Building the Tabernacle

Today I ran 5 miles to get to my new gym's lunch-hour pilates class. I'm really bad at anything requiring flexibility, but have finally internalized that it's more about getting out there and trying really hard than looking good while doing it.

A year ago, I never would have considered running the three blocks it took to get to my old gym. I walked once in awhile, but usually drove the few times I went. In body and mind, I am miles away from where I was then.

I started 2011 in an emotional wilderness and decided to try running as a way toward peace of mind. I nearly failed. I learned that in order to start a running life, you have to bring ALL you have in body, mind and spirit. I did not believe that I had enough to bring at first, but I kept at it, finding more that I had been holding back.

Bringing it all to the table in order to be blessed is the lesson of Exodus 39:33-43, one of my favorite Biblical passages. At first glance, it is just a list of items required for the Tabernacle -- but to me, it's a beautiful poem of devotion.

The details, one would think, would be irrelevant to the larger story, which is that a group of people build a house for God to live in, which by itself isn't remarkable, until He does -- in the form of a mysterious, sparkly cloud.

Given that exciting reality, it is confusing why the author(s) spend so little time talking about the Cloud and so much time listing all of the details of what items go into making the tabernacle.

I love the poetry of the line, "its buttons, its boards, its bars..."

39:33 And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent, and
all its furniture, its buttons, its boards, its bars, and its
pillars, and its sockets,
And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering
of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering,
The ark of the testimony, and its staffs, and the
mercy-seat,
The table, [and] all its vessels, and the show-bread,
The pure candlestick, [with] its lamps, [even with] the
lamps to be set in order, and all its vessels, and the oil for
light,
And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet
incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle-door,
The brazen altar, and its grate of brass, its staffs, and
all its vessels, the laver and its foot,
The hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets,
and the hanging for the court-gate, its cords, and its pins,
and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the
tent of the congregation,
The clothes of service to do service in the holy [place],
and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons'
garments, to minister in the priest's office.
According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the
children of Israel made all the work.
And Moses looked upon all the work, and behold, they had
done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it:
and Moses blessed them.

After reading it a few times, I realized I was way more attracted to the intricacy of the list than the mystery of the Cloud.

The passage is about something miraculous indeed: how people who are in a vulnerable place figure out a way out of the wilderness by devoting themselves to making beautiful things. They bring it all to a place they call Sacred, and the Sacred comes to meet them there. They are confident it will happen, and love it into being.

In the past year, I've started to conceive of building my body as a home worthy enough for my divine self. I'm having to love it into being with self-confidence, which is challenging, but possible.

I'm glad to be finishing 2011 in a stronger place than where I started. I hope you are, too. Here's to a wonderful year of blessings to come!