Not sure I understand. Could you elaborate a little? Can I not practice my faith and never step foot in any sanctuary built by humans?
In the Hebrew Scriptures God says: “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3)
In the New Testament John writes: “I am the light of the world" (John 8:12)
A Moslem hadith says: “I was a Treasure unknown then I desired to be known so I created a creation to which I made Myself known; then they knew Me.”
If we accept the modern liberal egalitarian sentimental notion that all men are saved, that each man gets to God his own way and under his own steam, and has no need of Scriptures, gurus or whatever, then the question is, what’s the point of revelation?
In light of which, I would say the point of revelation and the message transmitted by religion directs to a sanctuary that’s actually founded by God, for us, that we might know Him. It’s the place where Creator and creature can dwell together.
The structure may be human, but the scheme originates in the Divine and the Divine dwells there, with us, in a way not so easily accessible from without. It’s what in sanskrit is referred to as
upaya, an expedient means.
The Covenant is a dialogue between God and man.
"Do this in remembrance of me."
The words above are reported by St Paul and St Luke at the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The Greek for remembrance is 'anamnesis'
Remembrance is not simply the common intellectual function, the calling-to-mind of things passed. In its theological context it has a more profound spectrum of meaning, especially if we associate it with the Hebrew word 'memra', which again infers recollection, but in the context of the Hebrew Tradition means not simply the recalling of past events, but making the past present, immediately and immanently present by transcending the mundane realm of time and space and entering into the Divine.
Anamnesis, memra, is the eternal now.
For the (Traditional) Christian, the anamnesis places us in the heart of the mystery. We are one bread, one body (1 Corinthians 10:17) or, as we call it in the Christian Tradition, we are one in the Mystical Christ. Here the work of metanoia takes place, here is where He 'makes all things anew' (Revelations 21:5).
I have often pondered the words of the Liturgy. One insight is how profound and unnoticed the meaning of the words spoken, the other is how profoundly the congregation is drawn into the process. The concluding words of the Eucharistic Prayer are:
“Through him, and with him, and in him,
O God, almighty Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honour is yours,
for ever and ever.”
This prayer is spoken by the priest alone, yet time and again I have experience the congregation swept up into the moment, and muttering the prayer along with him. It’s quite something. Moreso in that often the congregation is almost unconscious of what it is doing.
But the congregation is in the sanctuary, and whether or not they are conscious of what is happening, it is happening, and it is happening in them. This is the point of revelation: that all men be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
