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Harvey stirred in his sleep, rose from the sheets and grabbed the power cord to the alarm clock. Yanking it from the wall, he tipped like a felled tree back into bed. His eyelids fluttered but never lifted. The turned-off logic of the sleep-walker placed his left hand on the dead clock. He patted in satisfaction. Dust stirred, now wafted in the quiet through the hair on the back of his hand.
Harvey's index finger flapped repeatedly against the alarm set button, as if demanding the clock be ready. An unjustified satisfaction that the alarm would roust him in time for work cut off his dreaming. The finger spasm ebbed in a mellowing sleep pattern triggered within the the abyssal brain. The poor man was incognizant his human itching for no limits on desire had scratched his responsibly intended arrival at work.
I wonder how long we Christians will view worship as taking place in the presence of symbols (talismans?), which we label beautiful reminders or ascribe as bearing comfort. How long will we be devoted to our traditions, these forms developed across centuries; and by which, we inculcate every next generation? Forms often identified as expected to help us feel and/or enter the Presence of God. Are the symbols justified?
How long will we allow ourselves to sleep-walk within religion but remain disconnected from the power? Adam communed with the Father. Jesus, the second Adam, has restored the communion. He prayed for you and me to be joined with God.
Do I consider myself as more awake than you? Does this post spring from a self-righteous need to fix you? No. Just yesterday, the Lord convicted me in the revelation of yet one more place in my heart where some idol of me was more important than Him.
I continue the journey to simply know His Presence trusting in the righteousness of Christ and His work on the cross. Nothing on earth helps me into the Presence of God. The Father has established the communion between us by His grace. I hope for you to be fully awake to this spiritual reality.
5 comments:
I like this
Thanks, Sweet Frei, for the encouragement!
A couple of thoughts that occurred to me after reading this....
One of the more useful concepts I was taught in a theology class was that Justification is an event, but Sanctification (which I define as becoming the person Father wants me to be) is a process. For some of us, it maya take a while. One of my favorite IC pastors used to call himself a "practicing Christian...sometimes I need a lot of practice."
Second, Father has a way of accepting, yet sort of ignoring all the things we surrender to Him and focusing on the thing we are trying to keep for ourselves...think I read this somewhere in C.S. Lewis, but can't remember where.
Phil,
Your second thought has been on my mind much lately. If God accepts me in the process, I should accept others in the middle of theirs.
It seems to me, we American brethren have made Christianity about achieving God instead of resting in Him. So many things about life fall into place, when I practice just being in Him. Yet it is so hard for others to hear that such rest is enough.
you have a gift for expression...
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