Building Walls

Luke 7 tells the story of the woman who cleans Jesus' feet with her tears and hair. Also in the story is the Pharisee who has asked Jesus to dinner. The Pharisee is indignant by this display of affection. He has built a wall of self righteousness which blocks experiencing God in a new way.
In Luke 8, Jesus heals and saves the man possessed by demons. The town was afraid of this man who lived in the tombs. Yet when Jesus restores this man to community, the town reacts with fear to Jesus. Did Jesus threaten their economic well being by allowing the pigs to be destroyed? Was their economy more precious than this individual's life? Or were they so comfortable living with that old fear, it was hard to give up? They had built a wall of their own comfort around themselves and could not experience the joy of salvation.
In Luke 9, the Samaritans refuse Jesus to pass through their area because he is going to Jerusalem. They built a wall of tradition around themselves which kept them from experiencing Christ. The disciples want to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans. They have built a wall of judgment and condemnation, Mercy walked with them and they didn't recognize him. Then there are the three who come to follow Christ and Christ explains the cost of following him. I wonder if they turned away allowing the cares of this world keep them from experiencing Christ.
What walls have you and I built up which keep us from experiencing Christ? I wonder how often I dismiss someone because they preach a message I don't agree with or someone who I deem to be in sin and miss God speaking through them and their lives. How often do I hold up the style of worship or the tradition I like as the standard for lively worship and keep myself from hearing God in other services?

looking for the new

One of the characteristics of Wesleyan theology consists of the ability to hold in balance opposing or at least what seems to be opposing ideas--God's holiness and justice with God's mercy and love; the mystery with the understandable. In experiencing God, do we need a balance?
The rhythm of the Christian calendar reminds me that God is found in the ordinary and the mundane. It is not just about experiencing God in the mountain top moments of life. The Christian journey is a long haul not a short jaunt. I want to allow God to turn the mundane into the sacred as often as possible.
Yet as any good American, my attention span is quite short. What is the latest way to experience that Spiritual high? I want the new. What I have is so yesterday. I want a mountain top experience again but I want it in a new way.
Is there away to hold these emotions in balance--to always long for more of Christ without missing Him in the ordinary stuff of everyday?