Two weeks ago I began this series by exploring a statement of David’s in Ps. 16:
in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:11 ESV)
David connects the two topics which stand at the center of this series: God’s presence and our joy. When we experience God’s presence we experience a fullness of joy. One of the reasons why it’s important for us to think about how we connect with the presence of God is that God’s presence is a source of great joy. There are many things in life that can bring us joy. But our fullest experience of joy comes about by connecting with the presence of God.
The Disney movie “Inside Out” explores how we are hardwired for joy. In the movie, our five primary emotions are portrayed as people living inside of us. There’s Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness and Joy. The first emotion who comes into existence in the life of the main character Riley when she is born is Joy. And even when the other emotions eventually come into existence, Joy is the dominant one. She is in charge. She guides the other four emotions.
I think that’s Disney’s way of suggesting that we are hardwired to want joy. The one emotion we want more than anything is joy. And joy, David tells us, is at its fullest when we are connecting with the presence of God.
In this series we are exploring some of the simple ways during each day we can connect with God’s presence and experience fullness of joy. Last Sunday Eric led us through Ps. 19. He talked about how we experience God’s presence through created places–places in nature.
This morning, we take a look at another Psalm, Psalm 63. It reveals a second avenue for experiencing God’s presence throughout our day. In Ps. 63 David writes about the way in which sacred spaces connect us to God. Not only can we take advantage of created places during each day to help us experience God’s presence and God’s joy. But we can take advantage of sacred spaces as well:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.(Ps. 63:2 ESV)
David earnestly seeks God’s presence. He thirsts for God’s presence. His flesh faints for God’s presence. Why? Because according to the title and background to this psalm, David is writing this psalm out in the desert, in a dry and weary land where there is no water (2 Sam. 16-17). He’s had to flee into the desert because of political conflict back in Jerusalem. He’s removed from his home. He’s isolated from others.
Yet, even here in the desert wilderness David experiences the presence of God. He mentions how he remembers God and meditates on God through the “watches of the night” (Ps. 63:6). We’ll look in a couple of weeks at how we too can experience God’s presence even in the difficult times of life, even in the times during the day when we feel like we are cast out into the wilderness.
But while David does experience God’s presence here, he also longs for an even deeper experience of it. Out there in the dark desert night, he remembers how he connected with God back in Jerusalem in a sacred space. He thinks back to a time in Jerusalem when he experienced the power and glory of God while spending time in a very sacred space:
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.(Ps. 63:2 ESV)
David is thinking back to a time when he was in a space called “the sanctuary.” And in that human-made space called the sanctuary, he connected with the power and glory of God. He experienced the presence of God. And now out there in the desert, he longs for that experience once again.
This is not the only time the Psalms recount an encounter with God’s presence in a sacred place like the sanctuary. Listen to these lines:
- We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. (Ps. 48:9 ESV)
- One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. (Ps. 27:4 ESV)
There are human-made spaces where David and others encounter the beauty, steadfast love, power and glory of God. These human-made spaces are called the sanctuary, the temple, and the “house of the Lord.” Last Sunday, using Ps. 19, we explored how there are created places, God-made places, nature, that connect us to God’s presence. This morning, we explore how there are sacred spaces, human-made places, that connect us to God’s presence–places like the sanctuary and the temple. We can experience the joy of God’s presence daily through these sacred spaces. Human-made places and human-made things can help us connect with the presence of God.
David writes in Ps. 63 of the way in which the “sanctuary” was a sacred space where he found God. What is that? What is the sanctuary? It’s possible he has in mind the tent and the ark of God which he himself had placed in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6-7). This tent may have been modeled after the tent in the tabernacle–that portable sacred space where the wandering Israelites met God’s presence. This tent, this sanctuary, was probably filled with things that David saw, touched, smelled, heard or perhaps even tasted. These thing engaged David’s senses and served to bring David’s mind back to the presence of God. God used that media, that architecture, that art in the sanctuary to help David experience the divine presence.
Years before David, the tabernacle which the Israelites used in the desert would have contained even more of these types of sacred reminders. The tabernacle was their sacred space. Can you imagine the sights, sounds, smells, the feel and tastes associated with moments spent in the tabernacle? God used the media, the architecture, and the art of the tabernacle to help people experience his divine presence.
Later, the temple took this to another level. Solomon’s temple was a virtual smorgasbord for the senses. So much to see, smell, touch, hear and taste. And by Jesus’ day, this sacred space of the temple was expanded. There was even more to draw the minds of people back to God. God used the media, architecture, and art of the temple to help worshipers experience the divine presence.
All of this was a way for people to experience God’s presence and the joy that comes with it:
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.(Ps. 63:2 ESV)
This may seem a little foreign to some of us. Most of us have never been to a temple. Some of us have never been in a cathedral. Doesn’t this all seem a little touchy-feely? A little mystical?
