The Temple and Christian Mysticism

In the Old Testament there is a strong sense that God lives in particular places. First on Mount Sinai, then within the Tabernacle that carried the Ark of the Covenant, and finally in Solomon's Temple. There was, no doubt, some sense of God being EVERYWHERE, but there was also a strong sense that God was located particularly, in one place and time.

Christians have tended to remove the sense of God's presence in particular places. This is mostly a good thing, I think. It moves us beyond the superstitious sense of ownership of God, and towards a sense of the miraculous in all things. As I've said before, there are to my mind only two rational positions: believing that nothing is a miracle, or that everything is. The sense of God's particularity tends people to much to believing that only some things are miracles, and others not.

But the emotional power of believing that God is in a particular place is real, and I don't think it should be abandoned altogether. Rather I think it needs to be expanded out by saying God is particularly present in certain placeS, those places being in the heart of every person. Looking within and finding a temple to God there is the very essence, in my view, of Christian mysticism. It is to discover that God has a particularity, a special dwelling, within. The danger, of course, is that this will lead to an unChristian optimism about human nature and remove the sense of our absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Christian mysticism often degrades into a form of gnosticism, wherein salvation is simply the mystical awareness of what was always true, and the gaining of some special knowledge that sets one apart from everyone else. This need not be so, however:

'There is a temple in your heart. It was a temple that you did not earn, nor that you built yourself or could build yourself. It was build by our Lord Jesus Christ. It was built with blood, sweat and tears, as all mighty buildings are. The nails used were those driven into our Savior's hands. But He won, He did it, He built it. He dwells now in the hearts of men and women in a way that is different from His dwelling everywhere else. All things are present in Him, but He is present in the hearts of human beings. This was His gift for us, His costly grace that we must never forget. But now there is something we must do, we must look within and seek to visit Him in His Temple. We cannot tarry there all the time, for our real work is to bring that Temple into the world, to conform the world to it so as the world dwells in Him, and He dwells in us, He to may dwell in it. But that Temple was built so we could indeed visit Him. So once in a while, maybe even once a day, find a quiet spot and seek to visit that Temple. You will find the strength you need, and the God you always sought.'

This is Christian mysticism at it's finest. It puts the focus first and foremost on Christ Jesus, and on God. But it does not deny the importance or the need for genuine spiritual practice.