TRANSCRIPT:

Good morning. Welcome to fiLLLed in 5, where each Monday morning we take time to discuss an aspect of the spiritual life. Today I want to talk about spiritual experiences. These are a part of our everyday lives, although some of us may have the assumption that only the spiritual greats experience this, that only people like the Dalai Lama or Gandhi or Mother Teresa have spiritual experiences. But actually, each of us have spiritual experiences and probably more often than what we realize. 

So what is it? A spiritual experience is a deeply personal encounter or connection with something that takes us beyond the moment or beyond the material world. For instance, often listening to music I will have a spiritual experience. It speaks to my soul, I connect with it and it takes me beyond the moment and I feel connected to something larger than myself. Perhaps you too have been moved by music. A spiritual experience can cause us to feel like we are connected to something larger to a higher power, to the universe, to nature, to other individuals. Maybe you're out in a forest or out in the big wide open here in the Midwest and watching one of our fantastic sunsets. It just takes you beyond that moment. That's a spiritual experience. Or maybe you're in a forest or on a lake and are just taken by the beauty of it all - spiritual experience.

It can happen in a lot of different ways. A lot of people experience this with art of different forms. It just takes us beyond ourselves for a minute. We can feel, perhaps, have experiences where we feel a profound sense of purpose or meaning or clarity about life. Maybe we have those moments when we just feel like we grew a little bit, where something we've heard or seen or experienced taught us a lesson that's going to change us a bit. That also is a spiritual experience. Or maybe just a profound feeling of peace and joy. I recently read from my friend Monica about glimmers. She shared that there are triggers, but there are also glimmers - those moments that sneak up on us and maybe catch us unaware that just take us to a place of happiness, joy, and peace. Those, too, are spiritual experiences. 

So what I would invite you to do this week is to take note of your spiritual experiences. I bet you have at least three moments, at least three, probably many more, spiritual experiences. I invite you to take notice of those, be intentional about it, and reflect on those for a minute. and how they affect you, and then share them with someone. You know, reach out to me. I would love to hear your story. If you've had one recently or in this last week, comment below and let me know what it was like for you. So that's the first topic I want to talk about today, spiritual experiences. 

Now let's talk about filled. Why is this fiLLLed with three L's? I like to think of the spiritual life as being filled with light, life, and love. In Genesis 1, God spoke, was hovering over the waters, and when God spoke, first there was light, and then God started calling forth life from the waters. And after God created, God said it was good, and there was love. Light, life, and love. It was there from the very beginning.

It is what fiLLLs all of us. And when we are in an experience where we are fiLLLed with light, fiLLLed with life, fiLLLed with love, that's when we are really connecting with a Higher Power. However you want to name it. I call higher power God. You may have a different name. Perhaps you use Source or Spirit or Higher Power, but the fiLLLed life, then, is living intentionally with light life and love. 

So thank you for joining me this morning and I hope you have a fiLLLed life with light, life and love. I'm Melissa Ebken. I'm the pastor of two wonderful churches in central Illinois, the Iliopolis and Niantic Christian churches. I've been here for a couple decades and more now and my goal is to help all of us to have a fiLLLed life. We do it best when we do it together.