Refugee me....

According to Merriam Webster, sanctuary has two independent, yet related meanings.  For those who celebrate their faith in a church, the sanctuary is the most sacred part of the building.  The sanctuary is the place where The Word is read, the altar is front and center, and the pastor strives to inspire the congregants with words inspired by his or her thoughtful communion with God.

Most people treat their church sanctuary with respect and act appropriately within, in recognition that there is something special about that place.  But beyond that, they don't think much about the implications of what sanctuary really is.

Sanctuary has an older, simpler meaning as well, and it is this meaning which I have been thinking about today.  Sanctuary is, quite simply, a place of refuge, a place of protection from the predators that seek to harm, a place where the hunted can be safe and at peace from the hunter who seeks to destroy.

Modern life is complicated, but life has always been complicated.  Life probably wasn't any easier for Noah building a boat on dry ground or the Israelites wandering in the desert waiting for manna to fall from the sky than it is for us to build an internal bridge to God as we navigate the world's temptations and pitfalls.  The human condition has always been a conflicted one, and that is even more so as a Christian trying to live the sacred life in the secular world.

We often look to our contemporaries of great faith, such as Mother Teresa, for inspiration in our own journey.  But many people feel inadequate to the challenge such faithful examples have given us to change the world for love of God.  It can be a tough task to remain positive and hopeful in the face of what may have gone wrong in our lives.  We feel insignificant in comparison with a disciple like Corrie Ten Boom, who was willing to sacrifice her very life for her love of God and his people, then traveled the world spreading the joyful news of God through her story in all the corners of the earth for so many years.

But rest assured, faithful follower, God has provided for us every bit as much as he has for Mother Teresa or Corrie.  He knows that sometimes even the strongest among us falter.  At some point in every life, there will be a misstep.  Everyone occasionally stumbles.  Sometimes it results in a fall, perhaps even a broken life. We all need shelter from the storms of our worldly existence, and God has promised us to provide exactly that refuge we are seeking.

Mother Teresa herself often doubted, not her faith in God, but in her ability to be the person God wanted her to be.  According to Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, (her private letters sent to her own spiritual adviser, edited by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk) she wrote in 1961,

"Darkness is such that I really do not see—neither with my mind nor with my reason—the place of God in my soul is blank—There is no God in me—when the pain of longing is so great—I just long & long for God. … The torture and pain I can't explain."

 Mother Teresa perfectly expressed the pain and frustration of being separated from God.  She understood the desolation of suffering the absence of God in her heart and mind.  She was constantly searching for God, seeking that sanctuary he held out in front of us.  In Psalm 68:35 we read, 

"You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.  Praise be to God!"

God has promised us, not a place, not a building, not a temporal space, but himself as the sanctuary that will provide a refuge the world cannot reach.

When you find yourself a heavenly refugee, know that you do not travel alone as you flee your worldly tribulations.  The God who made you will give your soul the respite you are seeking if only you reach out to him.  God is the ultimate sanctuary, the reserve no poacher will ever be able to penetrate.  In the lives of the faithful, we do not have to be perfect.  We need only seek God's shelter, and He is there, waiting with the gates thrown wide and the party already started within.

Thanks be to God, who is my own sanctuary.  I am empowered by that gracious gift, ready to battle on another day.