I wonder if there are places in your lives that you especially
equate with the presence of God. They come readily to mind as you sit here…
The Celtic Christians
called them thin places, they were places where the heavenly realm seemed so
much closer to the physical world we live in.
You could call them sacred space... It could be the wild grandeur of a
west coast beach. I would often spend evenings out at Piha (seee image above) or Karekare both
enjoying the water and waves but also in prayer and reflection... Or it may simply that
sunny spot where you sit each day for bible study and quite prayer.
It could be a church building. I worked as a youth pastor
and parish assistant at St John’s in Rotorua for six years. You probably saw it
on the news a couple of weeks ago when it was tragically burned to the ground.
It felt like the loss of a friend. Through facebook a lot of my ex youth
groupies, shared what that place had meant for them. They talked of it being
the place where they had encountered God, where they had found faith, or they
had owned their parent’s faith. Many are not Christians but they talked of the
fact that in those formative years, who they are as people, was greatly shaped by
being community together in that space.
For the Jews the people of Israel that sacred space was
Jerusalem. It was the centre of their worship at the Temple, they were expected
to go there for one of the great three festivals each year. It was the seat of Judah’s
political power and the Davidic king.
Psalm 122 which we had read out to us today is a psalm of
ascent, that series of psalms that form the dogeared song book of pilgrims
coming to those festivals in Jerusalem. They are psalms that accompany us on a
journey of faith through life as well. That started in Psalm 120 that pilgrimage and
spiritual growth start with a holy dissatisfaction with living amongst the
tents of those who find their security in what they have and their ability to
hold onto that rather than seeking peace ‘wholeness’. We saw in psalm 121 that
it meant a willingness to move, to journey often through difficult terrain
trusting that God would lead and guide us. Psalm 122 talks of coming to the
place where we know God’s presence.
In a Psalm in 2 parts the first five verse act as an
expression of Joy at being at Jerusalem. They voice the pilgrims hope for the
city. They view it as a fortress a
secure and safe place, it is the place where the people gather to praise the
Lord, and it is the seat of both God’s reign through the Davidic kings and a
seat for his justice, that in the Old testament scriptures was to be an example
for all the other nations.
Then in verse 6 the Pilgrim turns to his fellow travellers
and commands them to pray for the peace of the city. The pilgrim declares that
for the sake of the house of the Lord that he will seek the prosperity of the
city. He has an idealised vision of the
city, but he is also wanting to pray and work to seeing that be a reality.
Peace for the Jews meant wholeness, right relationships, not just the absence
of conflict. Relationship with God, with God’s people, with those beyond that,
with the spiritual realm, with creation, and with our possessions and wealth.
Prosperity did not mean a high living standard for some at the expense of
others but that there would be abundance for all to share in. You catch a
glimpse of that in the early church in Jerusalem where it was said that no one
had a need because they would sold what they had and give the money to those in
need.
Now some have focused on this psalm as a commandment for us
all to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. That it holds a special place in the
heart and purposes of God, and I have no problem with that except that it often
means an uncritical acceptance of modern Israel’s political agenda. We don’t
catch the idealised image of psalms like this one and we miss the call for
justice and right relationships in that prayer for peace.
But it invites us also to think of what is sacred space for
us and how we are to enter it and treat it.
In our new testament reading as Jesus enters the city, his
greeting is so different, he mourns for the city. He knows that its people are
missing the very peace that they are praying for, because they do not recognise
who Jesus, the prince of peace is. Tragically that symbol of God’s presence the
temple will be destroyed and taken apart stone from stone, which is what
happened in 70 Ad when the Romans lay siege to the city. But God’s presence
with us is not so much about a specific place but in the presence of a specific
person, Jesus Christ.
Sacred space can be a prison cell, a city street, the
bedside in a hospital room, an office cubicle, a sports field, a café, anywhere
because by God’s Holy Spirit Christ is present with us.
The Celts talked of thin places and in Jesus Christ we have
the thinnest of all places, where God stepped into our world and pitched his
tent at our place. He died on the cross and was raised to life again All space
is now sacred because of Christ’s abiding presence.
It calls us to be a people that would pray for the peace of
God to be in those sacred places, to manifest itself. During the exile the
people Jews in Babylon were told to pray for the peace of the place where they
lived and to seek the prosperity of that city. We to are celled to seek the
prosperity of the places where we dwell…
You know I think being a spiritual pilgrim is not
necessarily about going to special places or spaces, although they can be
helpful for us. It is becoming aware that where we are is sacred space, because
Jesus Christ is here with us and then living in a way which seeks both the peace and
prospering of where we are with Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment