Surfing looks like a lot of fun.  I lived on the beach for 10 years, and back then I knew a lot of people who surfed. I have hung out in surf shops and even touched surfboards. I have watched surfing movies and posted links to surfing videos on my social media accounts.  I have even said words like gnarly and rad, but I have never actually surfed.  I have never paddled out into the ocean and experienced what it feels like to ride a wave. 

 

Experiencing something is different that reading about it, watching it happen, or just talking about it. To experience something is to live it. How do we experience faith?  Faith is meant to be experienced.  Faith isn't meant to be observed from a sideline, talked about over coffee on Monday morning or debated; faith is meant to be experienced.  How have you experienced faith?

 

In the church year, this week is all about experiences.  On Sunday we waved palm branches and did our best to recreate a glimpse of what it may have been like when Jesus entered Jerusalem.  We weren't passive observers; we were participants.  On Thursday some may experience what it is like to wash feet or have their feet washed.  Some may act out the last supper or the ancient Jewish celebration of Passover.  On Good Friday some may experience fear, sadness, and guilt as the service reenacts the brutality and violence of the first Good Friday.  This is an experience.  An experience is part of us, we relive it in our memories, we smell it in our clothes, and it changes who we are.

 

Are you experiencing faith, or are you watching from the sidelines?  Are you paddling out into the ocean aboard a thin piece of fiberglass, or are you just hanging out in the surf shop?  Jesus invited others to experience this life with him. His disciples then went and did the same thing; they invited others to experience this same life.  

 

How have you experienced faith?  If you don't think you have yet, this week is a great place to start.  Jump right in.  Don't just read, talk, and think about faith, experience it.  Let it be a part of you and change who you are.  Faith is meant to be experienced.

 

Grace and Peace,

 

Chris 

 

pastorchris@epiphanysuwanee.org

On Sunday, April 17th, the formation hour will focus on ways we can care for creation. This will be a center-based all-ages formation hour in which we will begin our TeraRecyle recycling program and learn more about how we can be better stewards of our planet.