Sacred Places

Bright Shoots Of Everlastingness: Essays On Faith And The American Wild by Paul J. Willis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am not usually an essay reader, but this book captured my interest with the lovely title. I was hooked by the time I was halfway through the introduction. Why exactly did I like it so much? I think I liked the author's honesty and the gentleness in which he presented it. Take for example this thought:

"American evangelicals are no doubt some of the tackiest, corniest, pigheadedest people on earth. However, They are my people, and I am one of them. By historical accident or design, they are the unsavory husk for the kernel of divine love that has been given for me to taste."

What a great picture of Christianity - the ugliness and the beauty lie side by side.

This book felt like a conversation to me. Not a "hurry up" conversation, but a "let's linger together" conversation. A book to help you slow down and contemplate life rather than just rushing through it. Sometimes it made you ponder, and sometimes you just laughed. I felt like the author could be a great friend.

Willis is not only an author, but a mountain climber. He loves the wilderness, he loves reaching the peak. Why? What draws him there? I recently learned that to the Hebrews, to God's people, the mountains are sacred, or thin, places. The people believed that on the mountain the veil separating us from Heaven is thinning out, that they are closer to Heaven on the mountaintop. Is this what the mountaineer feels--that they are closer to God on the mountaintop?

This led me to consider what would my sacred place be, or yours? Is there a place you feel closer to God? Is it by the water, in a meadow, is it a quiet space you've set up at home? Is it the 5 minutes you might spend on your knees in the morning, is it in the difficult situation you are encountering in life, when you cry out to God for help?

I love the water. Something about the lap of the waves, the sound of the beach grass, the way the sun light hovers over the water like a thousand little tinkerbells dancing soothes me and gives comfort. I saw it just yesterday when I took a walk to the channel at Holland State Park. It made me think of Isaiah 61:10:

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

I think those thousand little tinkerbells dancing on the water would make a lovely robe of righteousness don't you? At least I always imagine that some day when I am clothed with righteousness, I will be illumined by God's lovelight.

It's my favorite time of year, Easter. So much to contemplate as we come up to Maundy Thursday and Resurrection morning. We don't need to climb a mountain to "thin" the veil that separates us from Heaven. The death of Jesus tore the veil, and there is no separation any more. Any place is sacred that we allow Jesus to have full reign over.

So, find a place, it can be anyplace, and let the sacred take you over and rejoice. He is risen!
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Six Impossible Things

So I'm walking down a hallway, and from the corner of my eyes, I see a stack of books. Hmmm. . . . impossible to pass a stack of books without looking at them. I discover they are all the same book: Firstlight by Sue Monk Kidd. I pick it up, it holds nicely in the hand. I'm excited - I like Sue Monk Kidd. I stop at the office and ask if I can borrow one of the books over the weekend. "Oh, you may have one" the secretary tells me. "Really - to keep?" , "Yes, that's what they're for". Well, it certainly is a good day when you get a free book, and on top of that, discover you really like it! Which leads us to "Six Impossible Things". In one of the little homilies we are reminded that in Alice in Wonderland, the White Queen practiced believing six impossible things before breakfast. Kidd and her daughter decide to give it a try. I'm intrigued. What if I practice six impossible things before breakfast? What would they be? In Firstlight, the daughter wishes for 100 on her science test, and Kidd wishes for completion of two speeches she has to write before tomorrow. Guess what - both their impossible wishes come true. So, here are my six impossible wishes:

1. To wake up full of energy and good cheer (and with balanced hormones). (Buechner says: Grace is a good night's sleep.)
   
2. To create Shalom at work and at home. (Shalom: more than peace, it is where God's will is done--God's purpose is to do everything He can to replace chaos with Shalom)
   
3. To slow down and give full attention to the people who "interrupt" my day.
4. To ask God for guidance before making decisions.
5. To be patient with whatever comes my way.
6. To be content with the life God has given me.