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Pentecost 6
July 20, 2003

Between Temple and Tent

Psalm 89:20-37
2Samuel 7:1-14a
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34; 53-56

God sounds a little perturbed with David, “I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.” (2 Samuel 17:6) Was it not a more dynamic relationship for God to live in a tent and move with the people? Jesus moved with the people, couldn’t get away from them, actually. He lived in the midst of them and so did his power. “A temple! What? Are you going to can God? Set up a franchise with golden arches? (Make it cedar beams.)” So, Solomon puts God in a can, a splendid job of packaging, and that seems to be okay with God. Is there ambivalence in the almighty? Or is the ambivalence in the temple builders? What starts out to be a testimony to the greatness of God becomes self-aggrandizement.

This eternal throne of David starts out a witness to the glory of God and degrades to an enmity between Jew and Gentile. I once was sent to serve a church that had just completed a sumptuous new sanctuary. I was awed by its splendor, and tempted to think I had arrived. The indebtedness however reminded me that I was just a common laborer. The indebtedness also kept us from moving freely about the community with our ministry. It was a building impressive enough to divide the community into those inside and those outside. And yet it was a lovely expression of worship that the Lord’s house should be the best house. Could anyone be satisfied living in a mansion and stepping down to worship God? There is ambivalence in us.

On the one hand we claim Jesus Christ as our own, and on the other, we divide the world into us and them. We impress ourselves with mighty religious edifices like “The Christian West”, but it just divides the world and develops a leaky roof. “So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:17-18) God wants to be clearly identified and yet free to roam the world, to search out every heart, to bring peace and unity to people. How can God be clearly identified in Jesus and still free to search out Muslims and Buddhists and atheists? We haven’t figured that out yet, but it has something to do with the tension between temple and tent.
Roland McGregor, Pastor
Asbury United Methodist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

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