Thoughts about the altar in churches - part 2/2 or 3

"Part 2/2 or 3" is a little wry humor by me :-) Since I write these ad hoc as I think of them, I might finish a thought in part 2 and realize that I haven't covered the topic enough and need to go on to a part 3! Even though these blogs are often serious topics, with a lot of scolding, even then I try to keep them conversational, and thus segment them accordingly. When I've talked myself out (or figured you've heard enough, LOL), and it's not fun anymore, then I do save material for later posts.

I set the foundation for what I wanted to speak about in the first part by citing what is Catholic Church thought, and thus doctrine, about altars. I then provided scripture citation regarding Abraham's building of an altar whenever he and his family, his tribe, relocated.

Whenever one discusses faith history or a sacred subject, one has to go back to the very beginning, in the Bible, and trace the origins and development of that topic such as, in this case, altars. Why? First, let me accuse the modern people of having a "let's do the minimum amount that we need to do" attitude, which is misleading. For example, many children try to get away with the least amount of homework and study possible, ("just enough to get by"), or the least amount of practice possible, even when it is something that they love, such as music or sports. Unfortunately, it is the same regarding God. Too many ministers-and their flocks-want to just flip the Bible open and "see what Paul says we have to do about altars." Who cares what Abraham did, right? Um, deny that if you dare, but you know that I am correct. Rather than plumbing the depths, of loving God so much that you want to know all there is about him, and to please him and serve his will, too many of you just hope that Paul "tells you" the bare minimum that you "must" do. But is that really enough? And does it supersede what Jesus himself said and did?

You must bare open to yourselves your own heart and motivations, since, after all, God knows them all already, even before you have them, and he knows them all far more than you ever will (since God knows what is hidden, both conscious and unconscious). Are you motivated to love and to serve God, to be sanctified, and thus you do not have to worry about a "salvation checklist?" No where in scripture does Jesus say that one should not seek to better love, know and serve God, since he, Jesus, is "enough." In other words, Jesus does not put up a barrier and say that you no longer need to read scripture (in fact, Jesus often quotes scripture from those "old" times) nor that you must understand God's will.

For example, when Jesus is asked about what to do to be saved, Jesus mentions the Commandments. It goes without saying that Jesus assumes that his followers would not only know the Commandments, but they would also read all the associated scripture! By reading the scripture you enrich and make more accurate your understanding of the fullness of God's relationship with you individually and his church collectively.

This is why I am very keen to have people think most seriously about God's expectations and God's attitude toward the most solemn sign of his presence on earth, which is his altar.

Again, I am anticipating a modern problem that I encounter all the time, particularly among many Protestant denominations and nondenominational churches. Many try to cut this line of thought off at the very beginning, with the somewhat snooty and snotty observation that altars are not "needed" because "don't you know that God is everywhere?" Um, duh, yeah, I kind of know that God is everywhere (which is why I constantly have to remind all of you that when we say God is all knowing we mean he is all knowing, including what you think, have thought and will think in the future). Obviously God is everywhere. That is not the point of an altar, to have a superstitious belief that God is "only" there. Do you not realize that God was "everywhere" during the time of Abraham too? Abraham built altars not to "bring God along."

You want to think most seriously about altars and what they mean to GOD, and not what they mean to you.

An altar is where God has made a commitment to his people to be present. For example, think of the room in your home where you receive guests, such as your living room or a reception room. An altar is the place where God, who is of course present in that room and any and every room, has committed himself to being seated, even though you cannot see him. God knows that you cannot see him, and God knows that you know he is everywhere, though you often forget that he is, of course. God therefore has from the very beginning, since his relationship with Adam and Eve and onward, committed to be present at the place of the altar, even though he cannot be seen.

How do we know this goes so far back in time, even to Adam and Eve?

Genesis 4:3-5
In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil, while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.

Most with fundamental knowledge of their faith know that the first children of Adam and Eve were Cain and Abel, and that Cain committed the first murder, killing his brother because he envied that the Lord God approved of Abel's offering more than Cain's.

