The Shepard and the Sacred Space

The calling of God often leads a Pastor to walk in sacred spaces. My first encounter with one of those sacred spaces was as I stood at the bedside of a dying friend, who was a missionary, while his        parents mourned his death by cancer. He had just breathed his last as his Father and I rushed into the house, all the way from the Charlotte airport, where I had gone to get him to be with his son. My friend was only twenty four. It was there in his room that God pushed me into the sacred space. A private place that few see or care to go. A place where God’s presence is profound, almost manifest. I stood in silence as his Mother sat in bed with him, his head cradled in her lap, and she gently spoke to him and stroked his hair as he went to be with the Most High.  I have been to this place too many times. I’ve watched too many parents release their children into the arms of God. These sacred spaces, where God lingers, is often near someone who is broken beyond measure. They are often crushed into a fine powder. Many well-meaning souls will utter in these sacred moments a misinterpreted Scripture verse like, “God won’t put on you more than you can bear” (1 Cor. 10:13). Yet, God will put more on you than you can handle. He will crush you into a fine powder, so that He might refine you and conform you into the image of His Son. Jesus was crushed, bruised, beaten, spat upon, and mocked. God the Father did not spare His only begotten Son from the pain of our transgressions. Many Shepherds are tasked with the duty of entering into these sacred spaces with their flock. It might be in a room where a newborn infant breathes the air of this world as a new Mother and Father look upon this most sacred little being that was crafted by the hand of the          Almighty. It might be seated with a husband and wife as they seek to mend their twisted and broken    marriage. It might be seated next to a child as their deceased Mother is carried off by strangers. These scared spaces are hallowed. They are not always pretty or tidy. These sacred spaces will draw the life blood from a Shepard and leave him broken, empty, and grieving also. He is mortal and a frail creature of dust.

Remember your Pastor in the fervency of your deepest prayers to God. Intercede for him as if your very life depended upon it. Cry out to God on his behalf. For he may one day walk with you in those sacred spaces. He may be the hands and feet of the Most High to you in your most dire circumstances. Support him, encourage him, follow him and you may walk in sacred spaces where the glory of the Lord is so heavy that you may not be able to utter a single word. One day we will all enter in to the most sacred place of all and hear these longed for words, “well done good and faithful servant……. enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matt. 25:21).

Serving the King Together,

Eric