On miracles

What is a miracle? Doesn’t a miracle occur when something happens that cannot happen, at least in our way of seeing things?

Some Christians insist the “miracles” of the bible are to be believed and taken literally. The bush from which God spoke was really burning; the Red Sea did part; water rushed from the rock tapped by the rod of Moses; manna appeared in the desert. And we go into the Christian testament, and this applies here, too: Jesus walked on the water, calmed the storm at sea, and fed five thousand with a child’s meal.

Here’s the thing though: if we teach just this interpretation of “miracle,” then where is God now?

What if Moses were so attuned to God that hearing God speak on that mountain was tantamount to the very bushes burning?! What if no other way of describing the experience would do it justice? What if we were so attuned to God that we had to resort to such words in order to convey the experience?

Yes, miracles happened in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. I do not deny the miraculous nature of these events. But I also know God is just as active, just as vocal, just as HERE. Do we teach one another how to see, how to hear, how to walk with this God?

Reflection

How do you see God’s miracles in this present world?

Prayer

Dear God, it doesn’t make sense that you would be so present in the lives of people “back then,” and not now. Attune my eyes, my ears, my mind to you. Teach me to wait and watch for you. Show me how you move within the events of our lives. Lord, I want to see! Amen.