Now, where exactly do you think these offerings would have been made, since they had been banished from the Garden of Eden, which is where God used to walk with their parents, Adam and Eve? These offerings would have been made on an altar to God.

I have to remind people who worry when we "assume" and "put things into the Bible that are not written there" that THEY need to better know their scripture, not I. Who wrote the first five books of the Bible? Moses. Where were offerings made to God during the time of Moses. On altars. Moses would not have to state that these offerings were made on altars "just to get it formally in writing in the scripture" because it never would have occurred to him otherwise.

Here is a modern example. "Sally left the house and drove to John's place." Oh no! We cannot understand the meaning of that phrase, because the author did not say that Sally drove "in a car!" I mean, in old English to "drove" also means to herd cattle. Might not the author have meant that Sally left the house and herded some cattle over to John's place? LOL. Do you see what I mean that far from "putting something into the Bible that isn't there," genuine lovers and scholars of the Bible always recall the context in which it is written, and they trust the divinely inspired authors to place what is need within. One does not stop using one's brain and power of deduction when one reads the Bible.

So we know for a fact that immediately after the fall of man through Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from the garden that at least one altar was built and offerings made to the Lord by their children Cain and Abel.

Cain was a farmer and Abel was a herdsman (Genesis 4:2). Thus Cain brought "an offering" "from the fruit of the soil while Abel" "brought one of his best firstlings of his flock." This means that Cain brought average produce from what he farmed while Abel brought one of the best of the first born animals. So Cain basically sampled out of what he was growing anyway some to offer to the Lord, while Abel selected one of his very best to give up to the Lord.

Think again of that guest arriving in your living room or reception room. Cain would have the guest sit in any of the regular chairs that were available in the conference room, for example. Abel would have brought into the room the best chair for the guest, taking it from himself if that was the one that he usually sat in. Now, I'm mixing into one image with this analogy both the altar itself and the offerings placed upon it, but there is a reason I am doing so, so just bear with me and don't split hairs over it ;-)

The next mention of an altar is when God sent the flood to destroy the wickedness of man, saving only Noah, who had built an ark according to God's instruction. After the earth had dried and it was safe to emerge:

Genesis 8:20-21
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered holocausts on the altar. When the Lord smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself: "Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the desires of man's heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever strike down all living beings, as I have done."

By the way, how do we know what God was thinking, since he did not speak aloud that thought? Again, because he told Moses, who is the author of Genesis and the four books of the Bible that follow.

So when Noah leaves the ark he promptly builds an altar and offers up sacrifice, even though he knows, I mean, duh, that God is "everywhere," since God spoke to him and helped him build the ark all along.

The altar is the place where humans have a committed meeting with God. It has been so from the very beginning and it pleases God. It also provides a stability of relationship and perspective between human beings and God. It is like the difference between knowing that your human visitor is alive, is planning to come, knows what you are doing, and perhaps is even texting you or speaking to you on the phone, and the guest actually being in the room and being handed a chair by you. Just because your guest "exists" does not mean it is not important to give him or her respect, full attention, and a place to sit when they are in your actual presence. The earliest of faith forefathers, starting obviously with Cain and Abel, understood that, and were not prompted by God to do so (otherwise that would be in the scripture). Humans as much as God desired that altars be built to define and formalize the committed presence of God in that place.

We next read about altars as they are built by Abraham, as I have already cited previously.

So that is what I think about whenever I enter a church. I immediately look for the altar. Now, can you imagine my reaction and why I have that when I do not see an altar at all? I do not care if one calls it an altar or the "Lord's table" (referring to Jesus Christ at the Last Supper). I do not understand how one feels "at home with God" in a church that does not have either an altar or the Lord's table. Next, imagine how I feel when there is something but it is either very lame or it is used for glorification the congregation, like a microphone stand or something. Yikes, can you repeat after me "Um, that's missing the whole point of an altar!"

