Have you ever thought about what goes into building a
church? Have you ever served on the
fundraising committee for such a project?
Have you ever looked around the sanctuary of your church and thought
about all that went into building your worship home? In light of today’s reading, perhaps we
should, since God clearly gave a lot of thought to the building of His
tabernacle and how the materials were procured.
I’ve attended worship at a lot of different churches over
the years. Their construction has ranged
from wood and stone, to drywall, to tin roofs, and even open air. (I attended a church in Texas one time that
was almost entirely glass. It used to be
a car dealership!)
While it is true that, “the Most High does not live in
houses made by men,” God chooses to meet people in certain places. (Acts 7:48 NIV) This tabernacle is one of those places. Speaking of the Ark of the Covenant, God
says, “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between
the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you
about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.” (Exodus 25:22 ESV)
Our modern day churches are places that God meets His
people as well. He doesn’t appear in
cloud and smoke, but He does display His glory, love, mercy, and grace in His
Word and Sacraments. With that in mind,
look around your church.
God instructed the Israelites to work in the finest
materials, like gold, silver, and bronze.
He instructed them to bring blue, purple and scarlet yarns, which were
the most expensive dyed yarns. He
requested the finest in everything.
Now, I’m not saying that everything we build must be of
silver and gold. God was instructing the
Israelites to build one special place for His presence to dwell among
them. And through the presence of the
Holy Spirit, we have now become God’s dwelling place. However, as we look at the architecture of
our church buildings, does it not make sense to think about how they
communicate God’s glory?
Our churches – whether their style is traditional,
contemporary, Spartan, luxurious, or anywhere in between – should be well
made. If we are going to build something
to the honor and glory of God, then it should give Him honor and glory.
Things are different today than they were in Moses’
time. For one thing, at least where I live,
the Tabernacle would never work in the winter.
But for another thing, the tabernacle stood as a place where people were
gathered to God. Our commission is, “Go
into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15 ESV) Our worship spaces must be designed as
mission outposts, places of gathering, communicating and sending.
What does a twenty-first century mission outpost look
like? How do we design our worship
spaces to gather people, build them up and send them out? There will be many opinions about that, and
there is a lot of freedom in how we accomplish it. However, one thing is certain, the message we
proclaim in preaching, teaching, architecture, technology, and whatever else we
use is the message of the Cross of Christ; that God loves us so much that He
redeems us through Jesus’ blood.
Father in Heaven,
help your people proclaim your gospel in every way possible. In Jesus’ name; amen.
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