Worship & Welcome
Readings: John 2. 13-22
I wonder if you’ve seen the recent controversy around a silent disco being held at Canterbury Cathedral. It was reported on in various outlets beyond the usual Christian publications and sites. And every so often one of these stories will appear, a cathedral hosting a helter-skelter, or a mini-golf course and a huge debate erupts about what is an isn’t acceptable in a place of worship. And sometimes I see this Gospel reading cited in the debates, about Jesus driving out from the Temple that which shouldn’t be there, comparing it to how we should be cleansing our places of worship from such things. But is that the full picture of what’s happening here?
If you were the average Israelite in Jesus’ day the Temple would look like a very fitting hubbub of activity. It would all have looked very pious, very religious. You’d have seen a people doing their utmost to keep the law. Take the animal sellers. We’re at a point in history where the people are no longer a nation of farmers who can bring their own animals to sacrifice, and even for those that are, the distances some have to travel to the Temple makes driving the animals all the way there impractical. Having a place to buy them ready for the sacrifice makes perfect sense. Take the money changers, at this point the people are scattered in all sorts of regions and nations, so they’re using all sorts of different currencies, but the Law states the Temple tax is to be paid in Shekel’s. So having a place to convert your money into the correct currency is a great idea.
So what’s the problem? What does Jesus see here that the average person doesn’t? What causes his outrage?
For all the activity, for all of the busy-ness and outward piety something is wrong. This place is meant to be a place of prayer, a place to meet with God, and yet it’s become a busy, noisy market. This is the one place of earth where you come to worship the God of the Universe, and it’s been lost amidst the busy-ness. Outwardly things look great, but under the surface it’s all become very transactional, box ticking.
Now our churches are not the Temple, if you want the Temple look at Jesus, he’s the presence of God on earth, and them look around for we are the body of Christ, his presence here on earth. Our churches aren’t mini-temples. But in all the hubbub of religious activity here on a Sunday week by week does it all look very religious but the meaning has been lost, the purpose lost? Are we sticking with traditions, doing things the way things always have been done even if they no longer make sense. Has it become transactional, about box-ticking? And the way to work that out is to ask would we notice on a Sunday if God didn’t show up? If for all the activity, the singing, the preaching, the fellowship, the sacrament, God didn’t show up, would we notice? And if he didn’t show up would it make any difference?
I challenged us last week about me putting a motorbike in here in place of the altar, and said that you’d rightly be upset, angry, even outraged. But none of the stuff in here is worth anything if we’re not here to meet with God, not here expecting him to show up as he has promised he will. Part of simplifying things for Lent is to shake us up, to cause us to take notice, to challenge us to be here for the right reasons, to expect God to be here in our midst as we come to worship him. Are we here for that? Or are we here because we always have been, it’s what we do?
We have the wonderful assurances from Jesus that where two or three are gathered in his name he will be there in their midst. We have the assurance that as we receive bread and wine that he is meeting with us, feeding us. We have the promise that the Spirit is here amongst us, at work in our lives as we come to worship. It’s amazing, wonderful, mind-blowing. So do we expect that? Do we expect to meet God? Are we expectant that he will be here? And I’m not talking so much about how we feel, about an emotional experience, whilst for some of us that will be our experience but not for all. God is here, he has promised to be here. Are we here for him?
Would we notice if he didn’t show?
But there’s a second layer of criticism of what’s going on at the Temple which causes Jesus’ actions. Originally this market had been set up across the valley, in a separate location. But to make things simpler, more convenient, they’d moved it into the Temple itself. Very sensible you might think.
But let’s look at the Temple, I’m in the early stages of planning a sermon series for later this year on the Temple, but here’s a quick overview. At the very centre of the Temple you have the Most Holy Place, the holy of holies. It’s here that the Ark of the Covenant sits, where God’s presence dwells seated upon the Cherubim on the lid of the Ark. This is the place where only the high priest could enter, and even then only once a year. Outside of this is the Holy Place, the rest of the Temple building where the priests could enter and offer sacrifices. Then outside the Temple building were a series of courtyards. The innermost being the court of the men, the next being the court of the women, and the outermost being the court of the Gentiles, the place where those outside the Jewish nation could come and worship God.
Where have they set up this market? In the outermost courtyard, in the court of the Gentiles. And can you see the issue? Suddenly the place which was reserved for those who were outside of the ethnic line of God’s people to come and worship is filled with noise and busy-ness and the general chaos of a market, hardly a good place to come and worship. And why was this outermost courtyard dispensed with for prayer? For the convenience of everyone else. The nations have nowhere to come and worship but God’s people have a convenient place to get all they might need for their worship. This aspect becomes really clear in Mark’s account where he records Jesus saying “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
Do we exclude people who aren’t normally here? Those who we might deem outsiders? How welcoming are we of those who are currently outside of God’s people? How welcoming are we of those who come here to explore or dip their toe in or are here because they’re preparing for a Christening or wedding. Are the decisions we make about our worship, about what we do here, are they made with the welcome of the outsider in mind or for the convenience and preferences of those of us who are already here?
Because if we’re honest a lot of what we do here Sunday by Sunday is pretty weird isn’t it. Where else do you come and on the ledge in front of your seat are 2 books and a booklet, all of which you’ll need at different points. Where else do you join in with the words in bold? Where else do you sing together or stand and sit at certain points in the event. Where else do you line up in a row along a rail to be given bread and wine?
I’m not saying we should get rid of any of that. I’m not suggesting we dumb everything down into something which is indistinguishable from everywhere else in our world. Let’s own the weirdness, but also be aware of it, so we can be more welcoming, so that we can get people settled, help when people aren’t sure what to do. Let’s not allow our decisions to be made for the sake of convenience for ourselves, but out of love for and a desire to serve this community, a desire for them to encounter the living God too.
My brothers and sisters, God doesn’t desire empty ritual, he longs for a people who worship him in Spirit and in Truth. Whilst there’s a debate to be had about what’s appropriate to host in a church building, it’s a red herring from the real issue, what are we here for? What’s the purpose of this place? Are we a museum preserving an ancient building, preserving traditions? Or are we a place of encounter with God, a place where the family gathers to rejoice before our heavenly Father?
Are we so aware of his presence, so caught up in our worship of him that when people come into this place they too may encounter God, fall down in worship and declare, “God is really among you!” God has promised to meet with us as we gather, are we expecting him to? If God didn’t show up, would you even notice?
Amen.