Barriers
“To know the world in such a way that one can touch the surface but also reach through the outer facets to the love that pulses in all beautiful things, to be gripped in turn by the goodness beyond them; such knowing is imagination. Such knowing is natural to every human born, our heritage via our creation as beings in God’s image, the one whose own divine imagination formed the world through which we move in such yearning curiosity. But to enter the fullness of this gift requires a mind capable of wonder. It needs the watchful space of a listening, seeking quiet in which we may move beyond the surfaces we see into the inmost realms of ourselves. Imagination asks of us a quiet space where we may attend to all that sings to us from outside the walls of time, from the deathless world in which our hearts seek roots.” (Sarah Clarkson)
“…one of the major obstacles to knowing God in the modern world was the idea that we can only discover what is true by logic. Even those who live by faith in “things not seen” still struggle to understand what that means and the grace that comes from imagining a world we haven’t yet encountered…our faith goes beyond the barrier of logic… (Sarah Clarkson, Bishop Emilianos)
“Christ came not to start a new religion but to break down the barrier between human life and God. Therefore to be redeemed from our fallen condition means to resist the imagination that would bifurcate the world into sacred and secular. Casting away this division means seeing also that Christian liturgy and the liturgies of the world compete on the same playing field, and that a choice between them must be made.” (William Cavanaugh)
“The sacramental life of the Church is at the heart of these offices, where the manna from heaven comes straight to the worshipers via the sacred mysteries. Through these sacred mysteries, the barrier between God and humans breaks down. This means that humans are now empowered to extend Eden into the wilderness and build for God’s Kingdom in anticipation of the world’s eventual transfiguration. It does not matter how successful this work is when judged by worldly standards because Christ promises to complete whatever is left undone when He returns. Christians living in the first and second centuries understood these important truths better than we do today.” (Robin Phillips)
“We do put walls around our heart. This happens both intentionally as well as unintentionally. We put up walls intentionally through choosing a life of rebellion, a life of sin, a life apart from God. We might not think of it this way but in fact sin is a wall that separates us from God. When we choose to live in sin, we are in fact building a fortress around our hearts and setting a guard to keep something or someone out. That someone is none other than the Lord Himself. But when we build this wall due to our life of sin, we keep out God and we keep out our loved ones, friends, everyone. We keep everyone at a distance.” (Fr. James Guirguis)
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