You are God's temple
Lent 3
John 2.13-22
Do you blitz, tidy, or avoid? Tidying the house is the picture I want to begin with. Some people are fastidious about a tidy house and find it hard to live with anything out of place - they tidy relentlessly. Others go from blitz to blitz, letting things accumulate over months, and then having a grand sorting out - these are the ones who have to buy in extra black sacks. Others still are content to live with a homely kind of chaos where tidiness is not a prime consideration in life - these are the folks who move the piles from place to place and simply walk around them. How people feel at home in the places that are their homes is almost infinitely variable. But however you feel about it, sometime or another
there comes a crunch point.
The central heating system, the electrical wiring, the ceiling joists, or something else, finally gives up the ghost. Change is so radical - it affects every room - you've no choice but to think about the state of what is in this home. There is no way around the effort of organisation, reform, preparation. The anticipated outcome even if its a joy like a new baby, or work space for your new enterprise, or that conservatory you've longed for years, still means a lot of effort and change in
the home. Things always take longer than you thought they would, and the anxiety and effort is always more than you anticipated. There's always a snag! And sometimes the prompting change is of quite a different order - illness,
disability or loss - and that compounds the usual worries. Every home - in joy or in sorrow - comes to these crunch
points.
"Do you not know," said St Paul, that you are God's temple." (1 Cor 3.16)
God's home on earth is in his people. The homely place of God is a person, it's you. That's not quite right however, for I'm certain he means that the homely place of God is persons in relationship, to one another and to him. We, the church, are God's temple on earth. That's why I take Paul's words as a commentary on the story of Jesus clearing the Temple precincts. We, the church, are the meeting place between God and humankind. We, the church are the altar where the sacrifice of Christ is made present, made apparent, right now. We, the church, are the visible structure that acts as a constant reminder to the world that God is real. That's us. We can only be this temple because of the offering of Christ and the power of his Spirit alive in us - those are the things that transform 'the poverty of our nature' as the collect puts it. But, recognizing our inadequacy, our failures, our sin, nonetheless we are the very temple of God.
That brings me back to tidying up and crunch points. This bit of the temple of God that is the Church of England
has reached such a point. Two things have prompted it. Money and people.
The accumulated capital that has allowed the Church of England to operate a parish system with a building and a paid
clergyperson in each locality has ended. Simply put, there is now no money from outside parish sources to continue what we have previously assumed to be the way the church functions. That whole way of the Church of England functioning is
ending.
In a century we have lost three-fifths of our clergy - at the turn of the twentieth century there were over 25,000 clergymen 'working' in the CofE, in this new century there are a few more than 9,000. The ordination of women has not made a significant difference to this picture. Already there are something like 5,500 parishes without a resident minister
(Michael Hinton: The Anglican Parochial Clergy).
A crunch point - but you are God's temple. Undoubtedly God is calling us on to a different way of being church and perhaps he's doing that because the Victorian way of being church will no longer do in our very changed world.
For a school project one of our daughter's was asked to fill in a questionnaire about homes and how they've changed. I had to admit on the questionnaire that in my first home the toilet was an earth closet at the bottom of the garden, mains water had only just arrived - to take a bath still meant a zinc tub in front of the fire, and that light was provided by oil lamps. In my first home my Victorian great grandfather would have felt at home. What would he have made, not too many years later, of the highly sophisticated techno bubble many of us now live in? What would he have made of computerized
zoned heating, the information revolution giving me access to unimaginable things at the touch of a button, a thousand and one electronic gadgets, and TV programmes beamed from satellites? I'm sure he would be lost in many of our
home, but the organisation of the Church would I think be familiar to him!
Is there anything from our scriptures for today that might give us a clue to our vocation as God's temple in the 21st century?
Living as God's temple means not living as commodities. Ours is a time when a price is being put on absolutely everything. You don't need me to rehearse the ramifications of this, we all know them. Costings, market forces, pricing -
these are the instruments now used in all walks of life, in all types of organisations. Not that they weren't always there, but the other mechanisms that were formerly used alongside them have largely gone. The 'pop' expression of the equation is 1/2 x2x3=P, half as many people, paid twice as much, producing three times as much, equals Productivity and Profit, - it seems to me to produce a lot of stress and a lot of unemployment amongst other things, as well. I did sit down to work out the cost of this act of worship, when it became apparent to me that it would breach the £1000 barrier,
I was too depressed to continue. But then it was a stupid idea anyway -the worship of God cannot be a commodity that can be priced, and neither are we such a commodity.
This is one of the key ideas in the cleansing of the Temple at Jerusalem in John's Gospel. Jesus says, "You must not turn my father's house into a market." His critics thought he was referring to the building, after the resurrection his disciples understand that the comment had a wider application; the temple he was speaking of was his body -US, and all
those countless others who have gone before us. When we recognise ourselves for who we are our relationship to one another is changed forever - we each of us become a special, prized and unique gift. In this murderous modern era in which so many people have been and are being treated as less than worthless - our status as the temple of God points up the inestimable value of each person.