Of course God is "everywhere." Believe you me, Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah and Abraham sure know that more than you today know and believe that! The altar is the place of committed meeting between God and the faithful. Jesus Christ, far from removing it, confirmed that and, further, placed himself on the altar on behalf of all humans. The altar in the church (non Catholic) where I frequently attend services (as a visitor and faith family member, like an "in-law" LOL) has a simple altar but with the words in gold "Do this in remembrance of me." Now, there is much that I wish they would do differently about the altar as the presence of God in that church, but I am not going to critique those who at least have a worthy altar in their church.

I think I will wrap part 2 here because, as I thought in the beginning, a part 3 where we look at what Jesus said and did in this context is really needed. But even if I wrapped up my thoughts here, which is the whole point, I think I leave you in a good place to better understand that the altar is not "just" the "old fashioned place" where the "Jews burned offerings" and "we don't need to do that kind of thing." That's forgetting that the altar became the committed meeting place of God and humans after humans had gone and lost the Garden of Eden for everyone, where God had walked in person among Adam and Eve and the animals (thanks a lot, hmm?) Scripture shows that God did not order the building of altars nor specify the sacrifices until the time of the formation of the Israelites as they left Egypt under Moses. Altars were built immediately by humans as soon as they had lost, through the sin of Adam and Eve, their day to day contact with the Lord God. There they had committed encounter with the Lord, and there they made offering to him.

I hope that you have found this helpful and has given you a deeper perspective about not only a very important and sacred topic, altars, but also better understanding God's ongoing relationship with his faithful, in all its forms and depths.

Thoughts about the altar in churches - part 1/2

I want to write a reflection about what an altar in a church means to me. I'm determined, however, not to stay up late tonight blogging! So I will write this in two parts, saving my reflection and some scripture references for the second part, and for context and background, copy here four paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church about altars.

1181 A church, "a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful assemble, and where is worshipped the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us on the sacrificial altar for the help and consolation of the faithful-this house ought to be in good taste and a worthy place for prayer and sacred ceremonial." In this "house of God" the truth and the harmony of the signs that make it up should show Christ to be present and active in this place.

1182 The altar of the New Covenant is the Lord's Cross, from which the sacraments of the Paschal mystery flow. On the altar, which is the center of the church, the sacrifice of the Cross is made present under sacramental signs. The altar is also the table of the Lord, to which the People of God are invited. In certain Eastern liturgies, the altar is also the symbol of the tomb (Christ truly died and is truly risen).

1383 The altar, around which the Church is gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist, represents the two aspects of the same mystery: the altar of the sacrifice and the table of the Lord. This is all the more so since the Christian altar is the symbol of Christ himself, present in the midst of the assembly of his faithful, both as the victim offered for our reconciliation and as food from heaven who is giving himself to us. "For what is the altar of Christ if not the image of the Body of Christ?" asks St. Ambrose. He says elsewhere, "The altar represents the body [of Christ] and the Body of Christ is on the altar." The liturgy expresses this unity of sacrifice and communion in many prayers. Thus the Roman Church prays in its anaphora:

We entreat you, almighty God,
that by the hands of your holy Angel
this offering may be borne to your altar in heaven
in the sight of your divine majesty,
so that as we receive in communion at this altar
the most holy Body and Blood of your Son,
we may be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace.

2570 When God calls him, Abraham goes forth "as the Lord told him"; Abraham's heart is entirely submissive to the Word and so he obeys. Such attentiveness of the heart, whose decisions are made according to God's will, is essential to prayer, while the words used count only in relation to it. Abraham's prayer is expressed first by deeds: a man of silence, he constructs an altar to the Lord at each stage of his journey. Only later does Abraham's first prayer in words appear: a veiled complaint reminding God of his promises which seem unfulfilled. Thus one aspect of the drama of prayer appears from the beginning: the test of faith in the fidelity of God.

***

Just to reassure you of the scriptural basis, here are the references for the statement that Abraham built altars.

Genesis 12:7-9
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram build an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel, pitching his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He build an altar there to the Lord and invoked the Lord by name. Then Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb.

Genesis 13:18
Abram moved his tents and went on to settle near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord.

