Take Refuge

But whoever takes refuge in me

shall possess the land

and inherit my Holy Mountain.  Isaiah 57:23c

When I was in high school I attended the General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Iowa.  At that synod the youth were introduced to political refuges.  They were fleeing Central America because of all of the violence and upheaval taking place.  As we (the USA) fought and tried to keep in power many dictators.  There were people seeking asylum in the United States but being denied because they were fleeing the forces being backed by the US military.  So at this meeting we met one of these refugees who had sought asylum in the USA and was being provided sanctuary by a UCC church.  Until that moment I think maybe I knew that people sought the US for refuge, but I didn't really understand what it meant and what my role was to play in that.  I didn't know that churches often became places where people went for asylum and sanctuary.

"Take refuge in me."  Can you imagine what the words must sound like to someone who is with out home or country?  To someone who has had to flee their home because they are on the wrong side of a political disagreement?  Take refuge in me.  God is the place of refuge, security, safety.  God is the shelter from all that is wrong, all that keeps us from what is right and true.  To take refuge in the Holy One calls on us to live in the shelter of God's presence, to live our lives always in God.  When we do that, when we live each moment in God we inherit the Holy, the Sacred.  We dwell on the Holy Mountain, the temple of God, the place where God lives.  Now the sacred is here and not there.  We awaken to the fact that we have been surrounded by the Holy but forgot or couldn't see. 

God show me the path to your refuge that I can be part of your Holy Presence and learn to provide refuge for others.  Amen

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