|
We need sacred spaces.
We need together spaces.
Forms, structures and styles change from season to
season and culture to subculture.
Still, I and we, as a sole spiritual entity and as a
member of a faith community, need sacred spaces.
At this point in the journey, God's people need sacred
space. They've seen miracles. They've enjoyed God's
generosity and a more tangible experience of God's
presence than most will know this side of heaven.
They've received the commandments and broken a few of
the biggees. Now they need focus. A place to rally
around for all the best reasons - encounter,
instruction, renewal, commitment. They need a place.
They also need mobility. They're still on the move. So
for now, they need a tent, not a building - a
tabernacle, not a temple.
So God lays out some new instructions for construction.
- From what you have, take an offering for the Lord
(vs. 5). As Arvin reminds us now and then, they
aren't asked to take an offering from what they
don't have. They have it - varying types and sizes
of offerings, but they have it. Everyone who is
willing should bring it. Gold, silver, yarn, linen,
hides, skins, wood, oil, spices, stones, gems. If
you are willing and if you have it, bring it.
- All who are skilled (vs.10) come and build. We
need the tent, and an additional covering. We need
clasps, frames, posts, bases, curtains, tables,
garments. We need the Ark of the Covenant (to hold
the tablets with the Ten Commandment). We need other
sacred things, like a curtain to separate the Holy
of Holies, and a lamp stand, and a basin for
ceremonial washing; and an ephod, and an altar for
incense, and another for offerings and sacrifices.
So, whoever is skilled, let's get to work.
So everyone who was willing gives, to the point (36:6)
where Moses has to put a halt to it. It makes a point of
saying that the leaders of the people stepped up and
make large gifts of expensive stones. And a master
craftsman, Bezalet Son of Uri, is chosen to lead the
project because he's skillful and spiritual and able to
teach others. Oholiab is chosen as his second, and the
project starts. By 39:31, they're inspecting all the
finished parts, and in 40:1, they do their first setup.
Then, the glory of God settles in. The Shekinah
(condensed presence "spooky dust") of God
takes form in and over the tabernacle. They have their
sacred space.
It's all temporary, of course. It's mobile, as God leads
them (with starts and stops) toward the Promised Land.
And it gets replaced by a more permanent structure - the
Temple in Jerusalem, later under King David. Even more
ornate; even fantastic and monumental for its day. Then
the temple is replaced. Ruined. Rebuild. Ruined.
Rebuilt.
Jesus comes along, talking about the temple being torn
down, then rebuilt in three days. It's so confusing. How
can such a huge structure be rebuilt in three days? He's
talking about himself - his own body as the place - the
sacred space - where the Shekinah of God dwells. Then
Jesus dies, and rises in three days, and redefines our
understanding of temple. "The one who has been with
you" says Jesus, "now will be within
you." Who? The Holy Spirit.
"You are God's temples…." writes Paul.
"Your body is God's temple, so use it to glorify
God." 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16.
So do we no longer need other sacred spaces? Sure we do.
We need gathering places for all the best reasons. And
there will always be those places that seem to be
swimming in spooky dust, or else they unsettle the
dormant spooky dust inside of us. In other words, we
seem to encounter God well or best in some places, and
some places (with corresponding activities or moods or
mindsets) tend to elicit or unleash our spiritual
connectedness.
In the early church (Acts) we see a Jewish church, still
worshipping at the temple and in Christian small groups.
And we have (later) an outlaw church, chased and
persecuted and imprisoned and killed, hardly able to
gather anywhere without a sense of how good it is to
gather. And God shows up in the markets and synagogue,
and pagan temples and everywhere the gospel is preached
and the light shines. And in persecution, Christians
proved their meddle until a whole empire adopts (if not
embraces) this new faith in Jesus.
So now, what do you do if you no longer meet
underground? Well, you meet aboveground. And without the
risk and mystery and spooky dust of relying on God for
life and every corresponding privilege, how do you live
a lively faith? In other words, how do we live a lively
faith in peacetime? [Like trying to keep sailors ship
shape even when waters are calm. Life before and after
marriage].
In matters of faith, you tend to have a generation that
lives a passionate encounter with God, followed by a
generation that lives on the testimony of the previous
generation, followed by a generation living on
traditions - then death or renewal, or death and
resurrection.
What about sacred spaces? They give us a place to gather
and collect and instruct and rally, regardless of the
season or the climate.
And while we're finding and building sacred spaces, we
discover that some spaces suit some people well and
others less well. As for church buildings, some like
simple square warehouses and the imagination starts from
scratch among simple lines and human touches and the
Lord inhabits the praises of His people and the walls
get painted every week. And others like the power of
precision art and architecture to jumpstart the
experience, and find that worship is enhanced when
master craftsperson have freedom and honor in creating a
space that is so distinctly sacred that it takes years
of committee work to change the carpet.
And I say it's all good, as long as we're giving our
offerings willingly to the Lord and using our skills to
build something worth building.
And what is worth building? Something that works -
encounter, reflection, instruction, fellowship,
training, comfort, creativity…It's not going to happen
if we're passive.
So what season are we in now?
According to Reggie McNeal:
- Senior - relocating - legacy thinking.
- Builders - some entrenched; others relocating;
some feeling marginalized by change; other starting
to do legacy thinking. Change? Bring it on, if it's
going to reach my grandkids.
- Boomers - growing old. Love nice things, but
simple buildings with lots of gadgets and tightly
run programs. Stripped down sacred space.
Outsourcing. Overworked. Demolished their covenants.
Made lots of money. Spent more.
- X-ers - community. Friends. Homespun. Cautious
about marriage. Emphatical about kids. Want senior
mentors.
- Millennial's - community. Compassion.
Authenticity.
Our church is trying to honor every generation and quirk
imaginable within the confines of biblical orthodoxy. We
have a simple traditional communion service at 8:00. We
have a contemporary guitar and drum service at 9:00
(which is really a boomer service). We have a 10:30
service which is church Americana; a mix of sounds and
experiences that reflect much of the church world in
America today. We have a smattering of Xers, partly
because Xers can hardly afford to live nearby, and
partly because we haven't tapped into the psyche of Xers
yet (with the exception of our commitment to kids).
All the while, we're talking about being more mobile and
more sacred. Many young people are tired of meeting in
GAP churches and are hankering for old buildings that
smell like they've been around as long as God. At the
same time, they believe they can have church in a living
room, Starbucks, a locker room or a skate ramp, and some
of their sacred places don't look very churchy.
Our church vision -
- Transformation
- Expansion
- Renovation
|
