Sacred space in Prometheus

Having ended the last blog with the real presence of the Eucharist where we are renewed and our life in God is affirmed, today I continue and begin with sacredness and holiness.  There are places inthe world that we can describe as 'thin' places, places thatnare steeped in holiness. Whether this is something particular about the place or about the worship that has been made there for millennia, I do not know, but I suspect there is a relationship: thinking of Iona where I first encountered the immensity of a loving creator, that little island has peace and space and light in of itself and not something that humanity has created there; whilst at the same time I ponder on the depth I touched upon in the Holy Sephlchre in Jerusalem, or rather the depth that touched me, and knowing that there is nothing about the physicality of the place that makes it special, just the act of heaven breaking death that occured there.

Prometheus continues in one of these places: Skye, that well known Scottish Isle, and in a cave up a mountain.  We meet Dr Elizabeth Shaw and her partner Charlie Holloway for the first time, she calling him in urgency to the discovery she has made.  In the cave, painted upon the wall are paintings, like those seen on cave walls across Europe and Africa, lions and deer, the hand prints of men and women who died thousands of years ago, and their figures 'moving' across the surface of the rock: and part of this painting is the image of humanity at worship, kneeling down before a larger human figure who points up towards a constellation of spheres in the heaven.  Note Drs Shaw and Holloway's reactions: he takes off his hat and she, with tears in her eyes, says, "I think they want us to come and find them."

Similarly, there is the response of David, the artificial human, to the control room of the torc spaceship... throughout the movie, constant reference is made to his lack of emotional response, but and considering this, there is an apparent wonderment and childlike enjoyment in encountering the beauty and splendour of the Engineers' holographic representations of space etc.

"Moses... came to Horeb, the mountain of God... [and God] said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:1-6)

When one encounters something greater than you, greater in magnitude, literally awesome; when one encounters this, one has to have a reaction to it.  Thus, when we encounter the divine, we take off our shoes or our hats, or we cover our heads or bow down.  There is a reaction that is instinctive, that is practically unavoidable when we are touched by something other.

In setting this scene with Charlie and Eli in the cave RS is inviting the audience to view their searching for the Engineers as the search for the divine, for the other, even as the film recognises that they are creations themselves... but that's jumping the gun somewhat.

Yet for humanity to recieve the invitation to come and find them, the Engineers must have first (re)found humanity.

"What is man, that you should be mindful of him; the son of man, that you should seek him out?" (Psalm 8:5)

So much of our discussion about God speaks about us seeking him/her: likewise Prometheus centred on the idea of seeking out our creator(s).  Yet it is God who seeks us out and, in the film, it was the Engineers who first sought humanity out - for how else were the paintings produced - and who planned to return to Earth again.  As in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting, God reaches out to touch us even as we attempt to reach out to him: yet in the film, the imperative is on humanity to go and find.

Is this what most people assume? That the divine has to be searched for rather than letting oneself be discovered by it?  I agree that there should be some personal activity to find God in one's life, to search for heaven, but God will find us: God has become incarnate to find us and continues to be; God's Holy Spirit continues to dwell with his people and in his people.  Alongside the argument for active searching, there must also be an argument for active waiting: finding the thin places and the sacred spaces, wherever they are, and allowing God to meet us there; taking time for silence and stillness, for the dawn of heaven to break into our lives.  And in those times and places letting our reaction be like those of Eli and Charlie and Daivd: with wonder, with awe, with desire we are called to approach heaven.