Sanctuary

Life was loud when I was a child. In my childhood home there were eleven people living under one roof I was one of sixty pupils in my class. But there was a place where I experienced a quiet that penetrate deep into my soul. Once a week I would walk through the doors and find a holy hush a place where my soul could find rest.

This was a place were I began to learn the otherness of God. In this room a candle was kept burning. I was taught as a child that the light was there to remind me of God's holy presence. It wasn't that God was confined to this place but that this place, this time, had been set apart. It was set apart from the rush of daily life so that I could enter into to God's sacred silence and listen for His voice.

I was trained by my Father's example to genuflect before I took my seat. "Daddy, why do we kneel before we sit?" "This is because we are here to worship a Holy God." My Father taught me by his example that the correct response to a Holy God was to bend my knee and bow my head.

Many years latter I learned about the Holy of Holies. This was the innermost area of the ancient tabernacle of Moses and the most sacred. There was a veil that existed as a barrier between man and God. The holiness of God could not be accessed by anyone but the high priest, and that only once a year. The day Jesus died on the cross the veil was ripped from top to bottom and man was given access to a Holy God.

I no longer go to a church where the candle always burns nor do I genuflect before I take my seat. Yet, still I am filled with a since of wonder that I have access to a Holy God. Once a week I take my seat and let the quiet of His presence penetrate my soul. Once a week I set aside time for sacred silence to listen for His voice.