Divine Communion

"... they saw God, and they ate and drank." Exodus 24.11

A university friend gave me a precious gift yesterday: Exodus 24. 9-11. It's a passage of scripture I had not noticed before - imagine! To be fair, it is so fleeting, one's eye could skip over it without realising the extraordinary event it describes: Moses and his brother Aaron, with Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel are invited to a picnic with God.

So daunting is the prospect that the narrator has to comment: "God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites". But I bet they were on their best behaviour!

The fact is that we are constantly guests in God's presence - in the person of the Holy Spirit. Only we don't realise it or, we have grown so used to the idea that we take Him for granted. Which is why we need passages such as the one above to remind us, to open our eyes to the awesome reality beyond our ordinary awareness.

Given the privilege of knowing God and the lightness of Jesus' burden, we Christian's could surely make a bigger deal of this extra dimension, which is so much more glorious, real and significant than our habitual stamping ground? Not only does God deserve it but our world needs it, beginning with our nearest and dearest...