August 26th:
August 26, 2012
Call: 1 Kings 2: 10-12; 3: 3-14
Text: 1 Kings 8: 1-6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43
Holy Ground
A few minutes ago,
this was what we said
and by saying so,
what we acknowledged
what we recognized
and what we proclaimed:
"We are standing on holy ground
and I know that there are angels all around
Lets us praise Jesus now
We are standing On holy ground
This place of worship
This sanctuary is indeed "holy ground"
It is not innately holy.
God didn't point God's finger at 26 Main St
Send a bolt of lightening
As James Earl Jones' voice proclaimed
"Build it and I will come."
It is holy ground because it is a place that we have set aside
To remind us of God's presence and God's promises
To give us a place to come together
For worship, sharing, learning, and serving God.
And To make a statement to the world that we do so.
And it is holy ground despite the fact that those who set it aside
And those who stand on it
Are people who have often failed God and failed each other
It is holy ground even though - perhaps because of - the fact that
We are an imperfect congregation
Led by an imperfect pastor
Worshipping, learning, praying, and serving
In an imperfect building
Built and maintained by imperfect workmen
who were engaged and paid by our imperfect predecessors.
And all I can say is "WOW!"
What an incredible message of love from God!
That same message must have been conveyed to
The elders of Israel
The heads of all the tribes
The leaders of the ancestral houses
And all the people of Israel
When they gathered for the dedication of the temple that Solomon had built to and for God.
That dedication and that temple
help us understand
the patch of holy ground on which we stand today
both in terms of its value for us
and its dangers to us
[1 Kings 8: 1-6]
The dedication service began
With the ark of the covenant being brought into the temple.
The ark contained the "Ten Commandments"
and had accompanied the Israelites.
Throughout their years in the wilderness
Throughout the days of the judges
Throughout the days of King Saul and King David.
That ark had been nomadic and constantly on the move
Now at last in this temple it had a home.
The service continued as Solomon began to speak
And reminded them that God keeps God's promises
[10-15, 17-21]
In that dedication service,
The entrance of the ark was the prelude and the processional
The re-mind-er of God's covenant was the call to worship.
And Solomon's prayer was both prayer and sermon. [22-30]
Solomon's temple was like our sanctuary.
It too was holy ground.
It too was set aside for people to come together
To worship, share, learn, and serve God
It too reminded people of God's presence.
It too reminded people of God's promises
promises of love and Promises of mercy.
It too made a statement to the world
All this is good: Good for us and good for God
Solomon's temple is like our sanctuary
And, I am quite certain that the people who worshipped there
were like us and we are like them.
Those people were imperfect too.
Oh, they were excited
that the temple was there to remind them of God's presence
as we are excited that this building is here to remind us.
But despite Solomon's prayer/sermon recognition that
"Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain God"
Much less the house (the temple) that Solomon built
As the years went on that excitement contributed to their beginning to see this man made and set aside temple
as innately holy
And as God's dwelling place
The place where God was and lived and had God's being.
They were excited too
That the temple was there to remind them of
God's promises God's covenants
As we are also excited
that this building is here to remind us many years later
Those Israelites were particularly excited by the promises and covenants that God had made through and to
Moses: "If you obey my commandments,
I will be your God and you will be my people"
And David: "Your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel for ever
Although they will need to be punished at times"
But as the years went on that excitement caused them to become cocky and arrogant about those promises
"We are God's people" they thought
therefore we can do what we please"
They overlooked and ignored that it was a mutual covenant
They overlooked their promises to obey God's commandments
They refused to listen to the prophets
who tried to call them to give priority to the Lord
and not to their own wants, desires, and emotions
Prophets like Amos and Hosea in the North
Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah in the South.
The problem included Solomon,
The man who had built the temple
The man whose prayer for wisdom had so pleased God
Solomon began to focus much of his energy on creating foreign alliances
Marrying several hundred wives
and keeping a few hundred concubines in order to do so
And with these wives and concubines came their pagan gods
And the worshiping of them.
Solomon, like the people he led
were so excited about what God was willing to do for them
That he became
careless and indifferent about giving God priority, and
Thus careless and indifferent about obeying God's commandments
Solomon, like the people he led
Instead of being awed by the gifts of God's presence and promises
began seeing them not as gifts, but as entitlements.
And therefore, they distorted
the re-mind-ers that the temple provided for them.
And when he died, Israel split into two kingdoms: north and south
Ultimately both kingdoms were conquered
Leaders were taken into exile
Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed
And the people felt that either:
God had abandoned them
Or that God was too weak to do anything to help them.
It took a while - quite a while -
before they realized that it had been their fault
For they had looked
Not at what God had already done for them
Not at what they were to do for God
But rather at what they wanted God to do for them
in the present and in the future
They had looked at God as their servant
and not at themselves as God servants.
They had distorted the reminders and opportunities of the holy ground
The story of that ancient temple presents us with questions like:
Are we so like those people that we could do the same thing?
Could you and I soil the holy ground on which we stand?
Could we distort its reminders and opportunities?
Could you and I ever fall into the trap of thinking
that this sanctuary is the only place where we can be with God
And that when we are not here that God is irrelevant?
Could we lead lives of indifference
Like the people who worshiped at the temple?
Or will this holy ground
remind us of God's presence in our lives - no matter where we are
and God's promises through Christ
and encourage us to take advantage of the opportunities
To come together to worship, share, learn, and serve
Thus causing the lives we lead to amplify the message it proclaims?
In short will our lives be ones of indifference, cockiness, and arrogance
Because we know God loves us
Or will they be ones of giving God priority
Because we know God loves us - and that we love God.
You and I have just completed a summer of relaxation and less work
Now, we should be well enough rested to begin to answer those questions
Solomon concluded his prayer/sermon with the following words:
1 Kings 8: 59-61
They seem a good way to conclude this reflection
For they are just as relevant today as they were then.