I have been walking through a season in my life where I feel dry, empty, uprooted. The year 2020 has been so far, filled with constant change and uncertainty. I have not attended a church service in many weeks, not to mention, the transition of churches I was in the middle of, when Covid-19 began. I have seen all my failings and doubts emerge with vengeance, and have felt acutely distant from all that tethers me.

I say all this because of the grounded peace I have come to know, through the sacramental.

Sacrament is surely seen in the Eucharist, (or Communion), in the ceremony of marriage, or of baptism… But its reach and depth are larger than that.

Sacrament is the physical, tangible presence of the Father, in the world, as we know it.

Sacrament is found in the rhythms of your day, the waking, rising, washing, toiling, searching, falling, struggling, cooking, cleaning, paying, resting, playing, sleeping… Just as much as in your praying.

It is found in the darkness, the wailing, the repenting.

It is found in the romancing, the marrying, the raising of children, the weaving of a family. The feeding of a family… body, mind and soul. It is also found in the not-being-married.

It is found in waiting and listening.

The friendship, the friendlessness, the working to create something good in the world. The learning to be wise with money and resources. The nursing of a sick person, the cleaning up of vomit or dressing a wound. The holding of a hand, the kissing of a forehead. The kissing your lover’s mouth, or the refraining from kissing. In attending meetings, driving to work, choosing a birthday gift. It is desiring the good of another. The loving from far away, either by distance, or something more sinister. The making of a life loved.

It is living… and in the middle of living, knowing that this thing you are doing, whatever it is, belongs to Him. That you are in Him, and He is in you. It is knowing that the way you do this thing, will ripple through eternity like a pebble dropped in a still lake, on and on forever. It is knowing, He is here, and ALL of this matters.

It is the weighty knowledge, that you can do a Holy thing, in an unholy way, just as you can do a humble thing, in a Holy way.

It is feeling the weight, of glory.

This won’t be the last time you hear me speak on this subject, because it has become a reigning creed in my life. I hope your eyes are opened to the sacrament all around you today, and you know and feel grounded in Him.