Here is an interesting aside. Abraham made a peace pact with Abimelech, king of Gerar (these were Philistines). You can read the reasons why they came to respect Abraham's God and to make peace in Genesis 20-21. The place where they made their peace pact was Beer-sheba. Read what Abraham did to mark that place.

Genesis 21:33-4
Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and there he invoked by name the Lord, God the Eternal. Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many years.

A tamarisk is a tree.

This is an example where careful readers can discern information about what is appropriate in the worship of God, and what is not, not only by what is stated, but also observing the role modeling of the Patriarchs and the Prophets. Abraham demonstrated faith to God by building altars and invoking God's name as Abraham traveled and relocated. Abraham also showed that one can commemorate a profound occasion (such as the pact with the Philistines) through a mundane object (such as planting a tree) and the invocation of God's name to bless the event. This is much as we do today, when we build a building, plant a garden, erect a plaque or some other commemorative device, and then bless it with the name of God.

Another comment and then I will wait until writing part two for my commentary about altars. Just to further mutual Christian and Muslim understanding, this is for Christians. The Muslims understand that Abraham created altars and other commemorative locations throughout the region, and one of the early endeavors by the Muslim people was to determine which of those locations still existed in their place and could be identified as such. This is the origin of some of the locations that Muslims consider very holy.

Understanding God: simple suggestion to be near to him

Many people feel that they are distant from God, or God is distant from them. This is a perfectly understandable problem and not new to humans, who have felt this throughout the generations, and God understands. However, it is particularly acute in these modern times. In a way it is ironic because never has there been more freely available printed information about God, and more people searching for "spirituality," yet, modern people feel distant from God in a way that, for example, the ancient Israelites of Biblical times did not.

The Israelites did not have the "advantage" of "lots of miracles" to bolster their faith either. Hundreds of years would often span the time between miracles by God's prophets or miraculous appearances by God. So what did the Israelites have that modern people seem to possess less and less of?

For one they were better informed and availed themselves of the very gifts of knowing him that God has given people. As I attended Good Friday services at the nearby cathedral I was sad, but not surprised, to observe something missing from the worshippers that used to be so basic in the years past, but seems totally forgotten today. This is by no means a criticism, as I delighted in seeing the faith and love of the Lord present in all who attended on this most solemn day. Rather, I am using what I observed to explain to people something who the older ones may have forgotten, and the middle aged and young people seem to most certainly not learned in their faith formation.

First, here is what I observed from virtually every person who came through the two doors within my line of vision. People would enter, dip their hand in the holy water font, and make the sign of the cross while simultaneously walking and scanning with their eyes for what seat they wanted in the pew.

Hmm. This is not a scolding but pointing out a missed golden opportunity to know God.

The part of the church that contains the altar is called the sanctuary. In the sanctuary God is physically present. No, I do not in this case mean the sacred host, which is the true body of Jesus Christ when consecrated. I mean God the Father. God, understanding that people will always have to strain somewhat to believe in his presence when they cannot see him, committed to all the faithful that he is present in the sanctuary of the temples of the ancient Israelites and also, obviously, by extension, in the sanctuary where an altar where sacrifice and appeal to him is made.

Now, before I cite scripture and make Biblical commentary on this subject, let me address the obvious "modern thinking" problem. Many moderns say, "But I thought God is everywhere." He is everywhere, but he understands that people, not God himself, have problem remembering that. So God solemnly and repeatedly committed through word and deed that people can be absolutely certain of his actual presence in the sanctuary of his houses of worship. Thus someone can have squishy faith or worse, great doubt, in God's overall presence in the world (perhaps thinking that God withholds himself from the day to day matters, both joys and woes, of the world) and upon entering any place of worship with an actual sanctuary, be absolutely assured that God is sitting right there.

Thus good Catholics are supposed to do this: entering the church through any of its doors, dip one's hand into the font and make the sign of the cross while facing the sanctuary. Furthermore, before removing one's eyes from the sanctuary area, genuflect, usually at the end of the first pew nearest to you. When you enter God's house you are supposed to acknowledge God's presence with eyes and gesture (both sign of the cross and genuflecting) where God has promised that he dwells, which is the sanctuary.

