A Place of Quiet Rest

Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the city that kills the prophets

and stones those who are sent to it!

(from Luke 13:31-35)

Cleland McAfee experienced the tragic circumstances of losing his two infant nieces to diphtheria in 1903.

Reflecting on the grief he was feeling, he Composed, “There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God”

For Jesus, that place would have been Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was the world's center.

 Jerusalem’s center was in the Temple, and the precise center was the Temple’s Holy of Holies.

In the middle of a city full of clamor, the Holy of Holies was a dim, quiet place. Empty. Silent.

The Holy of Holies was the place where God’s finger touched the wild, chaotic world and held it still.

Some ancient texts signify the priest would enter that space, carry out ritual acts to bring the world back into balance, emerge and speak of the God Whose Name Is Mercy.

Like all of us, I am seeking a quiet than is more than an absence of noise, it is an inner quiet where my soul can find rest in an out of balanced world.

As someone once said, “a place to recharge my spiritual batteries for the week”.

Its my firm conviction that the place of quiet rest, the place where we can draw near to God and feel the world brought back into balance, is Sunday Worship.

In the sanctuary we gather around the Font, Lord’s Table, and Pulpit.

Through the Holy Spirit, Christ is present as we hear God’s Word of Mercy.

In that time and presence, we can get a glimpse of a balanced world.