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'Twilight over Aroostook'
If we say we recognize the Sacred, we are saying the Sacred recognizes us. Likewise, if we invite the Holy into our lives, this cannot be other than the Sacred inviting us into Its life.
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Gainesville, FL - ca. 2005
These two parishioners - Joe and Vickie, husband and wife - invited me, their pastor, to a meal in their home. Joe is an avid servant in the congregation - Southwest United Methodist Church -, and has been for many years. Among Joe's ministries is teaching adult Sunday School. Vickie is Minister of Music, her skills far beyond what most small congregations are blessed to benefit from.
After entering this simple, small, secluded, frame house and sharing a short time in conversation, the hosts invite me to a small table for mealtime. The table has one seat on each of the sides. I sit facing Vickie, while Joe is to my left. To my right is the empty chair. Before the chair, the place is set for a meal - plate, glass, cutlery, napkin - like the other three places. By all appearances, someone else is invited here.
I have not been notified of another guest to arrive, of any family member to appear. I inquire as to this anomaly. Vickie informs me Joe and she set a place each meal for the Holy Spirit.
I was heartened by this act of devotion, that Joe and Vickie acknowledge Presence in such a domestic, ordinary way. Immediately, it makes sense to me. We proceed to share a meal with the Holy Spirit.
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The Holy Spirit is a Christian way of speaking of the unseen Guest. And this Guest is, also, the unseen Host. The apparently empty chair at Joe and Vickie's table suggests how important it is to welcome awareness of the unseen into our lives and homes. To escape the mere theorizing of our spiritual path, which does some but limited good, we actualize this wisdom in the concrete details of daily life. With heartful devotion, life becomes a greeting of the Sacred and a means of embodying that Presence. We desire to be the conduit of this Presence, set at the table of life to bring encouragement and comfort to others and remind them of their true nature and possibilities - love.
What are the ways you welcome the Sacred into your daily life? Have you explored other spiritual paths outside your own for ways to do this? Is there a way you have not tried of expressing awareness of the Sacred, but you would like to try?
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2020
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, especially Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the teachings and imagery in the poetry.
*Quote of Carl Jung, from C.G Jung. Letters: 1951-1961. Ed. G. Adler, A. Jaffe, R.F.C. Hull: vol. 2. See www.jungnewyork.com .
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