Sacred Space – goodchristianfiction

I have to write some hard things. I have to ask some questions that have no clear-cut answers. I have to begin with the assurance that despite what I have to write today, the end of any thoughts on the cup of wrath is the promise of the mercy of God that gave us Christ to save us.

Before the New Testament, people who sinned had to “get right” with God through the offering of different sacrifices. The Book of Leviticus spells out what sins call for different animal or grain offerings and just how those offerings were to be carried out. Then, Leviticus starts to spell out what makes a person unclean. Touching dead animals, being a woman in her cycle, even having a boil can make a person unclean, requiring yet another set of procedures–different procedures for each different circumstance. In one instance, the poor, afflicted person had to go around with a shaved head outside of the camp for a week or more, covering his/her mouth and saying out loud, over and over, “unclean, unclean.”

Maybe 4000 years ago, people didn’t get acne like we do today. Maybe words didn’t carry the same power so that a person having to call out their uncleanness all the time would really believe their own cleanness when the priest finally declared it. These are questions God knows the answers to, and my faith has to leave at that.

But, what I realized as I read through Leviticus this morning was that once the book covers the sin offerings, it very clearly delineates that the cleanliness procedures have to do with ceremonial cleanness. When God saved the Jews from Egypt, He was beginning to establish the practice of worshipping one God, HIM.

Part of establishing monotheism among a people who had always believed in Him but also still worshipped other gods was making those people understand just how perfect, pure, powerful and different the God of the Jews really was. Remember how there were several of the plagues in Egypt that even the Egyptian magicians could imitate? As slaves, the Jews had been surrounded for more than 400 years with masters who worshipped a pantheon of gods.

To set Himself apart, God rightfully wanted His people to understand the Holiness of His temple. Only Moses spoke with Him directly, and afterward Moses’ face glowed so that he had to cover it because the glow scared the Jews. To enter even the outer sections of the temple that was dedicated to the one and only LORD, therefore, God needed to make very clear-cut delineations between what was clean and unclean. Those who did not take God’s commands seriously, literally died.

Fast-forward to a New Testament world, and I come to the tough questions. These are the kind of questions that can keep Christians apart, even though they really shouldn’t be “deal breakers.” I only ask them because they came to me as I contemplated the importance placed on ceremonial cleanliness in Leviticus.

First, the only reason we have the right to enter the Holy of Holies is through the sacrifice that Christ made for us. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that comes from our acceptance of Christ as our Savior, we have full access to the one and only God. But, in a modern world where we have tried so hard to make our churches “welcoming,” have we gone too far away from the symbolic importance of the Holiness of the worship sanctuary?

In the church I attend, some people wear jeans, others wear dresses and suits. The church has a coffee bar in the Atrium, and people bring their coffee into the worship service. It is a friendly, comfortable environment, but is it Holy? In other words, I’d like to think that we humans have advanced in the last 4000 years, but I also know that in the 2000 years since Christ declared His kingdom, we haven’t put forth the greatest track record. We are all stubborn and stiff-necked people.

Would wearing our best (or the equivalent of the Sunday best that the least affluent member of the church is able to wear so that church doesn’t become a glamour contest) and entering the sanctuary with only our Bibles in our hands make us more cognizant of the honor we have in being able to worship God in this way? Have we lost a bit in translation by making our worship centers more comfortable than sanctified?

I’m not making any judgments or trying to start any arguments here. I think this is a practice each person can decide for him/herself. I, for one, am going to stop the habit I had begun of taking a drink into the sanctuary just because others were also doing it. I didn’t feel right about it for myself from the get-go. After being reminded about the importance of ceremonial cleanliness to God in the time of the Old Testament, I feel that I need to uphold the sanctity of the sanctuary in this way even though I am already sanctified by Christ.

As I heard a preacher once remark, if God wanted this much from us before He sacrificed His one and only Son, what makes us think He would want less of us now that that sacrifice has been made?

It seems like foregoing a beverage and dressing with care before entering the sanctuary on Sunday are some simple steps I can take to remind myself of the holiness of the worship in which I am about to partake. Leviticus serves as an awesome reminder of the depth of God’s love for His people and the extent of His wrath when His very, very long patience finally wears out.

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.
― Mother Teresa

Prayer is a sacred act we have a tendency to take for granted in a multitude of ways. Many of us have a bad habit of not turning to prayer unless we are in some kind of trouble. Others of us fail to appreciate the great gift it is to approach the Maker of Heaven and Earth in conversation just as we might speak to a respected friend. Because Christ serves as our High Priest, we always have access to the inner sanctuary of the temple, so to speak. All we have to do is believe, ask, and, as Mother Teresa so eloquently reminds us, to listen.

Unfortunately, our ability to listen is daily challenged by a bombardment of messages and information that is greater than at any other time in human history. From television and internet to cell phones and radios, we are almost never in silence. Unless, we make a concerted effort to find time to be quiet.

The first step to silence is to pick a time in each day when you plan to spend time with just yourself and God. Enter a room or your closet, close the door, turn off the cell. Begin by finding a comfortable position. Take three deep, breaths. Spend the first few moments with God concentrating on clearing your mind. Don’t let thoughts about your To-Do list or the confrontation at work that day get in the way of this moment when you are preparing to speak to the Most Holy of Holies.

The ability to clear one’s mind and be comfortable in our own silence takes practice. Don’t expect to get it right at first. But having with you your two strongest weapons–your faith and your Bible–will certainly help you focus your mind on the things of God and not the things of this world. Ask Him to help you listen. Admit your fears and your hope to Him.

Eventually, you will be able to expand the time you spend in your sacred space. In fact, you will grow to covet the quiet time. You will find there is always something or someone to pray about. You will also find that even just sitting and concentrating on your own breath once you have invited God in can be a holy experience.

But, be ready to check the answers you think you hear from God against what you know He says in His word. Ask your spiritual advisors for confirmation of what you think you have heard. Remember that our human hearts are known as “the great deceivers” for a reason. Often, the truth God needs us to see is initially painful, but it always leads to a better us, to the healing that is the promise of Christ’s love for us.

The power of prayer is meant to be shared

Finally, remember that, as your ability to find the sacred places in your own heart and day increase, you are duty-bound to share what you have learned with others. Sacred spaces are even more sacred when we learn together to be still and listen for God:

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them, Christ tells us in Matthew 18:20.

The family that prays together stays together, isn’t just an old wives’ tale. It is the profound truth of the power of God when we truly let Him into our lives.

So, the next time you prepare to pray, take a moment or two to remember the value of the privilege it is that we Christians can speak, speak, to the One and Only in full knowledge that He is listening to us and that the One who died for us is sitting at His right hand to intervene on our behalf. Now, that is a sacred truth worth feeling from the top of our heads to the tips of our toes.

Be on the lookout for the sacred this week. Make time in your day for it. All you need do is ask.