1 Chronicles 28: 1-10, 20; 1 Kings 6: 1, 7, 11-14, 37-38
August 26, 2018
First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL
Christina Berry
Today is our second in the series on King Solomon, son of King David. Solomon was king around 970 to 930 BCE and is revered in all three Abrahamic religions. The Jewish tradition considers him to be the greatest king of ancient Israel. In the Muslim faith, he is called “Suleiman.” In Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, Solomon’s wealth, wisdom and wives – he had hundreds! – are the stuff of legend. When Solomon ascended to the throne of Israel, the Davidic dynasty was established. The kingdom under Solomon was organized, wealthy, and powerful. Last week, we learned about Solomon’s wisdom; today we learn about his legacy, particularly the building of the first temple in Jerusalem. King David had wanted to build the temple, but God forbade him, so he charged his son Solomon with the task. Let’s listen for God’s word to us in 1 Chronicles 28: 1-10, 20:
David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of the thousands, the commanders of the hundreds, the stewards of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty warriors, and all the warriors.
Then King David rose to his feet and said:
“Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for building. But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for my name, for you are a warrior and have shed blood.’ Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my ancestral house to be king over Israel forever; for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons he took delight in making me king over all Israel.
And of all my sons, for the Lord has given me many, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues resolute in keeping my commandments and my ordinances, as he is today.’
Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and search out all the commandments of the Lord your God; that you may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever. And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart; for the Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever. Take heed now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary; be strong, and act.”
David said further to his son Solomon,
“Be strong and of good courage, and act.
Do not be afraid or dismayed; for the Lord God, my God, is with you.
He will not fail you or forsake you,
until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.
In our second reading, excerpts from the detailed description of the temple, we hear about some of the architecture and design choices. Listen for God’s word to us in 1 Kings 6: 1, 7, 11-14, 37-38
In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. The house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built.
Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon,
“Concerning this house that you are building,
if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances,
and keep all my commandments by walking in them,
then I will establish my promise with you,
which I made to your father David.
I will dwell among the children of Israel,
and will not forsake my people Israel.”
So Solomon built the house, and finished it. In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.
God’s word for God’s people.
Thanks be to God.
If Christians were ever to describe their relationships to the buildings in which they worship,
God’s word for God’s people.
Thanks be to God.
If Christians were ever to describe their relationships to the buildings in which they worship,
I think they’d start by saying “It’s complicated.”
We love our buildings, we Christians, but we sometimes struggle with them –
with leaky roofs and wet basements,
with worn out equipment and faltering furnaces.
We love our buildings, we Christians, but we sometimes struggle with them –
with leaky roofs and wet basements,
with worn out equipment and faltering furnaces.
“But the church is not a building, it is a people.”
It is complicated!
On some level, we all know that the church is not a building;
the church is the gathered people of Jesus Christ,
not just of one denomination, but all Christians.
Ever noticed that sign as you drive into Morrison?
“The church in Morrison welcomes you” it says.
“The church” not “the churches.”
But of course, that statement is more aspirational than descriptive. Because there are multiple churches in Morrison, and they are not all one, any more than all the churches in Sterling or Rock Falls or Dixon are one. Yes, we love that scripture that says we are people of one body, and there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” But we also acknowledge that we are worshiping and learning in more than one place, and not just in one building.
It is complicated!
On some level, we all know that the church is not a building;
the church is the gathered people of Jesus Christ,
not just of one denomination, but all Christians.
Ever noticed that sign as you drive into Morrison?
“The church in Morrison welcomes you” it says.
“The church” not “the churches.”
But of course, that statement is more aspirational than descriptive. Because there are multiple churches in Morrison, and they are not all one, any more than all the churches in Sterling or Rock Falls or Dixon are one. Yes, we love that scripture that says we are people of one body, and there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” But we also acknowledge that we are worshiping and learning in more than one place, and not just in one building.
The church is not a building, but on some level, it IS a building.
Place and geography and location matter.
King David yearned to build a place for the Ark of the Covenant to reside. For generations, the people of Israel had carried around the fragments of the stone tablets of the commandments in a box made for the purpose. It was a sacred box, built to exacting specifications, carried by specially appointed people. If you touched it, you could die.
The Ark of the Covenant was the place where God resided, and David thought it was insufficient – that God needed a bigger space. David decided to build a temple, but God declined his offer. It fell to Solomon to build that temple, with David’s blueprints.
