A Chinese Thought on Space

In my quiet time this morning I was once again reading Thomas Merton.  He never ceases to inspire, impress and humble a reader in ways that you cannot help but smile.  He is writing from more than fifty years ago, yet so much he has to say is relevant for today.  I was reading an article called "Christian culture needs oriental wisdom," where he was espousing some of the tenets of the Taoism and Confucianism and drawing parallels between them and Christianity.  He goes on to state how Christianity could be "immeasurably enriched and deepened" if it would allow some of the philosophy and thought in these Asian religions to inform our practice of religion.  Let's be clear, Christianity stands alone, but just as Greek philosophy, Roman law, and so many of the religious  and political systems of the Ancient Near East influenced our understanding and the way we practiced religion; so to could the honor based systems of Oriental religion and philosophy.  My goal this morning isn't to debate the truth or even the merit of these ideas espoused by Merton, but the ideas do intrigue.

What I am addressing this morning is a quote he used from Taoism that really struck me in one of those "we need to grasp more of the mystery of God kind of ways."  In responding to the question, "What is Tao?" he presents some lines about its elusive nature.  One of them was this, "We make doors and windows for a room; But it is these empty spaces that make the room livable..." (A Thomas Merton Reader, 1974, pg. 296).  I have been thinking a lot lately on Christian worship and how we live out our Christian lives.  It is interesting how we construct all of these rules, practices and expectations that sometimes I wonder if they really benefit the Kingdom of God.  I guess that is why this quote struck me so much; we have spent centuries building doors and windows and walls and roofs for Christianity, but have we made the room or the house that those have created livable?

Have we forgotten about that undefined empty space which for Christianity is God?  I can't speak for everyone else, but as for me, I find myself so desperately wanting something concrete about God or even from God.  I want that burning bush or that fish with a coin in its mouth or dinner provided by ravens, that I sometimes forget who I am wanting that from.  I get wrapped up in reading about God, praying to God, talking to others about God, but so often failing to lose myself in the worship of God.  I am oiling door hinges and cleaning windows, but I am never really living in the space I have worked so hard to create.  We need that space!  I need that space, I need that intimacy with God, I need to embrace some of that mystery where I cannot and never will fully understand Him.  I need to feel small, but valued; insignificant but more important than anything else when He looks in my eyes; perplexed but clear about being loved; afraid but secure. 

All of those feelings come in the space created by the walls of religion.  In worship, the order of worship provides our windows, doors and walls as we make a theological progression from greeting to a response to God's Word, but real worship, that connection with the mystery of God, happens in the space in between, the space created by those boundaries.  We have to allow ourselves to inhabit that space.  My children get frustrated with me when we play Legos together, because I love to build the structures but when it comes times to play with them, I don't really want to.  If you are like me you like to build structures, wall, windows, and doors; undertake and complete projects, but when it comes to inhabit the space created by those structures and projects, rather than reveling in the space and mystery I am ready for the next project.  I need to slow down and enjoy the space.  The point of the walls is to create that livable space.  Once we have created we need to inhabit.  Once we have done we need to be.  When the concrete has been poured and the boundaries established we need to relax into the mystery. 

May God draw us today into the spaces we have created us to overwhelm us with His Love, Grace, Joy and Mystery.

Your brother in Christ,
Faron