Warehouse 242, a church in Charlotte, NC is currently doing a series entitled “The Great Recovery” covering topics such as finances, sexuality, commitment, time, family, and service.
I listened to the first message in the series this morning. Apparently “The Cave” by Mumford & Sons was used in the worship set as Pastor Bruce made reference to it and used the following excerpt, Benjamin Jowett’s translation of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” as an illustration for this series:
“Behold!” Human beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.”
The excerpt demonstrates the skewed perception of the human beings mentioned within the cave, and how he/she has been bound to illusions since infancy. Those who have been imprisoned know nothing of reality other than what they see reflected in front of them.
We all live with a vague sense that certain areas of our life is amiss. Christianity is the story of the recovery of the human soul back to the fulness of what it was supposed to be, where the vague sense becomes a concrete reality. Reality simply defined, means a ‘return to normal’. This is what Jesus offers.
The closing prayer is that God would show us the places where we are in the cave. And show us the places in our life where we need to turn around and see what recovery looks like.
If you’re interested in listening to the first message in this series, you can find it here.