The temple was a splendid, imposing, beautiful building, and it stood until 587 BC when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. The Jewish people still mourn the loss annually, on Tisha B’ Av.
The early Christians met in houses, but eventually they built structures dedicated to the worship of God. The first churches were essentially small houses, usually with a room built for the gathering of the people for worship, and a baptismal pool in an adjoining room.
Our earliest houses of worship did not escape destruction; the church of Nicomedia was demolished around the year 303, by order of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia wrote at the time: “the festival of the Saviour's Passion [Holy Week and Easter] was approaching, when an imperial decree was published everywhere, ordering the churches to be razed to the ground
The Ark of the Covenant was the place where God resided, and David thought it was insufficient – that God needed a bigger space. David decided to build a temple, but God declined his offer. It fell to Solomon to build that temple, with David’s blueprints.
The temple was a splendid, imposing, beautiful building, and it stood until 587 BC when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. The Jewish people still mourn the loss annually, on Tisha B’ Av.
The early Christians met in houses, but eventually they built structures dedicated to the worship of God. The first churches were essentially small houses, usually with a room built for the gathering of the people for worship, and a baptismal pool in an adjoining room.
Our earliest houses of worship did not escape destruction; the church of Nicomedia was demolished around the year 303, by order of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia wrote at the time: “the festival of the Saviour's Passion [Holy Week and Easter] was approaching, when an imperial decree was published everywhere, ordering the churches to be razed to the ground
and the Scriptures destroyed by fire, and giving notice that those in places of honour would lose their places, and domestic staff, if they continued to profess Christianity, would be deprived of their liberty.”[1]
Whether it was the temple in Jerusalem or the church in Nicomedia,
the place of worship, the building itself, has been a matter of importance.
Nearly every contemporary church that forms
considers itself a “real church” when it obtains property,
a geographic, physical space, a building in which to worship.
Whether it was the temple in Jerusalem or the church in Nicomedia,
the place of worship, the building itself, has been a matter of importance.
Nearly every contemporary church that forms
considers itself a “real church” when it obtains property,
a geographic, physical space, a building in which to worship.
And loss of a building is experienced as a deep wound to the community.
This building in which we sit right now was built in 1923,
as a replacement for a building which burned down.
If you take the time to walk around and look closely,
you’ll see the names of the people who contributed to the building –
they gave windows, doors, pews, and equipment.
But they knew, as we know,
the true assets of the congregation are not things –
not our splendid St. Louis art glass windows, not our fantastic organ,
not our furniture or carpet or sturdy metal roof,
not even our new sound system.
All of these things are tools, as is the building.
Still, like Solomon’s temple, our building matters to us –
it was built with great love and care and dedication,
and it tells us the story of who we are.
I’m reading a book called Why Church Buildings Matter, and the writer, Tim Cool, says:
“Place and story go hand in hand and are interwoven into every aspect of our lives.”
The stories of the Bible are always in a particular place.
In the gospel of John, in the 4th chapter,
Jesus was going through Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee.
He paused at Jacob’s well at midday, where he met a woman.
The woman had come for water, and Jesus asked her for a drink.
She was surprised – Jews and Samaritans were not on good terms,
it was unusual for a Jew to ask a Samaritan for help – especially a woman!
Jesus offered her the living water, saying,
“those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.
The water that I will give will become in them
a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
She asked him, “Give me this water always!”
In the conversation that followed, they discussed places of worship.
The Samaritans worshiped on a high mountain,
and the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem.
But Jesus told the woman that true worship was not in a place,
but true worship takes place “in spirit and truth.”
About that time the disciples came back,
and were surprised to find Jesus talking to a woman.
The woman left her water jug and ran back to her village,
to tell everyone to come and meet Jesus at the well.
Tim Cool suggests this is an important story for us to consider
as we consider the importance of place and story. He says:
“We have been notorious in building temples—
buildings that are used one or two days a week.
Places that people in our community believe
you have to act, look, and smell a certain way to enter.
A place with too many “thou shalt not” rules,
whether they are real or perceived.
A well, on the other hand,
This building in which we sit right now was built in 1923,
as a replacement for a building which burned down.
If you take the time to walk around and look closely,
you’ll see the names of the people who contributed to the building –
they gave windows, doors, pews, and equipment.
But they knew, as we know,
the true assets of the congregation are not things –
not our splendid St. Louis art glass windows, not our fantastic organ,
not our furniture or carpet or sturdy metal roof,
not even our new sound system.
All of these things are tools, as is the building.
