You have need of nothing

2 Maccabees 14:35 O Lord of all though you have need of nothing, you were pleased that there should be a temple for your habitation among us.

The Supreme Lord has need of nothing. God is Presence everywhere and doesn't need a roof, a place to sleep, a place to hang out. We build our temples, our churches, our mosques, for ourselves, to set aside sacred space apart from our daily lives so that we can take the time and the space necessary to experience the Presence of God. Even though God is with us always, as close as our breath, that realization, that understanding, is hard to stay connected with in the hustle and bustle. So we set aside space and time to put away all our material cares and needs and allow ourselves to be Present with God.

The danger is that we begin to mistake the place that we have put aside for God, for God Himself. We start to treat the temple, the church, the mosque as the Divine Presence Itself. It is there to remind us, to support us in opening up to Presence. It can never stand in for it. Yet this is a mistake people make over and over again. In Islam, they don't allow any representations of human beings or animals in their mosques for fear of just this error. The iconoclasts of early Christianity destroyed icons because they felt the icons were themselves being worshiped. Icons are meant to be windows opening to the divine; it's not the window that is important, it's what the window allows you, or invites you, to see. The Buddhists say that their teachings are a finger pointing to the moon. We get caught up examining the finger and what it means instead of following its direction and looking at the moon it points to. So with all discussions, explanations and representations -- even this blog! None of it has value in itself, but only insofar as it draws us toward a realization of the Divine Presence that is always available.

Prayer: Dear God, I thank you for this forum to speak of you to others. Let me never be confused about where Truth lives and mistake the messenger for the Message. Amen