Each Spring, I and a number of others are normally up at Malibu’s Tool and Tackle week to open the camp up for its normal summer camping operation. The routine is generally the same: get up, eat, work a bit, have a break and eat, work a bit more, lunch, work, break, eat some more, then club, and then go to sleep. Normally, club is where a speaker talks about something spiritually significant and for some reason I did not zone out for this club like I normally do (the same is true for church too). This time I could connect with speaker and to the various passages of the bible he present. Yet this time, with my eyes shut (many people accused me of falling asleep but it is not true) I could feel the words. This was way beyond just hearing and knowing but I was actually resonating or vibrating with words or at least the spiritual topic being discussed. This feeling was like the radio in a car with the volume and bass turned up and the mirrors and windows vibrate and move to the rhythm of the music and lyrics. This happened each of the five nights and it was during the last night which was on Good Friday which was the most meaningful to me.
After the talk concluded, we were all invited to participate in communion which is a very traditional way to celebrate Easter. Honestly, it was a bit of let down for me after all that had I had experienced the previous nights. I have been through this ritual a number of times before and felt this was going to be no different. Although this act was created and has been practiced for a thousand or so years to represent the blood and body of Christ sacrificed for our sins and I knew this by heart like an old rock song. Yet my thinking changed when I realized this was a ceremony and not a ritual. Similar to the Japanese tea ceremony where the involvement and preparation of the tea is as important than just drinking of the tea. At that instance, I was showered with the most incredible feeling of love that I have ever felt in my life. I was consumed with love that was so unconditional, so indefinable, so patient, and so overwhelming that I could only handle a second of it. I knew this was of God. There were no words, no sounds, or sight but within myself. I now understand that everyone and everything is infused with this pure love. My understanding of God is now beyond what I knew of my faith in Christianity, religion, the church, and other aspects of faith and philosophies I have been taught all of my life. We as people are connected with this love regardless of what we believe in or profess for it is available to all (Colossians 3:11 comes to mind for some reason).
This brief and incredible experience has left me changed. I am no longer just a Christian, or just an American, or just a human being but someone who has been touched and knows God is deep within me and that part of him resides in me always. Again, I have experienced something at Malibu that has left me changed for the better and I am grateful to have experienced this gift from God at all times during Easter.
