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Atlanta Update Five...

“See how, from far, upon the eastern road
The star-led wizards haste, with odors sweet!
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet!
Have thou the honor, first thy Lord to greet,
And join thy voice unto the Angel choir
From out his secret altar, touched with hallowed fire.”
--Milton, On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity IV.

THE INCARNATION IS one of the great mysteries of Christianity that touches upon everything that we do: our ethics, our worship, and the very nature of our reality. Because it incorporates all facets of our lives, it is so lofty that the head cannot understand it completely, but the hands and feet know it to be the truth. Unfortunately, like so many of our beliefs, the incarnation needs a poet of extraordinary skill, not a theologian and definitely not a bumbling fool.

FOR CENTURIES THE Lord dwelled hidden in a temple beyond rows of priests, sacrifices and smoke. Of course, he spoke to his people through their prophets and sages, but those leaders were not his presence. Of course, he gave signs to his people that he was there: a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, but his presence was not in those signs. Of course, he gave provision to his people: manna and quail, but his presence was not in those provisions. His presence -- what Tozer calls the “manifest presence of God” --dwelled between the Cherubim beyond the holy place and beyond a curtain.He had hidden himself on his secret altar, the Ark of the Covenant.

OF COURSE, WITH Christ this all changed, whereupon his death the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The hidden manifest presence of God was begotten in Jesus Christ. The God, who always dwelled with his people, now dwelled with his people in a different way: the hidden God went out to the people. Of course, this all burgeoned with the advent of Pentecost, the Church – through Christ – is the new dwelling for this hidden God. From within the secret altar of our hearts – the inner tabernacle – the hidden God is made known to us.

IN MUCH THE same way that God could not contain himself completely in the tabernacle, so too does the secret altar of the Christian not contain him completely. But, just as the invisible God was made visible in Christ, so too does the hidden God become revealed in us and among us. This is why Jesus said: “the kingdom of God is among you (Lk. 17:21).” We have come to know this occupant of our secret altars by his actions in us and around us.

I BELIEVE THIS is why the concern of the Christian should be to both the “inner” and “outer” life. Because our hands show forth the work of the hidden God to others and the hands of others show us the work of the hidden God. The hidden God is both known in and out of the soul, just as he resides both inside and outside it.

WHAT DOES ALL this have to do with the start of my fifth week in Atlanta? It has everything to do with why I am in Atlanta. Let me explain:

GOD COMES TO us through Christ. Many people in first century Palestine did not recognize Christ as “the way, the truth and the life.” Indeed, this understanding was rejected because the gift of salvation came in the most unexpected way. Yet, to us who are believers we rejoice in this unexpected gift and claim him as our own.

GOD, HOWEVER, COMES to us through other ways: in scripture, in tradition, in the testimonies of other Christians, in nature, in rituals, in times of great silence and in times of great noise. God comes to us in the form of a friend suffering with schizophrenia. God comes to us through friends, disasters and miracles. God comes to us in a variety of unexpected ways.

THIS IS THE challenge to the Christian, for a true believer looks at all the facets of their life and sees the hand of God at work in each area: both within and without. They do not scorn suffering nor do they look at trials as curses. They see the hand of God at work in scripture and in the life of their friends, learning what it means to be a follower of Christ. They see the hand of God at work in the poor, the destitute, and the notorious sinners.They do not judge by mere outward appearances; they see beyond the visible reality of the kingdom of the world and into the new Reality of Christ in the Kingdom of God.

IN JUST THE same way that those in the first century ignored Christ because he did not come in the expected form, so to do we ignore the hand of God at work outside of our secret altars (our expected form). May God grant unto us the wisdom and discernment to see this new Reality in Christ: that the hidden presence of God is breaking forth all over the world in various ways! That God is both at work inside and outside of us!

HERE, AT THE half point of the summer, this is what I am learning, forgetting and relearning. Please pray that God may teach me to love perfectly -- to love as Christ loves.