Summer Sermon Series: Let Us Build a House

Let Us Build a House

            In Christ, we are a new creation.  That is theme we have been exploring this summer.  What does it mean to be a new creation in Christ?  What does it mean that the old is gone and all has been made new?  Throughout his teachings, Jesus challenges people to think about who is their neighbor and who is their family.  In the new creation, our neighbor is anyone in need and our family is anyone in the faith.  Today, we explore building a house for God.  Traditionally, God’s house was the Temple, but God does not dwell in one particular place.  What does it mean, in the new creation, to be at home with God? 

            I never thought of the church that I grew up in as my home church, but once I moved away, I understood what that meant.  I constantly refer to this church as my home church.  It is the place where my faith began.  It is the place that nurtured me in my childhood and youth.  It is also the place I reconnected with when I decided to attend seminary.  It was and has been a special part of my life.  Yet, the last time I went to visit, there was a new sanctuary, and I hardly recognized anyone there.  My home church has drastically changed, and I realized what I hold in my heart, in my statement of calling it my home church, are the memories of my youth and the people that were a part of it. 

            What I remember as my home church is not a church building, but a collection of memories of people, Sunday School, worship, youth group, and mission trips.  It is not just one particular thing, but the way in God worked through all the pieces creating a whole.  Psalm 92 speaks to that experience:

The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ In old age they still produce fruit;  they are always green and full of sap,
¹⁵ showing that the Lord is upright;  he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

            I was blessed to be planted in the house of the Lord, a place that engaged me and allowed me to flourish.  People that modeled their faith, even into their old age.  On our summer mission trips, people of all ages participated and I saw how faith produced fruit. 

            People love to find little slogan signs:  such as, Home is where the Cat is.  Or Home is where the heart is.  Psalm 127 states:  Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  I have used this scripture passage on occasion when officiating weddings.  As a couple begins to build not just a house together, but a home, it is important that God is a part of it. 

            In creating a foundation for life, whether it is from being nurtured in the faith as a young person and entering into adult hood, or if it is starting a life together in marriage, we build upon what we have known.  We build upon our values, our priorities.  As Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, he reminds them, that as they build this new community, as they build this church, this fellowship of people, they must build upon a solid foundation.  He reminds them, that as Gentiles, they were at one time, strangers to God, but now, in this new creation, they too are a part of God’s people.   He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile both groups to God.  Both groups would be the Jews and Gentiles together.  Once there were two groups, but in Christ, Jesus, the dividing wall has been broken down.  He assures the community in Ephesus:  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God. 

            In life we create homes for ourselves, our own place where we dwell.  We seek a church home as we find a place where we can gather with people, build community and worship God.  In the new creation, we are to be the temple of God, we are to be the church.  The dwelling place of God is not to be a physical location, but should move with us as we traverse our daily lives.  

            After last weekend’s racial conflict, I found this statement that I have posted to my facebook page:  Be the Church:  BE THE CHURCH. Protect the environment. Care for the poor. Embrace diversity. Reject racism. Forgive often. Love God. Fight for the powerless. Share earthly and spiritual resources. Enjoy this life. God is still speaking. UNITED CHURCH of CHRIST."

            We are the church, we, God’s people.  Not the building, not our hour of worship, but us.  In the new creation, we are called to leave the building and go out into the world, being what God calls us to be.  We are to go out and share unconditional love to others, we are to go out and be active participants in our community, we are to go out, being the home in which we seek to build for God.  Amen.