Still, like Solomon’s temple, our building matters to us –
it was built with great love and care and dedication,
and it tells us the story of who we are.
I’m reading a book called Why Church Buildings Matter, and the writer, Tim Cool, says:
“Place and story go hand in hand and are interwoven into every aspect of our lives.”
The stories of the Bible are always in a particular place.
In the gospel of John, in the 4th chapter,
Jesus was going through Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee.
He paused at Jacob’s well at midday, where he met a woman.
The woman had come for water, and Jesus asked her for a drink.
She was surprised – Jews and Samaritans were not on good terms,
it was unusual for a Jew to ask a Samaritan for help – especially a woman!
Jesus offered her the living water, saying,
“those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.
The water that I will give will become in them
a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
She asked him, “Give me this water always!”
In the conversation that followed, they discussed places of worship.
The Samaritans worshiped on a high mountain,
and the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem.
But Jesus told the woman that true worship was not in a place,
but true worship takes place “in spirit and truth.”
About that time the disciples came back,
and were surprised to find Jesus talking to a woman.
The woman left her water jug and ran back to her village,
to tell everyone to come and meet Jesus at the well.
Tim Cool suggests this is an important story for us to consider
as we consider the importance of place and story. He says:
“We have been notorious in building temples—
buildings that are used one or two days a week.
Places that people in our community believe
you have to act, look, and smell a certain way to enter.
A place with too many “thou shalt not” rules,
whether they are real or perceived.
A well, on the other hand,
is a part of the community and a common place.
It was not a place that the community folk would think of
when contemplating a place to “meet God.”
And yet, that is exactly what happened.
This common place became a destination
where God met a woman in need of a Savior,
even though that is not what she was looking for that morning
as she was heading out to gather water.
The story continued, and the women went and told her neighbors
that there was something supernatural happening at the well
and that they needed to come check it out.
And they did. How cool is that?
They headed to the well and not the ‘temple’.”[2]
Wells are designed for community –
they are a place where anyone is welcome,
a place where anyone and everyone can come and meet with others,
a place where anyone who is thirsty can come and drink.
Solomon received the plans for the temple as a legacy from his father.
We have received the physical structure of our church building
as a legacy from those generations who built it 95 years ago.
But the true design and plan for our church is in us as a people.
It was not a place that the community folk would think of
when contemplating a place to “meet God.”
And yet, that is exactly what happened.
This common place became a destination
where God met a woman in need of a Savior,
even though that is not what she was looking for that morning
as she was heading out to gather water.
The story continued, and the women went and told her neighbors
that there was something supernatural happening at the well
and that they needed to come check it out.
And they did. How cool is that?
They headed to the well and not the ‘temple’.”[2]
Wells are designed for community –
they are a place where anyone is welcome,
a place where anyone and everyone can come and meet with others,
a place where anyone who is thirsty can come and drink.
Solomon received the plans for the temple as a legacy from his father.
We have received the physical structure of our church building
as a legacy from those generations who built it 95 years ago.
But the true design and plan for our church is in us as a people.
Church architecture, whether a giant cathedral or a tiny country church,
is not about the boards and beams and floor plan.
The real architecture of the church
is the shape and form of the people gathered here.
The construction and design of the gathered body
is what constitutes the church.
We are made to be a well,
where people can come and drink the living waters.
We are constructed to be a dwelling place,
and the people who meet us, wherever we are, can meet Jesus.
We are built to be a body,
where those who have been cut off, excluded, ignored, and separate
can find connection, inclusion, friendship and love.
Church architecture is the people God has gathered and built up,
the refreshing well where Jesus waits
to give love and acceptance to all people.
Amen.
[1] http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/hispania/diocletian.html
[2] https://thomrainer.com/2014/03/why-church-buildings-matter-an-interview-with-tim-cool/
is not about the boards and beams and floor plan.
The real architecture of the church
is the shape and form of the people gathered here.
The construction and design of the gathered body
is what constitutes the church.
We are made to be a well,
where people can come and drink the living waters.
We are constructed to be a dwelling place,
and the people who meet us, wherever we are, can meet Jesus.
We are built to be a body,
where those who have been cut off, excluded, ignored, and separate
can find connection, inclusion, friendship and love.
Church architecture is the people God has gathered and built up,
the refreshing well where Jesus waits
to give love and acceptance to all people.
Amen.
[1] http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/hispania/diocletian.html
[2] https://thomrainer.com/2014/03/why-church-buildings-matter-an-interview-with-tim-cool/
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