Throughout history there has always been a thin veil weaving its way through time. Many ancient peoples recognized this invisible veil separating the ordinary from the divine. The Jewish people, in particular, had a tangible veil in their Temple which separated them from the very Presence of God. This same mysterious veil manifests itself in all sorts of places in today’s world. You see it at weddings, separating the bride from her beloved. You see it in front of a theater stage, separating the crowd from the magic and wonder that beckons to be revealed. And you see it among our blind, our deaf, and our mute brothers and sisters; covering their eyes, ears, and mouths, preventing the world from interacting through each particular sense.
So when a 30-something, homeless Rabbi who claimed to be the Son of God entered the stage of human history and set his life up to climax with the tearing of the Temple veil, shockwaves reverberated backwards and forwards throughout all of time. When the very Spirit of Jesus tore through the thin Temple veil, divinity crashed into the ordinary. The whole world became enchanted and enriched with God.
Yet an echo of this veil–a reflection, almost–still exists. Today’s veil is thin, to be sure. But it still aims to separate and divide. It aims to divide our ordinary daily grinds from an explosively significant life with God. It aims to separate our drab minds from wonder and awe. It aims to break up Catholics and Protestants, Christians and non-Christians, the unborn and the born, the rich and the poor. And worst of all it aims to prevent us from sensing the One whom we most need, Jesus the Lord.
But it is here we encounter the greatness of the Christian message. It is here we learn what Jesus came to say:
God is on our side of the veil. He has come through it. And now He is on our side. Better yet, He knows what is on the other side. And He doesn’t just want to tell us about it, so that we can duplicate that world on our side. He wants to tear down the veil of divisiveness so that both sides of it become one. So that all Christians are once more one. So that all of humanity is once more one. So that all of Creation is once more one.
This is what marriage points to–unity. This is what all of Christianity points to. Everything Jesus said and did foreshadowed the tearing of these veils. He is putting all of the cosmos back together, removing all of the veils that separate, destroy, and divide. He promises that the final veil of death will be ripped on the last day.
But right now these veils still exist. This is true to our experience. What do we do with that?
Well, with this blog, I aim to peer through these thin veils, these veils that separate. In particular I stand close to the veil separating the ordinary from the divine and the one separating justice from the oppressed. I aim to peel back this curtain, I aim to peek through to the other side. And, ultimately, I aim to step through it.
Join me. Journey with me as we walk ‘further up and further in’ through this thin veil.