In all of our hearts lies a longing for a Sacred Romance. It will not go away in spite of our efforts over the years to anesthetize or ignore its song, or attach it to a single person or endeavor. It is a Romance couched in mystery and set deeply within us. It cannot be categorized into propositional truths or fully known any more than studying the anatomy of a corpse would help us know the person who once inhabited it.
Philosophers call this Romance, this heart yearning set within us, the longing for transcendence; the desire to be part of something larger than ourselves, to be part of something out of the ordinary that is good. Transcendence is what we experience in a small but powerful way when our city’s football team wins the big game against tremendous odds. The deepest part of our heart longs to be bound together in some heroic purpose with others of like mind and spirit.
Indeed, if we reflect back on the journey of our heart, the Romance has most often come to us in the form of two deep desires: the longing for adventure that requires something of us, and the desire for intimacy-to have someone truly know us for ourselves, while at the same time inviting us to know them in the naked and discovering way lovers come to know each other on the marriage bed. The emphasis is, perhaps, more on adventure for men and slightly more on intimacy for women. Yet, both desires are strong in us as men and women. In the words of friends, these two desires come together in us all as a longing to be in a relationship of heroic proportions. (John Eldridge, The Sacred Romance, 19)
Christianity, in its true form, tells us that there is an Author and that he is good, the essence of all that is good and beautiful and true, for he is the source of all these things. It tells us that he has set our hearts’ longings within us, for he has made us to live in an Epic. It warns that the truth is always in danger of being twisted and corrupted and stolen from us because there is a Villain in the Story who hates our hearts and wants to destroy us. It calls us up into a Story that is truer and deeper than any other, and assures us that there we will find the meaning of our lives.
What if ?
What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears-what if they are telling you something about the TRUE Story into which you were born, the Epic into which you have been cast?
We won’t begin to understand our lives, or what this so-called gospel is that Christianity speaks of, until we understand the Story in which we have found ourselves. For when you were born, you were born into an Epic that has already been under way for quite some time. It is a Story of beauty and intimacy and adventure, a Story of danger and loss and heroism and betrayal. (John Eldridge, Epic, 14-15)
Francis Schaeffer used the description ‘glorious ruin’ to describe the condition of humans in this world. He used an old metaphor of an old soiled painting. No one was certain who the artist had been, but so much about the painting seemed to indicate that it was done by a genuine master, someone with superb gifts. It was eventually taken to an expert who lifted the stains, unsullied the canvas, examined distinctive brush strokes, analysed the style, discovered the time period and so on. After careful scrutiny, he was able to declare who the artist was beyond any doubt, even though the work was now in ruins. So, too, when we think carefully about the unique qualities of this creature we call ‘woman’ or ‘man’, we can find ample evidence of the handiwork of some great Artist. But who was it and why was it created?
The Bible is the amazing story of what this Artist has done, not only in designing and bringing to full creation the original painting, but what he has done in order to restore the painting to its full glory, a glory in which the character of the Artist will be admired by all who share in the restoration. When we understand the basis of the painting, we will begin to experience the heart of the Artist and what the Artist was trying to give the world. So let’s turn to this theme.
VIDEO TEACHING
Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
The Prologue by John Eldredge
The Entrance of Evil by John Eldredge
The Kingdom Restored by John Eldredge
