We all stood across the street in the park and watched it burn. They said that people driving by had smelled smoke since shortly after midnight, but each time the police drove by, they could see nothing. Finally, between four and five in the morning they saw it-smoke coming out of the building between the walls and the roof on all sides.
The fire department came quickly, but it was still too late. When they tried to open the doors, the firemen's gear melted. When they tried to stand on the roof, it was spongy. All they could do was contain it, so that the homes in the immediate neighborhood would not be in jeopardy. Smoke billowed out all day long.
And as we watched in disbelief, we gathered together. We prayed. We comforted each other. We explained what little we knew.
It was the place where we had praised God through prayer, song and scripture. It was the place where we had been baptized, confirmed, married and buried. It was the place where we found God together, building a freely gathered community centered on Christ and bound together by covenant. It was our church, the identifying place of our faith, and so we stood all day and watched until the final billow of smoke had dissipated into nothingness.
It was a sad, sad day as we watched our church burn in Beloit five and a half years ago. And for a time, we felt lost. We mourned. We grieved. How would we be a church without the church building that we loved, the one that held all of our faith memories? We didn't know how to move forward, because there seemed to be such a large void-the absence of such an important part of our church history and life. It just wasn't there anymore. How would it be replaced in our hearts? How would our faith be defined without it?
Today we move away from Mark, and for today and the next two Sundays of this Lenten season, we read from John's gospel. It is a familiar passage-Jesus is cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem during the time of the Passover. In the synoptic gospels this passage is found during the Passion of Jesus Christ-near the end of the gospels-during Holy Week. But in John, it is near the beginning. We are only in chapter two, and it would seem that John's version of Jesus has something very important to say about places of worship.
The Temple is called "my Father's house" by Jesus. Remember, that in the minds and hearts of the Jews at this time, Jerusalem was "the city of God," the place where God could be found. And the Temple itself was "God's house," the place where one could be closest to God.
As Jesus enters the Temple he finds people making money. They are selling animals for sacrifices. They are changing money, so that the appropriate coins may be given to the Temple offering. They have set up tables and are doing business. They are making a profit. It is apparent to Jesus that their motives for selling and trading are not God centered. Instead they are out to see what they can get for themselves.
Therein we see a side of Jesus that we are not accustomed to. He makes a whip of cords. Can you imagine Jesus with a whip? He drives the animals out of the Temple. He pours out the coins of the moneychangers and turns over their tables. These are violent actions! He insists-He commands-that they take all of their merchandise out of the Temple and then He forbids them to treat His Father's house as a marketplace. He uses strong language. He utilizes His Divine authority by acting and speaking in such a strong way in God's house.
As His disciples watch Him, they are reminded of Psalm 69, verse 9, "Zeal for your house will consume me," for what they see in front of them is a man consumed, a who is enraged by the sacrilegious actions of those who were inside the Temple-God's very house. And so Jesus takes action, cleansing the Temple of all who would defile it, showing by His anger that the acts He finds there are offensive to God.
Both Jesus and the author of John help us to define 'church'. Jesus with His intense reaction, and John with the early and prominent placement of the story, tell us that thinking about the meaning of 'church' is an important and worthwhile activity. They urge us to define 'church' for ourselves, so that we know who we are and what we are doing here!
I wonder how each of us would define church. You heard many definitions in the dramatic reading this morning. Church is a place that is filled with our memories. It is also a place of tradition and beauty. It is where we raise money for projects and a place where we want to feel at home. We plan programs and encourage new people to join.
But according to Matthew, Mark and Luke's gospels, it is a "house of prayer." In John, it is "my Father's house." In all of the gospels, Jesus wants the focus to be on God. Imagine that! It is the place where we pray. It is the place where we worship. It is a place that is defined by the ministry of us all.
When the church building in Beloit burned, it was a sad, sad day. But, it was also a day that forced us to think about our definition of 'church.' And over time, as we grieved and pondered and prayed, we learned two things.
First of all, we learned that we were the church. The church was not a building. It was not a place-the beautiful sanctuary that we loved. It was us-the congregation. We were the church. As the old camp song says, "The church it is the people, living out their lives; called, enlightened, sanctified for the work of Jesus Christ. We are the church..."
The second thing that we learned was this: We do not own the church. It is not ours. It belongs to God and to God alone. But that does not mean that our job is not important. On the contrary-God has put the church in our care. It is our responsibility to keep God at the center of all that we do and to reflect the true nature of church in our daily lives. We can make our church a marketplace or a house of prayer. We can focus on ourselves and our needs or on God.
Prior to the fire, we knew these things in our heads. We had discussed ecclesiology-we had lots of ideas on paper about what 'true church' should look like. But when our meetinghouse burned, we finally understood those things in our hearts. What a gift that was-though it was a painful one.
This is but the beginning of how 'church' is defined. But it is enough to start with. This is God's church, and by our actions and our words we define its substance. May the grace of God be with us as we live as a church. Amen.
Peace,
Rev. Cynthia Bacon
Minister
You may email at:
cbacon@heritagemadison.org
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