That's about us realizing the sanctity that is God's purpose. That sanctity is about life in the world; about the Kingdom, not about the survival of the church as an institution. "To be a loyal churchman is hobbyism or prejudice, unless it is
the way to be a loyal Christian" That's Austin Fairer.
Never commodity, always commissioned to be yourself in the service of God's kingdom.
Living as God's temple means not observing from a distance.
Go to some high spot like Merseyview above Frodsham and its easy to feel yourself at a distance, observing these little vehicles dashing about on the motorway, so remote from yourself. One of the terrible things about TV is the way it lets us
looking in on the terrors that face so many as if they were objects with no connection to us. Church can never be like that if its to be authentic - you are not the audience to me or others as the player, although I did once have a
Churchwarden who persisted in calling parts of a service "the next number" like a variety show whenever he led worship.
When the Israelites received the covenant of the law, only Moses and Aaron could ascend Mount Sinai, the people were left to look on as best they could through the cloud and thunder. That distancing is done away with by Christ - no, we come to Mount Zion, the heavenly reality. We are caught up, incorporated, built into God's temple.
Never onlookers, always involved in that living to the depth that is the only real living.
Living as God's temple means never self-service. The self-service store is the great icon of our age - anything you want yours for the taking, just grab it. It's a great way of marketing breakfast cereals but no way to come to holiness of life. God is not just what I want. Church is not all about tickling your fancy, mutual comfort, and feeling sociable and safe. I
hope it is sometimes about all of those things, but our actual purpose is the worship of God because God is worth worshipping. Worship offers us the opportunity to be touched by the very source of all being - to be really alive
- to let the riches of God's grace pour into us. "The heavens and their own heavens cannot contain God," says Solomon's prayer, yet we are God's temple.
Jesus is the foundation of this temple, and St Paul warns us that we have to take care how we build on that foundation for what we build will be tested and judged. Our own prejudices and fallibility mar our choices and our decisions. As Karl Popper once wrote, "We all differ in what we know, but in our infinite ignorance we are all equal." Thank God then that it is on him that we must rely not ourselves - for we all know how often we have failed as lovers, friends, colleagues, parents.
Never self-service, always seeking to serve God and his people. Let us then look to the future, not fearful but leaning
on the promises of God. As far as our Church of England is concerned we are in the process of massive changes, but in
God's call to be his temple we may yet rediscover purpose and be renewed. We shall keep the rumour of God alive.
Why? Because we know that self-offering is the only kind of offering worth anything. God places the future in our hands,
for we are his temple -
- never a commodity, always commissioned to be ourselves for the kingdom.
- never onlookers, always joined with our fellows in living life to the depth.
- never self-service, always seeking to erve God and his people.
Let us then be grateful and offer to God a worship pleasing to him with reverence and awe (Hebs 12.28), our home a place of belonging for now and tomorrow. Strive to be holy - wholly alive - living stones in the temple of God.
there comes a crunch point.
The central heating system, the electrical wiring, the ceiling joists, or something else, finally gives up the ghost. Change is so radical - it affects every room - you've no choice but to think about the state of what is in this home. There is no way around the effort of organisation, reform, preparation. The anticipated outcome even if its a joy like a new baby, or work space for your new enterprise, or that conservatory you've longed for years, still means a lot of effort and change in
the home. Things always take longer than you thought they would, and the anxiety and effort is always more than you anticipated. There's always a snag! And sometimes the prompting change is of quite a different order - illness,
disability or loss - and that compounds the usual worries. Every home - in joy or in sorrow - comes to these crunch
points.
"Do you not know," said St Paul, that you are God's temple." (1 Cor 3.16)
God's home on earth is in his people. The homely place of God is a person, it's you. That's not quite right however, for I'm certain he means that the homely place of God is persons in relationship, to one another and to him. We, the church, are God's temple on earth. That's why I take Paul's words as a commentary on the story of Jesus clearing the Temple precincts. We, the church, are the meeting place between God and humankind. We, the church are the altar where the sacrifice of Christ is made present, made apparent, right now. We, the church, are the visible structure that acts as a constant reminder to the world that God is real. That's us. We can only be this temple because of the offering of Christ and the power of his Spirit alive in us - those are the things that transform 'the poverty of our nature' as the collect puts it. But, recognizing our inadequacy, our failures, our sin, nonetheless we are the very temple of God.
That brings me back to tidying up and crunch points. This bit of the temple of God that is the Church of England
has reached such a point. Two things have prompted it. Money and people.
The accumulated capital that has allowed the Church of England to operate a parish system with a building and a paid
clergyperson in each locality has ended. Simply put, there is now no money from outside parish sources to continue what we have previously assumed to be the way the church functions. That whole way of the Church of England functioning is
ending.
In a century we have lost three-fifths of our clergy - at the turn of the twentieth century there were over 25,000 clergymen 'working' in the CofE, in this new century there are a few more than 9,000. The ordination of women has not made a significant difference to this picture. Already there are something like 5,500 parishes without a resident minister
(Michael Hinton: The Anglican Parochial Clergy).
