshadows the Holy Spirit as the helper (John 14:26), our leader (Romans 8:14), our guide to truth (John 16:13), and our gift (Acts 2:38).
About 9 years ago, I started to doubt the Bible as my primary source of spiritual formation and it has been the most important Epiphany of my life. I put that discovery at the top of the list.
One of the places I often feel the presence of the Holy Spirit more than any other is around a natural body of water. Some of my most powerful moments where I felt like I’ve heard from God have been while I’m in the water.
In 2015, I crawled up into a waterfall in a beautiful hot spring in Saturnia, Italy. I sat under the crushing pour for a long time, clinging to the rocks for as long as possible because I felt God. I felt him say something like, “I’m cleaning off years off junk, refining you, and you need to sit here in this season of life, and let me work.”
2 and 1/2 years ago, I stood in the Atlantic Ocean on our summer family vacation and shared with Karrie through tears that I felt God saying (with regards to our pastoral leadership at our beloved Restore Church), “This isn’t your church to lead anymore. These aren’t your decisions to make.” She also felt that.
A simile I’ve thought of for the past few years with regards to the Bible, is The Bible is like a beach and the Holy Spirit is like an ocean. We can sit on the beach and have a wonderful view of the ocean. We can even smell the ocean and hear the waves. But in order to experience the ocean, touch it, and get the full sense of it, we have to enter the water.
And the ocean is a powerful and scary place to be. You don’t know what’s around you. You often can’t see the bottom. When we walk away from the safety of Scripture, and into the depth and power of the Holy Spirit, it will overwhelm, shape, and inspire you in ways you couldn’t imagine by just reading words on a page.
Epiphany #6 - Leave the beach (The Bible) and wade into the deep waters of presence with the Holy Spirit.
And a critical part of this, the beach will always be there. And when you come back into shore, and pick up The Bible, you will read it with fresh eyes and a restored heart. The stories of the generations that have come before you in faith will touch you in new and profound ways. You will most likely see it through a better lens and understanding.
A good next step for your spiritual journey is to consider, "Where do I experience God? What place or circumstances tend to slow me down? When and where do I feel at peace? For me, it’s the water. For Karrie, it’s the woods. Where is it for you? I imagine the Spirit is waiting for you there.
Go to that place and practice some of the ancient spiritual disciplines. Need some help or templates? Let us know and we'll email them to you. We've got so many resources we've developed over the years and they are always FREE.