sorry, we’re closed…

… have you ever had that feeling, at the end of particularly trying day, where you felt you just needed to be near the Lord? Today was one such day.

I arrived at church this evening with the intent to head to the chapel. I look forward to that quiet time. When I got there the chapel was locked. I proceeded to walk around to the front to try the other door. Once there, I looked in and saw that a bunch of women were having some sort of meeting. There appeared to be a lot clapping and award presenting. Naturally you can’t have people wanting to pray interfere with the self congratulatory pomposity.

So I turned around to head to the main part of the church only to be greeted by another group of people using the sanctuary to host their meeting.

What a thriving church, so many activities and groups to be a part of. A community to meet your every need… except the basic spiritual one of quiet contemplative prayer.

And so, this evening, my patience continued to be tried and my desires for the cloistered life seemed less unfounded. The world is noisy and clanging; unceasing and distracting, and I’ve never wanted more than to flee from it than at that particular moment.