A crunch point - but you are God's temple. Undoubtedly God is calling us on to a different way of being church and perhaps he's doing that because the Victorian way of being church will no longer do in our very changed world.
For a school project one of our daughter's was asked to fill in a questionnaire about homes and how they've changed. I had to admit on the questionnaire that in my first home the toilet was an earth closet at the bottom of the garden, mains water had only just arrived - to take a bath still meant a zinc tub in front of the fire, and that light was provided by oil lamps. In my first home my Victorian great grandfather would have felt at home. What would he have made, not too many years later, of the highly sophisticated techno bubble many of us now live in? What would he have made of computerized
zoned heating, the information revolution giving me access to unimaginable things at the touch of a button, a thousand and one electronic gadgets, and TV programmes beamed from satellites? I'm sure he would be lost in many of our
home, but the organisation of the Church would I think be familiar to him!
Is there anything from our scriptures for today that might give us a clue to our vocation as God's temple in the 21st century?
Living as God's temple means not living as commodities. Ours is a time when a price is being put on absolutely everything. You don't need me to rehearse the ramifications of this, we all know them. Costings, market forces, pricing -
these are the instruments now used in all walks of life, in all types of organisations. Not that they weren't always there, but the other mechanisms that were formerly used alongside them have largely gone. The 'pop' expression of the equation is 1/2 x2x3=P, half as many people, paid twice as much, producing three times as much, equals Productivity and Profit, - it seems to me to produce a lot of stress and a lot of unemployment amongst other things, as well. I did sit down to work out the cost of this act of worship, when it became apparent to me that it would breach the £1000 barrier,
I was too depressed to continue. But then it was a stupid idea anyway -the worship of God cannot be a commodity that can be priced, and neither are we such a commodity.
This is one of the key ideas in the cleansing of the Temple at Jerusalem in John's Gospel. Jesus says, "You must not turn my father's house into a market." His critics thought he was referring to the building, after the resurrection his disciples understand that the comment had a wider application; the temple he was speaking of was his body -US, and all
those countless others who have gone before us. When we recognise ourselves for who we are our relationship to one another is changed forever - we each of us become a special, prized and unique gift. In this murderous modern era in which so many people have been and are being treated as less than worthless - our status as the temple of God points up the inestimable value of each person.
That's about us realizing the sanctity that is God's purpose. That sanctity is about life in the world; about the Kingdom, not about the survival of the church as an institution. "To be a loyal churchman is hobbyism or prejudice, unless it is
the way to be a loyal Christian" That's Austin Fairer.
Never commodity, always commissioned to be yourself in the service of God's kingdom.
Living as God's temple means not observing from a distance.
Go to some high spot like Merseyview above Frodsham and its easy to feel yourself at a distance, observing these little vehicles dashing about on the motorway, so remote from yourself. One of the terrible things about TV is the way it lets us
looking in on the terrors that face so many as if they were objects with no connection to us. Church can never be like that if its to be authentic - you are not the audience to me or others as the player, although I did once have a
Churchwarden who persisted in calling parts of a service "the next number" like a variety show whenever he led worship.
When the Israelites received the covenant of the law, only Moses and Aaron could ascend Mount Sinai, the people were left to look on as best they could through the cloud and thunder. That distancing is done away with by Christ - no, we come to Mount Zion, the heavenly reality. We are caught up, incorporated, built into God's temple.
Never onlookers, always involved in that living to the depth that is the only real living.
Living as God's temple means never self-service. The self-service store is the great icon of our age - anything you want yours for the taking, just grab it. It's a great way of marketing breakfast cereals but no way to come to holiness of life. God is not just what I want. Church is not all about tickling your fancy, mutual comfort, and feeling sociable and safe. I
hope it is sometimes about all of those things, but our actual purpose is the worship of God because God is worth worshipping. Worship offers us the opportunity to be touched by the very source of all being - to be really alive
- to let the riches of God's grace pour into us. "The heavens and their own heavens cannot contain God," says Solomon's prayer, yet we are God's temple.
Jesus is the foundation of this temple, and St Paul warns us that we have to take care how we build on that foundation for what we build will be tested and judged. Our own prejudices and fallibility mar our choices and our decisions. As Karl Popper once wrote, "We all differ in what we know, but in our infinite ignorance we are all equal." Thank God then that it is on him that we must rely not ourselves - for we all know how often we have failed as lovers, friends, colleagues, parents.
Never self-service, always seeking to serve God and his people. Let us then look to the future, not fearful but leaning
on the promises of God. As far as our Church of England is concerned we are in the process of massive changes, but in
God's call to be his temple we may yet rediscover purpose and be renewed. We shall keep the rumour of God alive.
Why? Because we know that self-offering is the only kind of offering worth anything. God places the future in our hands,
for we are his temple -
- never a commodity, always commissioned to be ourselves for the kingdom.
- never onlookers, always joined with our fellows in living life to the depth.
- never self-service, always seeking to erve God and his people.
Let us then be grateful and offer to God a worship pleasing to him with reverence and awe (Hebs 12.28), our home a place of belonging for now and tomorrow. Strive to be holy - wholly alive - living stones in the temple of God.
