Sacredness - part 3

In my contemplation about the sacred, I've really come to the conclusion that what connects all this is the mystery of our faith. But I see two main obstacles to our acceptance of mystery:

First of all, we need to teach our consciousness to submit to the reality of mystery. Sounds like an oxymoron, but I think it takes practice. And I believe that means we need to disarm our reason. I do not mean we disengage our reason or deny it. We need to allow our reason to observe and learn from our experience of mystery. But we cannot allow it to guard us or prevent us from full participation in the mysteriousness of our life and faith by raising cynicism or doubt.

Secondly, I think we need to not be afraid when mystery confronts us as a spiritual reality beyond our consciousness. For truly, the ordinary really is sacred beyond our comprehension. (Though I still wonder if and how there things that are more sacred than others?) But I think that true faith is in God and His work through his Creation, thus the mysterious connection between the physical realities and spiritual ones should not be so scary.

I also think there must be a mysterious sacredness to the words that we speak whether it be in our liturgy or prayers in this time and with the saints. There is definitely a mysterious connection between the things that we do both in worship and incarnating Christ in everyday life that makes all of life sacred to a certain degree, though I can't say what that degree is. And as for sacred places where we stand, places of worship and places of human experience, all I can say for sure is that there are clear examples in the Bible that there were holy places of God's presence where God's people could not stand. Yet Jesus showed us that, essentially, there were no places he could not go because they were not sacred enough. Even the home of a tax collector was holy ground for the Incarnation of God.

Mystery, by its very definition, transports us to a realm beyond our consciousness or understanding. I think that for us to name something as sacred means that we hold that place or thing in higher esteem, perhaps, but we don't always really know why. It is too tempting, however, to merely pass of our determinations of sacredness as only being human constructs or psychological pacifiers or supports. There is a spiritual element to it, thus there is mystery and ultimately, faith. There must be. Faith beyond ourselves and human experience. Faith for what can happen beyond our comprehension. Faith for even the impossible. This is mystery.

Mennonites are not completely unable to embrace mystery. There are a few Quakerish aspects to our worship, traditionally. We acknowledge the influence of the Spirit in our worship. We also embrace a communal hermaneutic. We believe the Spirit does speak through the human gatherings of the Body. This is mysterious, yet tested. And, as has been mentioned in our gatherings, an indicator of this is the unity that can result as discernment takes place. This is truly mysterious and beautiful and hopeful.

I think we could grow in the area of embracing the mystery of liturgy and sacred space. This is what started my ruminations on it all. There are words of our faith passed down through generations that we embrace faithfully in some contexts but not others. There are times of Church history we look to more quickly than others too in comparing them to our present day worship. We provide sacred space sometimes but not others. We give time and place for funerals and even recite vows for weddings and baptisms, but what about other functions of worship and Body life? What about for healing or restoration of those trapped in addictions? What do we believe about Communion? Do we understand what we are saying in the liturgy?

And I think Mennonites, who historically have worked on the forefront of social justice issues, showing that the physical is as much as important as the spiritual, still struggle a bit with how that can happen in gathered worship. Four-part harmony and sharing time are key elements, but they don't transport us to the area of mystery where only God understands our awe and reverence. We decorate for birthdays and anniversaries and other occasions that celebrate the life of God's Creation, yet worry that our weekly celebration in corporate worship to God Himself might get too distracting or frivilous if we "decorate." Will our sanctuaries ever be sacred places or are they still just meeting houses. I wonder.

Do we need sacred spaces and places and things? If so, how can we allow the mystery of such enrich our worship and daily living?