Sacred Ground

 Luke 9:28-43a

Have you ever stood or been in a place which takes your breath away. You don't want to leave, you are rooted to the spot and all the wonder which surrounds you. You sit because you never want to leave. You would rather stay forever to keep this awe inside of you alive.

This is how it is today for Peter. He sees Jesus transformed and sees him visit with the greatest ones from Hebrew history and he wants to stay. To stand in this feeling forever. So Peter says the first thing that occurs to him as a good Jew. Lets make some tents. Lets keep this place marked forever as holy, sacred. In Hebrew culture it was a tradition to mark sacred spots. Many of these were marked by piles of stones. We see this with the Hebrews crossing the Jordan in the Old Testament, with Jacob the night he wrestles with God, the spot where the burning bush was all of these marked as holy and sacred spots. The closest equivalent in a well traveled world might be to relate it to a holy day such as the feast of booths, so Peter suggests making a tent.

A wise person named Vin Delora once said we have so taken the sacred out of anything that nothing is holy. Now he was speaking of how Native Americans have been stripped of their sacred ceremonies, but it is true for us as well. The secular culture has so stripped away the knowledge of sacred space, or place that we can't find it anymore. 

This week two kids were sent out of the room for causing a disturbance. I waited with them outside the room so they wouldn't continue disturbing the class. One of them has been fascinated by the fact I'm a priest and made a statement about going to church on Christmas Eve. The other student asked why only Christmas Eve? He said because you get a candle.

His first response may seem funny, but it is an example of trying to put the sacred into words. When you have a darkened church at night with only candlelight as the source of light there is something sacred. Something holy and the closest the student could come to describing this feeling was in the fact they received a candle on Christmas Eve. 

Sacred space transforms us just as it transformed Jesus face in the reading. We become changed inside because of it. Whether it is because we realize something which changes our point of view. Or we know something intrinsically awe inspiring because we realize how small and insignificant we are. Or we have a vision of how something may be made different and we find a new way forward from where we were stuck. There are smaller examples of this all the time and we don't mark them, or we don't review and see the many gifts which surround us. 

Sometimes it is good to take stock of this. To look around and see the blessing which God has given us. Because this is a part of this as well. The blessing of hearing God's voice saying "this is my beloved." We too have this encounter of being beloved. We just don't see it when everything else in life is overwhelming us. 

So take stock. Look around and see the many blessings and tiny holy encounters you may have experienced. Then offer this to God. You will find yourself transformed by it. Come and see.