A Rule of Life

I have been taking the Bible Challenge for about the last seven or eight months at the suggestion of our bishop at the time, Bp Linda Nicholls.  This is a website https://thebiblechallenge.org/ which enables you to “read” the whole bible in a year.  This is a seven day a week, fifty-two-week challenge - there is no sabbath rest in this challenge.  I put “read” in quotes because it enables you to listen to the bible passages each day rather than reading them – which I find a helpful way of taking this challenge.  This challenge is helpful for me as I am not as knowledgeable about some parts of the bible as I would like to be, and perhaps should be, given my education and experience as an Anglican priest.

I have just finished listening to the book of Ezekiel and was struck by the vision of the new temple which is recorded in that book.  This is a vision of a new temple to replace the temple in Jerusalem:

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there. He brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, a man was there, whose appearance shone like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. The man said to me, ‘Mortal, look closely and listen attentively, and set your mind upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israel.’ (Ezekiel 40: 1-4)

A vision like Ezekiel’s, would be significant enough and can be analyzed as you might a dream, exploring the significance of the temple and the other images which occur in it.  However, what is revealed in in the vision is a master builder’s plan for this amazing structure.  There is a hint of what is to follow with the scene that is set in this introduction.  The man whose “appearance shone like bronze” has a linen cord and a measuring reed.  What follows is an amazing picture of a structure which is given is such incredible detail.  Her is a small example of what goes on for in great detail regarding the design of the temple and the practice of worship in the temple:

 Now there was a wall all round the outside of the temple area. The length of the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length; so he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed; and the height, one reed. Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep. There were recesses, and each recess was one reed wide and one reed deep; and the space between the recesses, five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate at the inner end was one reed deep. (Ezekiel 40: 5-7)

Now, I am not a detailed person, rather being more comfortable with the big picture, so I find this level of detail to be rather hard to deal with.  If you are so inclined and like a visual representation, you can find the three dimensional plan of the temple on-line at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNmERZkT6JM.  This is helpful in getting a grasp of the detail provided of the vision.

There is much of what you might find significant in this vision or a any dream or vision like this.  What engaged me initially was the importance of having a detailed plan when you are considering the possibility of something new in your life.  This can be a new project you are undertaking or a new vocation or even a new way of living your life, in effect a rule of life.  For example, if you are wanting to have a deeper connection in your spiritual life, it is helpful and even necessary to work out how you are going to accomplish this.  Rather than just saying, “I want to be more (fill in the blank).”  How am I going to reach that goal, or to put it another way, what do I need to do to travel the path that will take me closer to that goal.  Many goals we might have cannot be reached once and for all.  However, we can begin that journey which will bring us closer to the goal.  If you want to have a closer relationship with the divine, what do I need to do.  Make a detailed plan on what you are going to do to follow that path e.g. what spiritual practices will you engage in.  There are many possibilities and you might want to engage more fully in the ones that you are currently doing and also try new ones to see if they can help you on your journey.   But as the dream/vision maker in Ezekiel’s vision demonstrated the more specific the better.

Now to practice what I am preaching – that is the challenge.

Blessings on whatever journey is truly yours.