primary experience

Tuesday November 13^th, Hebrews 9: ^24-26For Christ didn't enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn't do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin. Worship is often a secondary experience of the presence of God.  It may reflect some primary experience of God in our lives or in the lives of others.  Sometimes however, what it reflects is a secondary experience that for us, at one brief moment became a primary experience of God in our lives.  A primary experience is a direct encounter with God, a secondary experience is a celebration remembering that experience.  Animal sacrifice was always a secondary experience.  Since the time of Abraham sacrificing the ram instead of Isaac, it was the stepping stone that allowed humanity to grasp, even if secondarily, a connection with God as well as a move away from the earlier norm of human sacrifice.  When Christ comes into the picture, animal sacrifice is eliminated and humanity is one step closer to worship as a direct connection to God.  Revelation tells us that the final act is the Holy City come down to us with God as it’s center and it’s light.