Entering Sanctuary.

 

Come climb the hill with me
Come and be still with me
Come watch the sun sink away
If you will with me

Into the peace of these wild things
Into the wild of this grace
Into this grace of this blessing
Speak in the peace of this place
~Andrew Petersen

The Christmas season has begun as of a few days ago, ushered in at midnight when the flag signaling the arrival of Black Friday dropped and thousands of racing competitors around the country bolted through the gates of starting barrier doors of local retail outlets in a “run for the boses” electronics hoping to be fast enough to acquire one of the limited quantities of advertised items and then successfully cross the finish line at the checkout winning the paper medal of a register receipt for “getting a huge discount” on their “stuff”.

And now we turn our attention to celebrating the peace of Christmas, the birth of a redeemer and the hope of mankind in a season we often refer to as – sanctuary – a term generally defined as a place of safety and refuge, although ironically appears historically and culturally to be more closely associated with conflict and chaos.

 Looking at Greek Mythology, Jewish and Christian history, we can read that sanctuary has consistently been expressed in worship to communicate with various gods or the one God, for the purpose of finding wisdom in remaining true to one’s beliefs, even when forbidden to do so by opposition.

According to Greek mythology, the genesis of the world is explained as that of chaos. The birth of cultural gods, heroes and monsters created a theogany of characters helping to explain the origin of human woes in a comprehensive and literal myth. Out of belief in these myths, many sanctuaries of refuge for worship of the Greek gods were built.

In Jewish history we understand that the corresponding holiday to the protestant Christmas, is Hanukkah, in memory of deliverance from Greek-Syrian invaders, who defiled the Temple of Jerusalem leaving only enough oil to light the temple menorah for only one day. In faith the lamps were lit. Miraculously they burned for eight days until more oil could be brought to the temple, a sign that God honored faith and courage of the people. The temple, which embodies the Jewish faith and concept of sanctuary, was restored.

The Jewish/Hebrew term for sanctuary is DIVRI, meaning orator and consisting of the Hebrew letters dalet, yud, beit and resh. The combination of the four letters gives us a larger picture of the word sanctuary.

• Dalet means door or opening. The letter’s construction is shaped with meaning of loving-kindness and wisdom.
• Yud means hand. It symbolizes wisdom developing into understanding.
• Beit means home or container, a picture of a house being built with wisdom and suggesting a foundation of wealth, seed, life, dominance, peace and grace by the One who has known cared for and transformed.
• Resh, literally means,  there is a beginning. It suggests the meticulousness of work and the means by which God created the universe.

Putting the meaning of these letters together, we have a picture of sanctuary as a sacred place. It exists as a foundation for how we build our lives. It is this foundation that houses the spirit of the One who has guided with loving-kindness and wisdom from the beginning and continues to be our beginning – each time we enter sanctuary. 

From a Christian or Protestant perspective, this season is celebrated as Christmas, the birth of Spiritual sanctuary, the day the long-awaited arrival of the prophesied Son of God, and Prince of Peace, Jesus, came to the world in the tiny town of Bethlehem. He is recognized as the promised Savior Who would redeem humanity from sin through His death and open the door to eternal life as mediator beweeen God and man.

He came in the midst of chaos – tax season – where everyone had to show up to be counted. No pardons were available, not even for even the mother of Jesus, who at the time, was about to give birth. Born in a barn and cradled in a feeding trough, this gift to humanity became familiar with unjust accommodations that would surround him, not only at birth, but for the rest of His life. During His short time on earth He brought love, compassion and the message of eternal hope to the humanity He came to save. To the political authorities, He brought threat, and they would vow from His birth, to avenge this competitor with death. And 33 years after His birth, a cruel death was accomplished.

It was a crucifixion that found this Son of God, Redeemer and Lover of mankind, hung up on a cross beam dropped in a hole in the ground like a fence post setting. He was laughed at, spat on, stabbed and broken, so onlookers could jeer that  – while He save others, Himself He could not save. And the cry heard from the so called political threat and the one offering eternal sanctuary for His judgers, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing”.

And so yes, this is the season of sanctuary. Whether we celebrate it as the story of Christmas, Hanukkah or Renewal, the message of the story is familiar across culture and history. Life is demanding, hard and crowded with difficulty and pain.  Life is also full of hope and redemption in the midst of difficulty and pain. And in every story, we find the provision of sanctuary, a place of peace wherever we are, no matter how small it may be.

In the children’s book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, by author Daniel Handler, we learn the story of the Baudelaire youngsters, three children orphaned after a house fire killed their parents. Their story is not a happy one. “Not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters.” But – these children were the sort of children who knew there was always something – something to do to make a sanctuary – no matter how small.

As the Christmas season begins, there are those we know and those we love whose lives are not happy ones. I imagine each of us could name a sadness or a difficulty present in our lives. It is my hope that as we enter this season that in many ways may be filled with its own chaos, that you will join me into the peace of these wild things, into the wild of this grace and know the  blessing of this sacred season of sanctuary…no matter how small.

Facet for Life:

Could Be Lifted 
~Hafiz
If you knew the end of your story, nothing on any page – not one of your dramas, could bother you as much

If you knew the glorious end of your journey, at least half of your attention could be lifted from anything you can now focus on that may cause you pain

His hand is like that, when it is realized near, it will always turn your gaze in the direction of more light

For the Support of Your Life
For the Many Sides of Life
Paulette Jackson MA
facets@bellsouth.net

The sunset image above may be found at www.hikingnature.com
The art image of the Hebrew word DIVRI may be found at Hebrewletters.com by Sarah Leah

The thoughts and opinions expressed in The Conversant Counselor’s Blog are those belonging to Paulette Jackson MA and do not necessarily reflect those of any other professional or individual.

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