India in the Presence

I’ve been in India this last week with a group of pastors, ministry leaders, and theology students doing my discipleship thing. We all stayed together in a verdant Catholic retreat center in Vellore eating mostly spicy vegetarian food and sitting in the corridors joking around with the Anglican archbishop, our “gang leader” who organized the seminar.

I collected a number of stories from people who encountered God in a life changing way that week. 17 of our students said they felt they would never be the same after.  I took everyone through simple Immanuel exercises designed to build and maintain a connection with God through memory and deliberate appreciation thinking at minimum it would help attune them to what God might want to say to them through the seminar. Everyone said they were able to physically feel the presence of Jesus in the room (heat, electricity, peace, a sense of being elevated, etc) and most could hear Him speak. One woman confessed after the first day, “I’ve been running so hard for Jesus but now I know I need to be running with Jesus!

I took 5 students individually through the Immanuel Approach for healing traumatic memories and everyone had a profound experience. One person saw Jesus heal a 3 significant memories of traumatic abuse and then say, “if you ever need to know anything else [read: if you need resources] you can always come back to this place and I’ll explain everything to you.” The next day he said his feelings about the traumas had permanently changed. Another person felt so overwhelmed by the loving presence of God he said he could sit up anymore and had to lay down.

Other fun adventures included:

*Endless games of connect four with my friend Emmanuel’s 3 kids who called me “Nate Uncle”.

*Learning to make chapatti and chicken curry from some Indian ladies

*A visit to a nearby gypsy camp to distribute clothing

*A couple women getting healed of moderate to severe back pain

*A day trip through monkey-full mountains to the archbishop’s home for biriyani.

*A surprise ordination service with 3 bishops in which I became a priest in the Anglican Episcopal Church International. I’ve technically joined a monastic order modeled after the order of Saint Francis!

*Watching my friend Emmanuel teach several sessions in our seminar. I’m ready to call him a fully equipped trainer!

I’ve been trying to boil down the experience to a few salient reflections. I started seeing things come out of me naturally this week that show me I’m growing. I came into this week wanting to put all the intimacy I’ve enjoyed with Jesus the last 18 months to the test. If Jesus is present with me throughout the day in Fayetteville, leading me in tender and clear ways, can I trust him to lead me through a training seminar, a healing prayer session, a sermon, or a casual conversation in India? My conclusion? Far more than I ever imagined.

One morning Jesus showed me that the pace of his Presence is much slower than the pace of our brains and if I slowed my mind down enough to attend to Him, He would lead me in wonderful ways. This required a level of comfort with silence and potential awkwardness in the group. But after that, I made an effort to walk slower, talk slower, think slower, and invite Jesus into every situation. I would feel electricity in my body that was so intense at times I would be shaking. One student said he could see Jesus standing at my side whispering directions to me.

I also made it my ambition to stay with him during preaching. He actually told me before I left home that I should NOT prepare for these sermons, except to reflect on the passages he gave me for my own application. I realized how quickly I can get into my own clever thoughts and applications but totally miss what the spirit is doing. I wouldn’t say I totally succeeded in this faith experiment, but I could see Jesus in the back of the room and not having notes allowed me to keep my eyes on him and also to cultivate a new empathy and tenderness toward the people in the congregation. I tried to preach directly to the kids in the front row. I don’t think the content or delivery suffered for my lack of prep. If anything, I felt greater clarity, peacefulness, and conviction than I typically do.

But it wasn’t just during teaching and preaching that I felt God’s Presence. I felt Him there during tea breaks, sitting cross-legged on the bed with my friend Emmanuel, or joking with the other students in the hallways. Several times God showed me an image or word for someone, which seemed to fit them well. The only times his presence faded was when we were traveling, meeting new people, or when I felt some pressure to perform. But on the whole, He has been with me. He sharpened my intellect, increased my emotional capacity, turned on my relational circuits, gave me insight, and made me completely peaceful with virtually no feelings of doubt or intimidation which I’d expect given all the PhD’s, bishops, and ministry leaders in the room.

Here’s the cool thing though. I clearly heard Jesus say, “This is only the beginning.” As fun as this week was, I believe that much better things are coming down the road.

Much of my spiritual journey has felt a series of expansions and consolidations. This week felt like a hugely stretching and growing experience, although in some ways, it’s only an outward expression of the intimacy I’ve been enjoying privately for the last several months. Every time I have a growing experience like this, I have a choice: I can press into the growth by cultivating a quiet season of growth and intimacy... or I can lose the gains through pride, ministry strategizing, and overworking and grow at a much slower pace. I hope to take some extended time this week just enjoying my friendship with Him.

In one short month I’ll be in West Africa doing this among people who are working among the least reached. I’ll be meeting with Muslim leaders and looking for the presence of Jesus there as well. I wonder what the Lord can do if I slow down enough to let Him do His thing? I wonder what the Lord could do through you?

Here are a few snapshot for you to enjoy!