I Kings 8:22-29; John 6:56-69

Do you remember Stephen Spielberg's movie Raiders of the Lost Ark and all its sequels, too? Raiders of the Lost Ark was a great action film pitting good against evil all for the sake of saving the Ark of the Covenant from getting into the wrong hands. In the movie, the once lost Ark has been discovered and it's up to Archeology Professor Indiana Jones to keep its power from being unleashed by evil doers. In the movie the Ark is purported to carry the Ten Commandments of Moses and is a source of great power.

Raiders of the Lost Ark has some biblical foundation. Depending on where in the Hebrew Bible you are reading, the Ark is referred to as the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of Yahweh/God, and the Ark of Testimony. The Ark of the Covenant is described in different ways. It is a box very carefully described in great detail in Exodus. It carries the Ten Commandments and the Presence of Yahweh, God, the Holy One. In some sources cherubim are associated with the Ark. The Ark in Hebrew Scriptures did carry power. Just as one could not utter God's name or come face to face with God without dire results, one could not touch the Ark without dying. The Hebrew people were a nomadic and religious folk, so they carried God's Presence – the Ark - with them and when they were in camp a tent was set up in order that they might place the Ark in it and surround this space of the Holy of Holies with tent walls. Thus, they would worship in the presence of God. The Ark was used to help guide the Hebrew people through the wilderness and it was set up to help them discern whether they were to go into battle against their enemies.

And so we come to our text in I Kings where King Solomon, David's son, has finished building the temple in Jerusalem . We hear words of great celebration and Solomon's prayer: There is no other God like you. It is to this temple, the now settled Hebrew people come to worship; it is here they bring the Ark of the Covenant. Earlier in the chapter, in fact, it is stated, that Solomon gathers everyone together in order to witness the bringing in of the Ark. Some of David's psalms celebrate this coming of the Ark into the City of Jerusalem/David's City. Psalm 24: “Lift up your heads, O Gates! And be lifted up, O Ancient doors! That the King of Glory may come in." Who is the King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. The psalm we read as a call to worship, Psalm 84, refers to the Ark and the Temple as God's dwelling place.

But just as there was argument during David's reign as to whether a Temple should be built. So too we hear a glimmer of that argument in Solomon's words as to whether God can be contained to a place/ an Ark / a Temple . In verse 27 of chapter 8 we hear Solomon praying, “But will God indeed dwell on earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!”

What is it about a place of worship that calls us? What is it about a sanctuary that makes it holy? What about this place would have a visitor return? Why even to this day do Orthodox Jews go to the bit of remaining wall of the Second Temple to pray? Before they pray, they go through the ritual of cleansing as if they were entering the Temple before they enter the area near the Wall. What is it about this place that causes us to rest in ways we can't always find outside these walls? Our sanctuary has very little left in its architecture to remind us of the Ark , the Holy of Holies, a Raredos, the cloth rent as Jesus breathed his last.

What is it about our sanctuary then that causes us to reverently be present? Is it the music that rests our weariness? Is it a memory? Is it the windows that surround us or one particular window that causes us to stop? Is it the altar, the communion table, or the cross that reminds us of what is important and holy? We are not to be people of idols but could it be symbol? Is it the face of someone we haven't seen in a while? Is it the faces of so many that faithfully come each week? Could it be the children? Sunday School? Why would you invite a friend to come here to find the holy?

You know that I take my shoes off while I preach to remind me that I am on holy ground here in this sanctuary.

If you'll recall, I went on several retreats this summer: both working and for spiritual development. For five days I was on a retreat in Westfield, Massachusetts, at a retreat and conference center called Genesis. I went there for many reasons. One was to get into touch, deep conversation with God. For me one way I do that is to take time apart from the everyday. It gets me away from the details of the daily routines and chores and have-to's, so I can pay attention to the holy. Oh and the other piece you need to know is that this is silent time. Although there are many at the retreat house; we all keep silence. We eat together; we worship together. But we do not have conversations with one another. It's another way to keep on track to pay attention to how the Holy is working in oneself rather than get distracted with the minutiae that clouds our way from God's Way. While I was apart at this place called Genesis, I was drawn to the quiet outdoors in the early morning and early evening. I was drawn also to the meditation room. What was it about these spaces that offered them as Holy Space?

