Thoughts which drive me to the Cross, and to Jesus

“Indeed, you are my shelter, a strong tower that protects me from the enemy. I will be a permanent guest in your home; I will find shelter in the protection of your wings. (Selah)” (Psalm 61:3–4, NET)

“Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ ”” (John 1:14–15, NET)

There is no sin in being on the pathway; the spiritualists are wrong. But there is a sin in loving our road instead of our home;

“[T]he ‘original’ sin is not primarily that man has ‘disobeyed’ God; the sin is that he ceased to be hungry for God and God alone.… The only real fall of man is his noneucharistic life in a noneucharistic world.”

This liturgical mysticism does something to the sacraments, too. If you taste and see, you will see that you have not tasted enough yet. The sacraments are not designed to fulfill our appetites, they are designed to increase those appetites.

First, a confession, I have become to lax in my spiritual diet! What was one day away because of distractions quickly became three, and then I find myself 15 days behind in my readings. God used it I think, because of out of a time to “catch up” I saw somethings in larger segments, and was blown away by reading more than a paged here and a page there. 

In the last few years, I have lost a number of my early mentors. as they have died. The last time I saw one of them in person, he asked me and another pastor type how much we talked about heaven. As he aged, he became more and more aware of tendencies in the church to be focused on this life, and give no attention to eternity.

While we talk some about how to “get” to heaven, the work of Christ redeeming us, uniting us with iIs death and resurrection – we often don’t talk about why getting there is a good thing!

We have, to used the words of the quote in blue – fallen in love with the road home, and forgotten about the goal of the road is home. We’ve talked about overcoming the power of sin, and being forgiven, but forgotten the reason that is important – that it removes from us the barrier to getting home– from being in that refuge, that shelter of the Lord’s presence.

For in heaven we will dwell in the presence of God, we will exist in His glorious love which unites and will have healed every bit of us that was broken, We will know a peace that is not just an absence of conflict, but pure serenity….of knowing the greatest comfort, of being welcome, of being home.

That is the eucharistic world, the world of thanksgiving that comes from God re-uniting us to Himself through Christ. It is what the sacrament hint at, give a momentary experience or taste of, causing us to want more, not because of the physical act, but because of what is experienced in that moment of communion between God and His people.

I want more of that… I know WE need more of that…To help us endure the road, and keep focused on the destination. To live lives that are based on on hope–not that the road will be easy or smooth- but that the destination is Home.

Home with our Father… and the Son, and all of the Family of God.

May our appetites and desires grow for that moment… and may our time contemplating the gospel and receiving the sacraments cause that desire to be unquenchable…

Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 107). Emmaus Academic.

Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 110). Emmaus Academic.

Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 115). Emmaus Academic.