Throughout civilization, people have looked for ways to experience the sacred and holy. Christians go to church no matter how boring it is, Hindus plunge into the Ganges River no matter how foul it is, Muslims make pilgrimages to Mecca no matter how far and crowded it is. “So it is that monks kneel and chant, that Jews eat a Passover meal, that Polynesians dance, and Quakers sit still,” writes Joseph Martos in Doors to the Sacred. “In themselves they are just locations, activities, things. … In this case they are all sacraments, symbols of something else which is mysterious and hidden, sacred and holy.”
Haven’t we all been part of conversations where they somehow take on a deeper dimension, even though it’s just two people talking? It’s as if the two (or more) people tapped into something much bigger than themselves. It happened toward the end of the movie Away We Go, where the couple (played by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) expecting a baby makes promises to each other. But because of the camera angle from above, it is clear that they are making those promises to the universe as well. It’s both private and cosmic. Watching it, I thought of the sacrament of confession. And haven’t we all had meals with friends or family where there was another level to that experience, and we didn’t want to leave the table because of that additional Presence? I’ve had Eucharistic moments at picnic tables, restaurants, kitchens and the beach.
As we become aware of that additional dimension, those moments take on the quality of the holy.
Yet, in the final analysis, no one comes to the Father except through the Son. So all that sacredness is only valid (or perhaps “effective” is the better word) if it leads one to the Son of the Living God. There is no other sacrifice for sin. There is no other doorway. The Way is narrow. In fact, all these sacred moments, if they fail to lead one to acceptance of Christ Jesus, will act as evidence of our rejection of God at the Final Judgement. Make no mistake…every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, whether before judgement or after.