Day 81: Newtown, Connecticut: Walking Up To And Beyond The Veil
Read: Hebrews 9:11 - 14
In my Community College days when I was a brand new nursing student, to
gain much hands on experience with the fields and facets and
specialties of the health care field. we were required, under the
supervision of our Instructors, to do several 'area specific rotations'
into an actual area hospital. Depending on what we were trying to learn
in our classroom training, we would go to a floor and for a couple of
hours once a week, we cared for a patient assigned to us by the floor
nursing staff. We would go to Medical Surgical floors, Pediatric floors,
Geriatric floors, Psychiatry and sometimes into the Operating Rooms. It
was quite exciting, yet it is actually a very scary time too.
I can remember during one rotation on a Medical - Surgical floor in particular, I found myself becoming really anxious and frightened. As I was heading to the Nursing area to get the information for my soon to be patient, I walked by a room with a big 'Keep Out' and 'Medical Isolation' signs on it. When I dared to look inside I
saw there were several people wearing head to toe gowns and face masks
and gloves that were all taped up well beyond their wrists. In the
bed I saw this teenage girl lying in the bed in obvious discomfort with
all kinds of fluids running into her arm. I turned back to the nurses station to get my patient, asked the supervisor, the girl was contagious, she had the Chicken Pox.
There was a place in the Bible was restricted - a place with a big
"Keep Out" sign. It was a place that only the high priest could enter
and then only once a year and then only after an elaborate washing
ritual. It was the Holy of Holies. It was where the very presence of God
was to be found. The big "Keep Out" sign was in the form of a great
veil that separated this most holy place from the rest of the world. A
place that was further separated by several other veils and a greater
tent called the Tabernacle of God. The word "Tabernacle" simply means
"tent." The Tabernacle was a portable meeting place - a place where God
would meet with His people through His Priests'.
Then, the law stated that for each successive layers of veil within the Tabernacle that only certain Temple workers and Priests could enter. At the Holy of
Holies, only the great High Priest of the descendants of Aaron, the
first High Priest could enter and he had to enter after an highly
elaborate cleansing ritual, and he had to enter backwards to avoid
looking directly at the Presence of God. The much needed Presence of God
was placed behind several layers of signs saying 'Keep Out'. In the
face of the worse kind of personal tragedy imaginable, the people were
barred, no direct access to God.
Christ died an unimaginably violent death, the veil was torn, now, there are no more 'Keep Out' signs.
Let Us try to Pray: O Lord of Christmas, whose every breath is mercy
and in whose arms are filled with the promises of grace and love so far
beyond what we deserve, we cower in our corners afraid to come out, we
huddle and crowd before You as the lost, the tired, the shocked and
confused masses we struggle so mightily to live as. In the face of such a
violent, inconceivable, unconscionable tragedy, our hearts just turn to
jello, the sweet fragrance of love is replaced by the foulest stench of
death. Still the fluttering of our hearts with Your divine calmness.
Help us to focus on those whose lives have been, against their will,
inexorably thrust into the incomprehensible. Let us who remain point
the way to Your Holy of Holies, through the veil torn by the amazing
sacrificial love of Your Son Jesus Christ through whose unimaginably
violent death and whose glorious resurrection ushered all, welcomed all,
into Your Presence Your peace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKtwPUtHUTk
Chris Tomlin - Jesus Messiah with Lyrics
www.youtube.com
Chris Tomlin "Burning Lights" Concert Schedule: http://www.ticketnetwork.com/ticket/chris-tomlin-events.aspx?kbid=6673 Grab a copy of his "Hello Love" album:...
Read: Hebrews 9:11 - 14
In my Community College days when I was a brand new nursing student, to gain much hands on experience with the fields and facets and specialties of the health care field. we were required, under the supervision of our Instructors, to do several 'area specific rotations' into an actual area hospital. Depending on what we were trying to learn in our classroom training, we would go to a floor and for a couple of hours once a week, we cared for a patient assigned to us by the floor nursing staff. We would go to Medical Surgical floors, Pediatric floors, Geriatric floors, Psychiatry and sometimes into the Operating Rooms. It was quite exciting, yet it is actually a very scary time too.
I can remember during one rotation on a Medical - Surgical floor in particular, I found myself becoming really anxious and frightened. As I was heading to the Nursing area to get the information for my soon to be patient, I walked by a room with a big 'Keep Out' and 'Medical Isolation' signs on it. When I dared to look inside I saw there were several people wearing head to toe gowns and face masks and gloves that were all taped up well beyond their wrists. In the bed I saw this teenage girl lying in the bed in obvious discomfort with all kinds of fluids running into her arm. I turned back to the nurses station to get my patient, asked the supervisor, the girl was contagious, she had the Chicken Pox.
There was a place in the Bible was restricted - a place with a big "Keep Out" sign. It was a place that only the high priest could enter and then only once a year and then only after an elaborate washing ritual. It was the Holy of Holies. It was where the very presence of God was to be found. The big "Keep Out" sign was in the form of a great veil that separated this most holy place from the rest of the world. A place that was further separated by several other veils and a greater tent called the Tabernacle of God. The word "Tabernacle" simply means "tent." The Tabernacle was a portable meeting place - a place where God would meet with His people through His Priests'.
Then, the law stated that for each successive layers of veil within the Tabernacle that only certain Temple workers and Priests could enter. At the Holy of Holies, only the great High Priest of the descendants of Aaron, the first High Priest could enter and he had to enter after an highly elaborate cleansing ritual, and he had to enter backwards to avoid looking directly at the Presence of God. The much needed Presence of God was placed behind several layers of signs saying 'Keep Out'. In the face of the worse kind of personal tragedy imaginable, the people were barred, no direct access to God.
Christ died an unimaginably violent death, the veil was torn, now, there are no more 'Keep Out' signs.
Let Us try to Pray: O Lord of Christmas, whose every breath is mercy and in whose arms are filled with the promises of grace and love so far beyond what we deserve, we cower in our corners afraid to come out, we huddle and crowd before You as the lost, the tired, the shocked and confused masses we struggle so mightily to live as. In the face of such a violent, inconceivable, unconscionable tragedy, our hearts just turn to jello, the sweet fragrance of love is replaced by the foulest stench of death. Still the fluttering of our hearts with Your divine calmness. Help us to focus on those whose lives have been, against their will, inexorably thrust into the incomprehensible. Let us who remain point the way to Your Holy of Holies, through the veil torn by the amazing sacrificial love of Your Son Jesus Christ through whose unimaginably violent death and whose glorious resurrection ushered all, welcomed all, into Your Presence Your peace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKtwPUtHUTk
Chris Tomlin - Jesus Messiah with Lyrics
www.youtube.com
Chris Tomlin "Burning Lights" Concert Schedule: http://www.ticketnetwork.com/ticket/chris-tomlin-events.aspx?kbid=6673 Grab a copy of his "Hello Love" album:...
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