May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!
At our Wednesday morning bible study, we've been meandering our way through the Old Testament for a couple of years now (though we are going to take a pause from this project in the season of Lent, and spend six weeks exploring Jesus's Sermon on the Mount). Last week we read about King Solomon building the first temple in Jerusalem, and this week we read about the consecration of the temple (1 Kings, chapter 8).
For our ancient Jewish ancestors, the temple was the literal home of God. Before the temple was built, God traveled in an "ark" - a box with poles extending out on either side that could be carried with the people as the moved around. In the overall story arc, the descendants of Jacob who had previously been very nomadic have settled in the land, they have built the city of Jerusalem (under King David, Solomon's father), and now it is time to build a permanent dwelling place for God - the temple.
We had a far-ranging discussion after we read the chapter, talking about sacred space, and what are some of the things that remind us that God is present with us. We talked about church architecture and some features that give us a sense of God's presence in that space. We talked about how, in older church buildings, sometimes it feels like the prayers of the generations that came before us have infused into the walls. We also talked about how we don't need to be in a church building to know that we are in God's presence, but how we could worship outside (as we do at our church picnic each year, and as the Summerville congregation does through the summer months), or how we could worship in someone's home as the earliest church did.
(Side note: We really do have interesting conversations at bible study! I never know where we are going to go each week.)
The part of the story that captured our imagination the most was the description from the beginning of the story. The priests have placed the ark containing God's presence inside the sanctuary which is empty other than the ark (though the rest of the temple is very ornately adorned). The narrator tells us: "When the priests had left the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord's temple, and the priests were unable to carry out their duties due to the cloud because the Lord's glory filled the Lord's temple" (1 Kings 8:10-11).
There is such a sense of awe in these couple of verses - awe and reverence, and maybe just a little bit of fear at the other-ness of God's presence. Someone commented that it was like walking through thick fog and not being quite sure of what was just outside of your visual field. For me, I was reminded of the passage in Isaiah when Isaiah comes into God's presence and the room is filled with smoke, and 6-winged seraphim are flying all around the throne and the ground shook at the sound of their glory (Isaiah 6:1-8).
Have you had times in your life when you have been awed by God's presence - times when you have been aware that you are treading on holy ground - times when you have been struck with a sense of your own insignificance next to God? Some people encounter this in the grandeur of nature; for others, some buildings might evoke that feeling; sometimes a piece of music or a work of art can give you that sense.
There is a quote from author Annie Dillard that I was trying to remember for the group, where she is writing about the experience of going to church and worshipping. (I couldn't remember the exact quote, but for those of you who were there this morning, here it is!). She wrote:
“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”
She is using hyperbole here (or maybe not?), but she really captures the sense that, when we gather together to worship, we are playing with holy things, and holy things aren't necessarily "safe" things. (Again, I'm reminded of the description of Aslan from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis - "He's not a tame lion, but he's good, oh so good.")
And I I invite you to pause, not just to consider the times when you have felt awe in the presence of God, but also to remind yourself, every time we gather to worship (no matter where we gather to worship) that we are treading on holy ground.
Moving on to announcements this week:
Stop! In the Name of Love - due to the weather forecast for tomorrow, the concert has been postponed until next week (Thursday February 20, 7pm). You can view the revised poster by clicking here, and I've also put it up on the Two Rivers Facebook page. Can you please help us get the word out by passing the changed date on to people you knew were planning to attend? Thank you! (And if you do have to be on the roads tomorrow, please be safe.)
Worship on Sunday - we begin our annual meetings this coming Sunday; and as in previous years we will be weaving the meeting together with our worship. Because of the meeting (and to make sure that I have time to get to Westfield for meeting #2), the Long Reach service will start 15 minutes earlier than usual - 9am for Long Reach, and 11:15 at Westfield and on Facebook Live.
Annual Report - paper copies of the annual report have been available in the church buildings for a couple of weeks, and now I have the electronic version to share with you - thank you to Elaine, for both of these! If you would like to download an electronic copy of the annual report, you can click here.
Two Rivers Pastoral Charge Annual Meeting - Wednesday February 19, 7:30pm, in the parlour at Westfield United Church. (With a reminder to Session members that our February meeting will be in the same place, beginning at 6:30pm.)
Asking the Big Questions - our February gathering is coming up next week - Tuesday February 18 from 4:30-6:00 on the parlour at Westfield United Church (with pizza at the end). This month's big question is: "God is great?" and as usual, we will have lots of different prompts and activities to dig in to this.
Thank you - thank you to everyone who helped with Bob Titus's funeral this afternoon - I know that his family was very appreciative for everything that we were able to do for them. (And I also know that we have had a number of big funerals at the church in the past couple of months, and that many of you have been helping with all of them - I see you, and I thank you from my heart.)
And that is it for announcements this week.
For a closing thought, American theologian Diana Butler Bass sends out a weekly newsletter, and her newsletter last week was on the theme of "love relentlessly" even in the face of adversity. (This was one of the phrases that inspired the poem that I shared on my own Facebook page the other day.) It is worth a read, especially if you are feeling ground down by the world these days - you can read it by clicking here.
Blessings to you and yours, today and always,
Kate.
Rev. Kate Jones
Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
(506) 757-2201 (office)
(506) 343-1307 (mobile)
Pronouns: she/her/hers
"Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?"
Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "You must love your neighbour as you love yourself."
(Matthew 22:36-39)
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