God's dwelling place - a sermon for August 26, 2012

A Sermon for the Proper 16 (RCL B) 8-26-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:             1 Kings 8:1-6,10,11,22-30,41-43; Psalm 84; John 6:56-69

Themes:        temple dedication, God’s presence, paradox of faith

Title:               God’s dwelling place        

“Happy are the people whose strength is in you; whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way” (Psalm 84:4, BCP).

My dear friends: what is a pilgrimage?

Have any of you ever undertaken a pilgrimage?

The dictionary officially describes pilgrimage as the journey of a religious devotee to a sacred site or a holy place as an act of devotion.

The idea of going on pilgrimage has waned in our American society, but it remains as one of the most important and powerful events in the lives of countless human beings throughout the world.

For instance, as many of you know, the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca is commanded for all Muslims at least once in their lives, if they are physically and financially able to do so. Millions of people gather every year for this pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

There are hundreds of Buddhist pilgrimage sites all over Asia where many millions travel on pilgrimage each year.

The largest gathering of humanity ever recorded is the pilgrimage that occurs every 12 years in India. It is called Kumbh Mela by Hindus, and at the last one in 2001, there were an estimated 100 million people who had gathered together along the banks of the Ganges River to pray and to seek spiritual cleansing and renewal.

Once Solomon completed and dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem – as we read a few minutes ago, that grand edifice gradually became the central pilgrimage site for all Hebrews.

Remember how, in the Gospels, we read of Jesus’ regular journeys to the Temple as an observant Jew. Even today, thousands of Jewish pilgrims visit the remnants of the Second Temple every single day at the site now known as the Wailing Wall.

  

And the practice of pilgrimage has been a long-standing practice among Christians throughout the world.

But consider the strange paradox that this idea of pilgrimage represents.

What did Solomon say in his prayer?

“Will God indeed dwell on earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).

We understand that God is omni-present: present everywhere at all times and in places.

God can be accessed in every place where matter exists. So how can we honestly speak of going to God’s house, or of meeting God in a special building, or of finding God in a holy place?

How can God be everywhere AND be present in a special way in a sacred place BOTH at the same time?

This highlights the bizarre and profound reality of being a Christian, of living as a follower of Christ: we are always holding two opposites in tension at the same time.

We are always living with paradox – on so many different levels.

Consider the following:

As baptized Christians, we are depraved sinners who are also – at the same time - God’s holy people.

The church itself is a collection of broken, damaged people, and yet she is also God’s instrument to redeem the world.

God calls us to rejoice always and in everything, while also calling us to be broken-hearted over our sin and over the brokenness of the world.

Scripture calls us to wait patiently upon the Lord, while also serving actively as the body of Christ in the world.

God is present everywhere in all things, and yet God can be found and met in a special way in holy places.

How can both of these opposites be true at the same time?

It is the same as saying that every human being is a child of God AND YET only some people are adopted into God’s family and filled with the Holy Spirit.

How can this be?

Let’s stay focused upon the “place” issue for now.

Is God present everywhere? Is God present in a special way in sacred places?

The answer is yes! Both of these realities of God’s presence are true at all times.

We all know that most Americans still claim to believe in God, and yet fewer and fewer of them think that God has any connection at all with churches – with consecrated buildings such as this one. How does that work?

These folks claim that they can find God on the golf course; that they can meet God on the beach or out on the water in their boat. And so there is no need for them to belong to any church community, no need to gather together into a building which is designated as a sacred space.

Have you heard people speak in this way?

Well, what do you think? Are they right?   Yes and no.

Of course, they are right! God is in fact on the golf course, as well as on the beach and in the boat and on the soccer field and in the bar and on the living room couch!

There is no place that we can possibly go where God is not. Remember Psalm 139? “Where can I go then from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

The answer is nowhere! Just as the air surrounds every living thing on the earth, so God surrounds every human being on earth. There is no escaping that presence!

And yet, these people are also dead wrong! God is NOT present in every place in exactly the same way. There are what the ancient Celtic Christians called “thin places”, certain spots where the veil that separates the material and the spiritual worlds is thinner and less likely to blur our vision, to dull our senses.

Remember the discussion between the Lord Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well about where God is to be worshipped?  Is God to be worshipped in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim? That was her question; that was the on-going debate in her community.

 The Lord suggests that the very question is misdirected. “God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).

Spirit, by definition, is not bound by the restrictions of matter. The teaching seems to be that God can be – and is- worshipped in any place and in all places.

And yet, here in this sixth chapter of John, we hear Jesus speak of himself as the bread of life.

“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:56).

However many different ways Christians have interpreted these words over the centuries, surely they suggest a distinct and particular means by which God touches the lives of human beings, distinct from the “general” presence of God everywhere.

So how do we answer those all around us today who suggest that our support of our local congregation is a waste of time? How do we respond to those who argue that we do not need sacred buildings at all, that they are a waste of land and vital resources?

Well, what do you think? Do we need temples – church buildings?

Do we still need sacred spaces where we can gather for worship over the generations?

The answer, of course, is yes – and no.

Of course, we do not NEED them. As we said, we can experience the presence of God without this building. We can eat the bread of life out on the grass, or on the beach, or in the bar!

But, in another sense, we do need them. The Psalms calls us to “worship God in the beauty of holiness.” It is right for us to use the best skills and arts that we have in order to create a beautiful act of worship in a beautiful space.

This honors God and is in fact consistent with the Gospel.

John Henry Newman preached these words: “The glory of the Gospel is not the abolition of [church] rites, but their dissemination; not their absence, but their living and efficacious presence through the grace of Christ” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, P. 1355).

The grace of our Lord is truly present in special ways in special places, through his promise and through the trust of his people who gather together – in remembrance of him – all throughout the world. Does God dwell in a temple made by human hands? No, and yes! Both are true, and God is big enough to handle that paradox.

As for us, let us continue to live with this tension, seeking to worship and to follow Christ whether we are in the church or on the beach or in the bar or in the hospital or on our living room couch! Wherever life takes us, we can know with joy and confidence that God is already there waiting to meet us. Thanks be to God.

But let us also continue our weekly pilgrimage to this house of worship, this house of bread, where we can taste the goodness of God in the bread of life. Amen.