Living the Message Dec.15

Dec. 15
A Holy Place

The following is a reflection on Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It and Other Stories.

I know a man who used to buy this book in lots of ten or twenty and give it away, as he put, to "those who are worthy of reading it." He gave me a copy. It soon become a family book as my wife and children and I would read it aloud to each other. One reason that we liked it so much was that it gave dignity and a sense of holiness to take place a hundred miles from where I grew up in Montana and where our family returned each summer for holidays. We already knew it was a holy place, but the book confirmed and deepened out reverence. The book functioned as shrine, calling attention to this place: this is holy ground--worship God here.

...Judas, his betrayer, also knew the place because Jesus and his disciples went there often.

John 18:2