In the quiet

At the click of a mouse we can be anywhere we want to be on the world wide web.

It’s a bit like those foolish news crawlers that have become standard on 24 hour news channels. The talking head may be soberly informing us about how many people died in the train derailment in Japan. We hear people are still be rescued, trapped for hours and hours in twisted metal in an space that before it left the tracks was familar and safe and now is a living hell.

And while we hear that, the crawler is going on about Micheal Jackson’s trial.
It’s nuts. And we are so used to it we don’t stop to think, we consume.

I just read about the new resort in Las Vegas.

Five years to plan – on 215 acres – a cost of $2.7 billion makes the 2,716-room hotel-casino the most expensive Strip endeavor of its kind.

This new temple to mammon is has the few who have seen it at a loss for superlative words. It is new age, cutting edge, the best of the best.

Acclaimed director Franco Dragone will present a multimillion-dollar water-themed production show in a 2,087-seat theater-in-the-round setting, which includes a 1 million gallon performance pool that doubles as a stage. The property, which opens Thursday, contains the usual Las Vegas accompaniments:

.111,000 square feet of casino space that houses 137 table games, 1,960 slot machines, a race and sports book, a poker room, keno lounge and baccarat salon.

.2,359 standard guest rooms at 620 square feet; 270 parlor and salon suites; 45 executive suites; 36 one- and two-bedroom fairway villas and six 7,000-square-foot private entry villas.

.18 restaurants and bars including six fine-dining restaurants overseen by renowned celebrity chefs.

.76,000 square feet of retail offerings including an on-site Ferrari-Maserati dealership.

.223,000 square feet of convention and meeting space.

100 foot waterfalls in the internal environment, taking you away from the thirst of the desert and the thirst of people’s quests just inside and outside the door.

A $130 million man-made mountain, which rises to heights of seven stories in some places, with pine trees and other landscaping, hides the lower levels of the resort from Strip passers-by.

From inside the resort, guests can enjoy the mountain, waterfalls — some as high as 100 feet — dancing fountains and other special effects.

The hotel’s main guest-arrival area features a garden adjacent to the registration desk with a view of the mountain, which also includes a three-acre man-made lake.

Designer Wynn makes it clear the audience is the hotel, what the project exploits:

“This concentrating on the emotional experience of our guest is very unconventional. There are places to go in the casino that are quiet where the energy level is nonexistent.”

People will pay a lot of money for that non-existant energy level set aside the excitement and entertainment of gambling. They pay for quiet in an entertainment venue, instead of walking away from excessive self indulgence. And when they step into these pockets, can they quiet themselves? Can they ask what makes this temple more special than the quiet of a dawn alongside the side of the road?

Then I clicked to Sacred Space and read this:

I pause for a moment
and think of the love and the grace that God showers on me,
creating me in his image and likeness, making me his temple.

The Presence of God

In the silence of my innermost being,
in the fragments of my yearned-for wholeness,
can I hear the whispers of God’s presence?
Can I remember when I felt God’s nearness?
When we walked together and I let myself be embraced by God’s love.

Freedom

I will ask God’s help,
to be free from my own preoccupations,
to be open to God in this time of prayer,
to come to love and serve him more.

Consciousness

In God’s loving presence I unwind the past day,
starting from now and looking back, moment by moment.
I gather in all the goodness and light, in gratitude.
I attend to the shadows and what they say to me,
seeking healing, courage, forgiveness.

In a 2.7 billion world class structure built for the pursuit of happiness, escape, entertainment and hope of winning, will people seeking excitement handle their own company and disquiet in the built-in solititude places?

Would the thoughts below enter their minds, or would they be feeling lost, tired, high, overwhelmed, broke, anxious and afraid to think?

At the end of the week, give yourself time to review what has happened since last Sunday. Work backwards from where you are now and touch upon all areas of concern. What things worried you? Have some of those worries already been resolved? What unfinished business is still causing an itch in your mind? Who are the people you remember meeting this week? Did some of them leave a nasty taste in your mouth? Do you need to be reconciled, or to ask forgiveness, or to forgive? You may remember other meetings as moments of blessing – when others left you feeling uplifted, or you stroked others with your attention and warmth. Have any of your worries grown out of proportion, bothering you more than they should? Take time to put things back into perspective. Then thank the Lord for his presence in all the encounters of your life.