A Place Of Holy Mystery

This is something that has shaped my day, I hope it's a blessing to you. I was doing my daily read through the scriptures this morning and I came across a really cool story that happened in Luke 7. It is always good to read about Jesus raising the dead, but this was particularly refreshing because of the way Eugene Peterson interpreted the story in his book The Message.

I'll give you a bit of back story. People are coming out of town in a funeral procession carrying the body of a widow's son. (Consequently, the effort of the author is to communicate in this story that Jesus gave two lives back that day; the son and the widow's.) Jesus walks up to them, stops them, and reaches over the shoulders of the pawl bearers to touch the corpse, and tell the boy to get up alive. AND HE DOES!!!

What really stood out to me this morning was Luke 7:16, "They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful -- and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!"

Awesome. It made me reflect on times when I've been in a place of holy mystery. I'd much rather look ahead to the next time that I've been in places of holy mystery. I love what the scripture play-by-play records it as. 1. They silently worship. I think this is like when you see the work of God and you say, "what!?!" Did that just happen? 2. Noisily grateful. Yes, there should be some noise raised when Jesus shows up, and the holy mystery continues. We don't know what, but we know who. Jesus does mysterious and holy things. When he does we should worship silently, and then get noisy. 3. God is back!!! Here the words of people who felt like God was far from them. People who were desperate for God to intervene among their problems. They knew God was back, and was caring for His people.

I have been praying for this kind of visitation from God. I want SRC to be a place of holy mystery.

--Ben