Actually, we make use of this principle all the time. For example, as many have done, Kendra and I recently moved our daughter Jordan into her college dorm room for her freshman year. It was clearly much more difficult for us than it was for Jordan. Still, Jordan knew that she would be missing home, missing Mom and Dad and Jacob. So, she created and brought some physical items, some media, into her room which would allow her to reconnect with us and with home.
- By her bed she hung a homemade display with photographs of family members.
- By her desk she placed a painting by a good friend in Memphis and some more photos of family members.
- And by her pantry she placed a wooden painting she made which shows the state of Tennessee and a heart where Nashville sits and a heart where Memphis sits, with the area code to both cities written above.
Why? These things reconnect her with home. When she looks at them, when she touches them she gains a sense of connection with her family and her house back in Memphis. There’s a sense in which she experiences the presence of her family through those things.
To an even greater degree, that’s what David and others are experiencing through these human-made objects of the sanctuary, tabernacle and temple. They experience the presence of God.
And that’s why followers of Jesus continued to use art, architecture and other media to connect with God’s presence. Jeffrey Spier in Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art writes that by the third century A. D. Christians began making widespread use of art in their meeting places. Christian burial sites in the Roman catacombs and an early Christian church building from the third century were filled with painted images depicting scenes from the Bible.
In Understanding Early Christian Art Robin Jensen shows that for ancient Christians, art was just as important as sermons for understanding God and encountering God.
Unfortunately, some contemporary Christians no longer make use of sacred spaces or other human-made media to connect with God. In Awaken Your Senses J. Brent Bill and Beth Booram argue that many Christians believe that words, written and spoken, are the only way in which we can nurture our spiritual lives. This is a function of our left-brain. God, however, has made us to also encounter him with our right-brain–this is the sphere of the five senses. We’ve been hardwired to connect with God through sight, taste, touch, sound and smell. The authors summarize in this way:
We need both sides of our brain to live and grow as a person of faith. In fact, neither side can do the job well without the other. Words provide content and information that are critical to faith formation, but words alone are not sufficient to create encounters with God that nurture wholeness. (p. 13).
This is what David experienced in the sanctuary, what the Israelites experienced in the tabernacle and temple, what early Christians experienced in the catacombs and worship gatherings, and what contemporary Christians can experience in modern sacred spaces. It’s possible for us to make use every day of human-made spaces and objects that can keep our minds focused on God.
I want to close by talking about three types of these, three kinds of sacred spaces you can make use of regularly to experience God’s presence and fullness of joy.
First, church buildings. A few years ago a TV series entitled “God in America” was produced. Part of the motivation behind the series was to highlight the importance of sacred spaces in the lives of contemporary Christians. The series discussed places such as the following:
- The Basilica & Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, MA.
- The Church of the Immaculate Conception in New Orleans, LA.
These, and many other sacred places, continue to be spaces where people encounter God through sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches.
One way to encounter the living God on a more regular basis is to schedule time to spend a few minutes in a local cathedral or similar sacred space in your community. A friend of mine used to spend most lunch hours at a local cathedral, just allowing that space to help him connect with God. You could make a point of sitting quietly once a week in a church building or cathedral near your home, your school or your workplace.
But there are ways to turn even “ordinary” spaces into sacred spaces. Second, we can use work/living spaces as sacred spaces. For example, I’ve created a sense of sacredness in my church office. I spend a large portion of most work days in my office. Thus, I’ve filled my office with things designed to draw my soul back to God. When I smell the candle I light each morning, I’m reminded of God’s presence. When I contemplate the icons hanging on my wall, I’m drawn back into God’s presence. As I feel the crosses from across the world on the wall next to my door, I’m catapulted back into God’s presence. As I listen to sacred music on my laptop, I’m transported into God’s presence.
You can do something similar with your dorm room, cubicle, kitchen, or even your car. Place some art and other items there that will engage your senses and draw you back into the presence of God.
When I travel alone, I will often bring two or three small items which remind me of God. One of them is this little diamond-shaped piece from a church in China which simply says “Peace.” Another is this small painting of the birth of JEsus. I’ll place them on the desk of my hotel room and they help keep my mind focused on God.
Finally, there are even ways to turn yourself into a kind of sacred space. Certain clothes, jewelry, and even scents can be intentional triggers designed to draw your mind back to God. For example, I often wear a necklace which has a cross on it. I often wear a bracelet which has spiritual significance to me. These items which I keep on myself become tools God uses to draw my mind back to him. Some Christians even use tattoos as tools which help their hearts to focus on God throughout the day.
One way for you to enjoy the presence of God all day, every day is to find and create sacred places where you can behold the power and glory of God, where your God-given senses can be engaged, and where you can be drawn over and over to this God for whom your soul thirst.
So, here’s what I want you to do this week: Visit or create a sacred space one day this week. Take time on one day this week to visit a sacred space here in Memphis, or to turn your office, dorm room, apartment, study or even car into a sacred space. Use that time and that place to reconnect with God.
