Psalm 19:7-14 1;
Corinthians 1:18-25;
John 2:13-22
Howard Thurman in Deep Is the Hunger wrote: All travelers, somewhere along the way, find it necessary to check their course, to see how they are doing . We wait until we are sick, or shocked into stillness, before we do the commonplace thing of getting our bearings. And yet, we wonder why we are depressed, why we are unhappy, why we lose our friends, why we are ill-tempered. This condition we pass on to our children, our husbands, our wives, our associates, our friends. Cultivate the mood to linger . Who knows? God may whisper to you in the quietness what God has been trying to say to you, oh, for so long a time.
From our Gospel text, it seems the people of the Temple had not done what Thurman suggests. They had been going merrily on their way, not checking along the way. Abruptly, brashly, Jesus interrupts their Temple activities.
Although this event is recorded in all the gospels, here in John is the only place where we hear of Jesus making a whip of cords. He must have been really angry! Although this event is recorded in all the gospels, this is the only gospel that has the event recorded at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. The Synoptic Gospels, the other three gospels, all record the event as the last straw, the precipitating factor leading to Jesus' being put to death. John's placement of the cleansing of the temple makes it a theological event. John connects Jesus' temple visit with the Passover alluding to the coming crucifixion. But the real crux of the matter in placing this story in the beginning of the gospel lifts up/points to a clear conflict of values; the conflict is between what Jesus means and the standing religious structures; it's between what Jesus speaks and how it is heard, and it's between what is true and what is apparent.
Entering the temple, Jesus found little in the way of sacred space. The court of the Gentiles looked and sounded like an open-air market: Cattle bellowing, sheep bleating, turtle doves fluttering, people yelling, change clinking. But the temple tax had to be paid in temple coinage; so the money changers were necessary! Sacrifices had to be made with appropriate animals. All of this was to the service of the temple. So what's the matter?
Entering the temple, Jesus discovered how deceiving appearances can be. While the place appeared to fulfill its function, closer inspection revealed that it had forgotten its purpose.
The ways of the world invade the church gradually, subtly, never intentionally, always in the service of the church and its mission. How often we have known/witnessed when there has been apparent, individual faithful attention. And how often have we seen, when there is a change in the building, a change in pastor, a change in the pattern of worship or some other precipitating change, and lo, there's an end to that one's participation.
The temple/the church has become the object of adoration! Rather than experiencing the temple/the church as a means to witness to God and drawing folks close to God, the church, as it is or was, has become the object receiving adoration.
What Jesus saw was an outrage; he created holy havoc! He left no tables unturned and no one untouched!
Last week, our scriptures suggested that we reconsider how we as individuals truly give in return for what God has given us. The scriptures suggested that that be a point of reflection for these days of Lent. This week our gospel moves us to look at ourselves as a community and to assess how we are as a faith community.
I don't mean to turn over tables. But, as Howard Thurman suggests, perhaps it would be good to linger awhile and examine our comfort with church, our satisfaction with who we are and what our faith community is. Perhaps it would be good to search out our misplaced focus on the church. If Jesus saw the temple/church as a way of drawing folk close to God, to be witnesses to God, how do we refocus our attentions so that rather than the church itself being the focus, the center, the be all, end all, perhaps we could refocus so Christ becomes our sanctuary. That after all is our deep hunger: to have Christ, to have God so much a part of our lives that we feel no separation from the One who first loved us, and loves us still, and fills the hollowness of long, working days and recreates lost relationships.
Recognizing that folks in the late 20 th and early 21 st centuries are not attached to a denomination, the church is retooling itself. Our denomination, the United Methodist Church , is looking at itself. It's looking at ways in which it, the institution, no longer draws the center of attention. But rather points out we are a people on a journey of faith. Rather than a body centered on & known as The United Methodist Church with the subtext Open Hearts, Open Minds, Opens Doors, the refocus is about a people who Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors. Do you hear the difference? The refocusing says we are not an organization; but rather we are a faithful people of action. We are church not just Sunday but everyday of the week.
How do we open hearts, open minds, and open doors? I just read about one of the ways this is happening in Kentucky . In Florence , Kentucky , the church has an intergenerational partnership in its pastoral staff. Rather than a Senior/Associate pastor relationship, the two pastors see themselves as colleagues in partnership. Out of their mutual respect for each other, and coming from different age perspectives and after much dialogue, new ministries have arisen. The new focus was not on adding a new worship service- although there was that interest. Many thought that was the next step to take. But the younger generation's voice was saying, having another worship service would not get new folks crossing the threshold of the sanctuary. The younger clergy person was concerned about: How do we allow folk who have been hurt by the church, who are seeking spiritually, or who have no clue that worship is what they are searching for: how do we make room for those folks? How do we make real connections with folks and care about folks? How do we open their hearts, open their minds, and open the doors for them? The dream became Th3 Waters.
This is an outside of the walls ministry, an experimental network of organic gatherings where groups of 7-15 folks meet weekly in coffee houses, pubs, bookstores. They provide a modified form of Lectio Divina where scripture is read and thought about, and discussed, and folks answer one question: What's up with your life? As folks answer, others in the group ask, what are we going to do about it? Or how can we help? Some prayer is added to the mix. It's a ministry in the making, still developing. It's a ministry outside the walls reaching out to folks where they are. One thing is for sure, people's lives are being radically changed; they are experiencing community like they have never experienced.
Church has become a verb, rather than a place, an action of reaching out to others in faith. It's a modern day nourishing spiritually hungry folks and fishing for followers. It is a way of opening hearts, opening minds, and opening doors.
The Delmar First Church has so much going for it. Despite the national decreasing membership trend of mainline denominations, Delmar First has more than maintained its membership. Your vitality, the programs, on-going variety of mission, our children, all contribute to the church's life. But how long can we continue doing the same things and maintaining? Today's reality is that there are folks spiritually hungry but would not think of coming to church as it is. To keep ourselves/the church relevant with the younger generations who have graduated from our Sunday school today/in new generations outside of the church, we must have compassion for those who are turned off by how they understand the church.
I believe the newly formed men's group meeting on Saturday mornings and the newly formed book discussion group are just two ways we are reaching out to those among us. But I wonder if going outside the box, outside the church walls might be one way for us to further open hearts and minds and doors for folks similar to what is happening in Florence , Kentucky . It might eventually develop into a worship service that would speak to the needs of those who cannot see themselves in traditional church? I wonder if this might be a way of gathering folks who might gain a sense of trust. I wonder if this might be a way to have an additional worship service which would not be merely moving folks who already worship into a different service. All of these roads are ways that we can have meaningful exchange of what's important in our lives.
I mentioned cultural compassion; it's a term Karen Armstrong, a writer (she is author of the critically acclaimed biography Muhammad , and The History of God), biblical scholar, historian, philosopher, and a faithful person uses. She suggests that the world aches to be different, has a deep hunger to be different. She suggests that we as individuals can help change the world for the better if we practice cultural compassion. That is, we need to learn to put ourselves in the other's shoes – to have great feeling with the other. That's what compassion means.
So often I hear the sigh that we as a church need to grow. We devise ways/answers that will bring folks in to us. But I wonder if it would be more effective if first we have compassion for the others who are out there, outside our walls who live with a deep hunger. We need to hear them, what their deep desires are, what their needs are, and how we might then open their hearts and their minds and then open the doors of the church for them.
