Several weeks ago, I
was showing an architect friend around our building and in particular showing
him all that is going on upstairs with the remodel. As we were talking he asked me about how the
remodel was affecting average Sunday attendance- when I responded that we have
seen a significant decrease in attendance he wasn’t surprised given that we are
worshipping here in the parish hall and for some something is lacking about
worshipping in the land of shuffle board and fluorescent light fixtures. Given that he is an architect- he is very in
tune with how a space affects people’s experience and particularly about how a
holy space like church sanctuaries- adds to folk’s experience of worship and
the transcendence of God.
Interestingly, I have
heard numerous comments from you about how much you are enjoying the intimacy
of the space down here- the space feels full and therefore adds something to
our experience that we don’t get when we are scattered around upstairs in the
nave.
This morning we the
story of Jacob’s dream of a great ladder that reaches so high that it touches
the heavens. In his dreams this ladder
that facilitates the movement of heavenly beings into and out of this
world. At the end of the dream Yahweh
God stands before Jacob and promises that the land he is on will be his and his
descendants numbers Jacob rises from
his dream exclaiming- Surely the Lord is in this place…This is none other than
the house of God , and the gate of heaven.
Jacob piles a group of rocks one upon
another and consecrates the holy place by pouring oil on the rocks. He names it
Bethel meaning “house of God.”
Later this place would
become a shrine for the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Now the reason that this
story may have been included in the book of Genesis might helped people
understand why Bethel was an important holy place.
Places are important to
us---- in particular places where God breaks into our world. Bethel, for Jacob and the people of Israel
was one of those places where God breaks in.
The Irish speak of thin
places-places on this earth where heaven and meet-where the divinve, where God
can slip more easily into our world.
My friend, the
architect, I believe would say that church sanctuaries are places where human
and God commune- a place where we
encounter the Spirit of a living God.
That room upstairs- is
a place where we have communed with God- that
sanctuary is where we come week in and week out to receive bread for the
journey- spiritual nourishment-- where our spirit touches the spirit of God- that sanctuary is where we have come when our
hearts have been ripped out of us after someone very dear to us has died and we
or we’ve had some other tragedy befall
we come to seeking to that place to be wrapped in the comfort of God’s arms. Where we have come for some of the most joyful
moments of our lives-where we’ve pledged ourselves to one another or we’ve
watched friends and family do the same while inviting God in.
Place is important us
and in particular Holy Places- like our churches help us encounter God.
And yet one of the
things I hear over and over again from folks is that you don’t need to go to
church to experience the presence of God.
And I would whole heartedly
agree- some of my most palpable experiences of God have taken place not within the confines of a
church building but rather in other settings.
I can remember back in
the late 1990’s, when my faith was being reborn I was driving up the highway
between Lancaster and Reading Pennsylvania I was kind of arguing,
challenging God saying where are you? As was driving and arguing all of a sudden in
the other direction this tractor trailer comes out of the fog- on the side of
the trailer were the letter G-O-D. Guaranteed Overnight Delivery God.
The Psalmist who penned
our Psalm this morning speaks of a God who is ever present in our world- not
constricted to the four walls of a holy sanctuary. Listen again to what he says:Where can I go from
your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I climb up to heaven you are there. If I make my bed the grave, you are there; if
I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will hold me fast.
It’s no wonder when we
summit a mountain or experience the awe after watching the sun drop down into
ocean we are overcome by the presence God.
Wherever we go and
whatever we do God is with us. When Neil
Armstrong climbed down the ladder of the lunar lander and planted his feet on
the moon God was there- When Jacque Cousteau went to the bottom of the ocean in
a submersible-- God was there.
So then what good are
our holy Spaces our churches and chapels- if we can experience God beyond the
confines of our holy churches?
The church is a place
that I can go and wrestle with God and his word as I work on letting go of the
Gospel according to Sean, remembering that the world doesn’t revolve around
Sean and trying to live according to the Gospel of Christ- challenged by his
teachings like the Great commandment to
Love God and Love neighbor or the great commission to go and make
disciples.
The church has been the
place that I can go every week to receive bread for the journey to receive
spiritual nourishment-- not only to face the world, but to be able to help God
do the work he is calling me to do.
The church has been a
place where I have experienced the love of God and support through the gathered
community a place where God has held me up when the
The church has been a
place where I can go and intentionally give morning to God- saying this is time
I am specifically setting aside for you.
We need Holy
Places-like church building where we can go and kneel down with other saints in
a Holy Temple that has been hallowed officially. But we also need those times and places where
God breaks into our lives out of the blue when we least expect it- like on a
highway between Lancaster and Reading Pennsylvania or on a rock somewhere in
the desert thousands. Go on this day
knowing you have been nurtured in this holy space,-- you have been fed bread
for the journey, but also go expecting that God will break in somewhere over
the next week in the world outside this holy temple.
Be on the lookout.
AMEN
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