|
* * *
Two parishioners invited me, their pastor, to a meal in their home. Joe and Vickie. Joe was an avid servant in the congregation, had been for many years, and among his ministries was teaching adult Sunday School. Vickie was Minister of Music, her skills far beyond what most small congregations were blessed to benefit from.
After entering the simple, small, secluded, frame home, and sharing a short time in conversation, I was invited to a small table, prepared for mealtime. The table had one seat on each of the four sides. I sat facing Vickie, Joe sat to my left. To my right an empty chair sat vacant ~ or was it? Before the chair, the place was set for meal, in the same manner as the other three places. By all appearances, someone was to share with us. I had not been notified of another visitor to arrive, of any family member to appear.
I inquired as to this anomaly. Vickie informed me Joe and she had a place set each meal for the Holy Spirit. I was heartened by the thought of such devotion, that persons would acknowledge this unseen Presence in such a domestic, ordinary way. Immediately, it made sense to me. We proceeded to share a meal with the Holy Spirit.
* * *
As has been said, "Invited, or not, I am present." I Am is timeless, so never not present; I Am is free of space, not being merely I Am here or there, so everywhere ~ Yes, in the empty chair at the table. The illusion of the solidity, the absoluteness, of time and space veils us from being receptive to the Grace in which time and space themselves find being, and as a veil of the Source. To express itself in form, the Creative One veils Itself by those very created forms; so, the parts both hide and reveal pure Grace. And, the clothing adorning the Beloved, that hiding the pristine nakedness of Life, like the clothing of a human lover or beloved, becomes a way the Creative Agent seduces us into loving closeness with Itself. Nature stimulates the senses for parts to intuit the Whole of which each is part.
Continued... |
