Landscapes of the Sacred (1)
Time, Space and Culture
by SArah Clark
As a human, we have the temptation to “anchor meaning in place” or personify it (Lane, 8). We want “direct access,” “power” and “immediate” responses (Lane,16). We want control. However, the wholly other is the one with control and will chose “to reveal himself only where he wills. (Lane,19). In Landscapes of the Sacred, there is a scene with a man who had been hunting for a supernatural experience in the woods. After having no success, he chose to just “still and wait,” because he had faith that “there would be a meeting” (Lane,18). In this un-intrusive nature, he had a “simple, utterly peaceful and mysterious meeting” with a deer (Lane,17). It wasn’t the place he picked or the tricks to lure the deer in, but it was simply faith and patience. In the same way, to encounter the Lord, we must wait on Him in faith. Carolyn Osiek says that we have to live faith out in “concrete situations” of “time, space and culture” (Lane,10). Whenever it is, we must wait for it in order to experience it. Wherever it is, even if it is “ordinary,” His encounter can make it “ritually extraordinary” (Lane,19). Whatever it is, it might be counter-cultural.
by SArah Clark
As a human, we have the temptation to “anchor meaning in place” or personify it (Lane, 8). We want “direct access,” “power” and “immediate” responses (Lane,16). We want control. However, the wholly other is the one with control and will chose “to reveal himself only where he wills. (Lane,19). In Landscapes of the Sacred, there is a scene with a man who had been hunting for a supernatural experience in the woods. After having no success, he chose to just “still and wait,” because he had faith that “there would be a meeting” (Lane,18). In this un-intrusive nature, he had a “simple, utterly peaceful and mysterious meeting” with a deer (Lane,17). It wasn’t the place he picked or the tricks to lure the deer in, but it was simply faith and patience. In the same way, to encounter the Lord, we must wait on Him in faith. Carolyn Osiek says that we have to live faith out in “concrete situations” of “time, space and culture” (Lane,10). Whenever it is, we must wait for it in order to experience it. Wherever it is, even if it is “ordinary,” His encounter can make it “ritually extraordinary” (Lane,19). Whatever it is, it might be counter-cultural.
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