For me perhaps they caused me to take a breath, to really stop the fretting and need to have an answer. For me, that Holy Space just let me stay and sit with the questions (I read later something Rilke wrote: "I want to beg you as much as I can … to be patient toward all that is unsolved in our heart and to try to love the questions themselves… DO not try to seek answers which cannot be given you… for right now.") I was able to take in God's great creation of nature and birds. Somehow a piece of scripture/ a story of Jesus popped into my awareness. The scripture spoke to me in ways that it never has in decades. It brought Jesus alive for me. It brought Jesus right by my side. It brought Jesus asking me what can I do for you. Me! It brought Jesus asking me what is deep within your heart that you need to say to me? Do you hear what I am saying? That space I gave myself to sit with God alone without distractions allowed me to hear God and to be in relationship again in a way that I needed. Perhaps that's what this sanctuary provides, too.

Last Sunday evening, before we, the camping supporters of Habitat for Humanity, had dinner together at the Guilderland Town Park, Father Hart offered a few words of worship. He read the gospel reading for today, that we heard Linda read for us. My reaction that night was, ‘Oh this is too bloody. No wonder the early Christians were accused of being cannibals!'

The gospel reading is rich with much material to preach from. I want to pick up on just the very first part which is related to what I have talking about. Jesus is saying to his friends that surround him – there are many, many folks who surround him and then many of them decide this isn't for me; this is too difficult for me – and Jesus is left with the twelve who follow him. He says to all of them – “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” Let me say that again, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” Before Jesus' death, he is saying to them, those who surround him, if you live as I do, if you risk as I do, if you love as I do, you will abide in me and I in you. We, now, can understand that further knowing that he died, knowing that he offered a last supper, knowing that he is resurrected. In our taking communion as a remembrance of that last supper, that truly if we are trying to do the best in our understanding and ability to live as Christ would have us live, we are forgiven our shortcomings and we are always given a fresh start. But even more, we are promised that we will abide in Christ and Christ in us. Do you hear it? The Holy doesn't reside in the sanctuary; this place. Jesus tells us we abide in Him and He abides in us. The Holy resides/abides in the sanctuary of ourselves. We, in our coming here, allow ourselves to open ourselves to the Holy, the Christ who abides in us. I, in my going on retreat, gave myself room to find the in-dwelling God within me.

I am reading a small book that Henri Nouwen wrote some many years ago. It's called Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. The first movement is reaching out to our inner most self; the second, reaching out to our Fellow Human beings; and the third is reaching out to Our God. In the first step, Nouwen writes of allowing oneself be to have downtime. He speaks of all the distractions in our lives that ultimately try to cover up ourselves as individuals; all the distractions try to cover up our deep-seated sense of loneliness. In many ways we fear acknowledging our selves as solitary beings. And so in our busyness, we fill the spaces and opportunities to meet and be in relationship with God.

Nouwen writes of one student who came to talk with him after a year of classes with him. He said to Nouwen, I don't have any issues; I just want to spend/celebrate some time with you. They spoke of this and that. They laughed. And then they grew quiet; it was a comfortable quiet. No uneasiness or anxiety because the space wasn't filled with words. And after sometime, the student said, “It's good to be here.” They fell into silence again. The student once again broke the silence and said: “When I look at you it's as if I see Christ.” Nouwen spoke in return, “It is the Christ in you that recognizes the Christ in me.” And what was even more extraordinary was what the student said next as he was leaving Nouwen's office, “From now on, wherever you go, or wherever I go, all the ground between us will be holy ground.” Nouwen and this student allowed space and time so they could recognize the Christ who abides in them.

So why am I offering all of this, this morning? It's a reminder: Christ abides in you. The Holy dwells in you. Take the time. Give yourself the space to find the In-dwelling God. You carry the Ark of the Covenant/God's Holy Temple within you. When you find it within yourself, you can't help but recognize it in everyone around you.

And that, my friends has implications on how we live and how we treat one another.