A Thin Place
In the Bible texts there are stories of two gardens,
Eden and Gethsemane.
 |
| Eden |
In the first,
Adam took a fall.
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| Gethsemane |
In the second,
Jesus took a stand.
The Fall
Heaven and Earth are not far apart, nearer to one another than maybe we think. Could they even overlap? Is it plausible — maybe they intersect? Ancient Celtic Christians called these “thin places.” A place in which the physical and spiritual worlds are knit together. I wonder if the The Garden of Eden was such a place? Eden was where man was at home, in a thin place he walked between both heaven and earth — enjoying the earthly garden and roaming with the heavenly Gardener. But then the Fall…
The Stand
To walk again with God in the garden is the great desire of humanity, but it required rehabilitation — Jesus taking a stand in the Garden of Gethsemane to repair a fractured world. Tikkun Olam is primarily a Jewish concept, but it is a concept that Christians should be familiar with & embrace. In Ecclesiastes the writer said, “Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?” [2] A simple Christian understanding of Tikkun Olam is that God is restoring all things and Jesus is the lone person that gets this going - and because of the Fathers grace and mercy, because of what was accomplished on the cross, I get to help.
The Now But Not Yet
“The kingdom of God is in your midst…" [1] Messiah came to mend our hearts by dying in our place - wiping our slate clean and giving us shalom with God. Through the prompting of His Holy Ghost, I’m invited to be a participant in God’s repair project. When we see injustice in the world, both close to home and far away, we should recognize that our peace with God through Jesus Christ comes with serious responsibility to step in and do all we can to help alleviate it; to make a difference; to make the world better in our generation. So as we’re continually being formed in Christ’s love, we extend Christ’s love, as God’s partners in repairing a broken world. #pkes