If most people entered the church for service and saw God with only a fraction of his glory visible to the eye in the sanctuary, I imagine most people would notice (though probably a stubborn few would still worry about which pew they will sit in and which neighbors are there). But that is not supposed to be the priority with the first few steps into the house of God where God has promised to be present in the sanctuary. Yes, I like to get a good seat and look around who else is there too. But I do so after genuflecting toward the altar upon my immediate entry. In fact, that is such an urgent priority that I sometimes do not avail myself of the holy water font, since my eyes are fixed on the sanctuary whenever I enter ANY church through ANY of the doors (front or the two sides), and I genuflect. Often I do so twice, and this is how people used to be and used to understand that GOD is there even before the celebration of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus. I do so upon entry and then again at the end of the pew that I am about to enter in order to take my seat.

When people don't do this it's not a "bad thing," it's a "sad thing," since they are no longer remembering that God has promised to be in the sanctuary of every church that believes in him and that offers sacrifice and worship. In the Orthodox churches, the sanctuary is an actual separate small room in the back where only the priest enters, consistent with how it used to be in the temples of the Israelites. Now that is symbolized by where the Torah resides.

All Catholics should:

1. Enter the door, dip their hand in the holy water font, and make the sign of the cross while facing the sanctuary. This is in honor of Jesus Christ.

2. Still facing the sanctuary, genuflect, usually at the end of the first pew if entering by the side doors or the last pew (either main aisle end). This is acknowledging God's actual presence in the sanctuary.

Even if you do nothing more than this you will feel a strengthening of your feeling of God's presence in your life. It takes nothing away from God "being everywhere," but you are taking him up on his offer to commit to each and every one of you that HE IS THERE in the sanctuary.

These are examples of God making himself seen in the sanctuary:

Luke 1:5, 9, 11-13
There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

Now, as you read further you will see that this angel of the Lord identifies himself as Gabriel, but make note that Gabriel says: I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God (Luke 1:19).

Isaiah 6:1-4

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. [This is how you know that Isaiah is performing priestly duty in the sanctuary of the temple, since he says that God's celestial robe filled the whole temple's interior].
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house [temple] was filled with smoke.

These are two examples where God elects to deliver messages of redemption from within the sanctuary of the temple. God, of course, can appear whenever and wherever he wants, but nothing that God does is insignificant. God continues to demonstrate his closeness and presence in the sanctuary. It is particularly key that God, through Gabriel, announces the pregnancy and birth of the man who will make straight the way of the Lord, John the Baptist, in the sanctuary of the Temple. This is the bridge in understanding that even as God announces the man who would herald the coming of the Messiah and the New Covenant, that God "makes his seat and presence felt," so to speak, most especially within the sanctuary of his house.

Revelation 13:6

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

Why does St. John observe the beast during the Apocalypse, blaspheme God, the name of God, and all in heaven (answer is obvious) but also God's tabernacle (answer not so obvious)? The word "tabernacle" is very precise: it does not mean as people think today just a symbolic allusion to assemblies of people who worship God. The tabernacle (the Biblical word for sanctuary) means the tabernacle, otherwise scripture would not use that word. Thus even way in the future during the time of the Apocalypse the beast its self understands that God is committed to being physically present to his people in "his" (God's) tabernacle. This is how we know that God's promise to be present in his tabernacle, to strengthen the faith of those who enter his house of worship to sacrifice and petition, continues from the very beginning of faith history to the very end of the world.

You can read the history in the Bible about the early forms of tabernacle and God's promise to accompany Israel through the tabernacle. I wanted to draw your attention to the continuity of God's promise of actual presence in the sanctuary (even though, yes, he is everywhere at once) throughout the New Covenant and, ironically through the testimony of the beast and St. John's witness, all the way to the Apocalypse and the end of days.

So even though you cannot see God with your eyes, there he is, in the sanctuary of the churches of his faithful.

I hope that you have found this helpful. To know God is to love God, and if you remember that he keeps his promises you will know he is there in the sanctuary, and if you remember that at all times you will start to feel closer to him within your individual reality too.