Sanctuary
“For in the day of trouble God will give me shelter, hide me in the hidden places of the sanctuary, and raise me high upon a rock.”
Sanctuary—this space where we are worshipping at this very moment, and a generic term for a place of safety.
A worship space and a place of safety… Sanctuary.
A worship space and a place of safety… Sanctuary.
A year or so back we did a pub theology that looked about disaster preparedness, the focus was how can we help when the next hurricane hits? What do we do if someone faints?
Fast forward to last month. We put together a “Congregational Disaster Preparedness Team” and one of the things we’ll need to think about, at least a little, is what happens if our sanctuaryis under attack.
Sanctuary… a worship space and a place of safety…
We need sanctuary!
We need sanctuary!
Prayer
At first blush it’s a strange thing, the Pharisees warning Jesus about Herod’s threats of violence. But they realize their fate is directly connected to Jesus’. You see, for Herod, one pious Jew looks very much like another… and it was known that Jesus didargue about interpretation with the Pharisees, and dideat with them
—breaking bread and asking “how do you read”
—as far as Herod cared Jesus was just another Pharisee…
and there is a history of the Royal Family off-ingPharisees, Herod’s great grand-father-in-law once executed 800 Pharisees in a single day.
The Pharisees knew that for Herod, Violence is as violence does.
—breaking bread and asking “how do you read”
—as far as Herod cared Jesus was just another Pharisee…
and there is a history of the Royal Family off-ingPharisees, Herod’s great grand-father-in-law once executed 800 Pharisees in a single day.
The Pharisees knew that for Herod, Violence is as violence does.
So they warn Jesus to cool it!
He’s been describing God’s Kingdom in epic ways, which has King Herod worried…
He’s been describing God’s Kingdom in epic ways, which has King Herod worried…
“Just cool it or we’re all dead!”
But Jesus won’t be slowed down, he’s doing what he’s doing
—going to Jerusalem… Jerusalem where the Prophet’s are killed…
(some of you have been asking what this phrase means)
Jerusalem, the center of religion
—where else would a prophet die, except in a confrontation with God’s people
—religious messengers are killed for delivering their message to religious people,
God’s people who reject God’s message due to their religious convictions,
convictions that are ultimately idolatrous!
—going to Jerusalem… Jerusalem where the Prophet’s are killed…
(some of you have been asking what this phrase means)
Jerusalem, the center of religion
—where else would a prophet die, except in a confrontation with God’s people
—religious messengers are killed for delivering their message to religious people,
God’s people who reject God’s message due to their religious convictions,
convictions that are ultimately idolatrous!
And Jesus laments this, that all these people are loved like Children whose lives are cut short,
loved like chicks who refuse to nestle down and are in grave danger…
ultimately the image Jesus conveys about his message to Jerusalem, an image which will be born in his very body on the Cross, is this:
There is a Fox seeking to eat the Hen’s precious chicks,
-the Hen seeks to save them putting her very body in the way of the deadly fox,
-and the chicks, turn on the Hen, their own mother, and kill her…
-and then, in turn, the fox kills the chicks…
loved like chicks who refuse to nestle down and are in grave danger…
ultimately the image Jesus conveys about his message to Jerusalem, an image which will be born in his very body on the Cross, is this:
There is a Fox seeking to eat the Hen’s precious chicks,
-the Hen seeks to save them putting her very body in the way of the deadly fox,
-and the chicks, turn on the Hen, their own mother, and kill her…
-and then, in turn, the fox kills the chicks…
God help us… we need sanctuary!
We need sanctuary!
-Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg,
-Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston,
-First Baptist Church in Southerland Springs,
-the Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin,
and now the twin mosques in Christchurch…
-Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston,
-First Baptist Church in Southerland Springs,
-the Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin,
and now the twin mosques in Christchurch…
It feels like, to the Violent, to people of ill-will, we are all prey.
Wherever groups of goodwill gather together, violence is as violence does… there are no distinctions made… We all need sanctuary!
Wherever groups of goodwill gather together, violence is as violence does… there are no distinctions made… We all need sanctuary!
Yet, that’s not quite right, with the exception of the shooting at First Baptist in Southerland Springs (which was an incredibly tragic domestic dispute),
there wasa common thread,
there WERE distinctions being made
—in fact, like violent religious martyrs, the shooters gave witness to their faith, they named very clearly why they committed these horrendous acts of violence
—the worship of whiteness… they were all white supremacists,
there wasa common thread,
there WERE distinctions being made
—in fact, like violent religious martyrs, the shooters gave witness to their faith, they named very clearly why they committed these horrendous acts of violence
—the worship of whiteness… they were all white supremacists,
They fit the same pattern as:
the murderer who killed 77 people over in Norway 8 years ago,
or the shooter at the Overland Park Jewish Center 5 years ago where three people were killed,
the murderer who killed 77 people over in Norway 8 years ago,
or the shooter at the Overland Park Jewish Center 5 years ago where three people were killed,
Or Charlottesville nearly two years ago, where neo-Nazi chanted “Jews will not replace us”
… where counter-protestors were beaten and clergy pelted with coke bottles filled with cement, an African American church put under siege,
and the whole event culminated in a white supremacist running over the counter-protesters with his car, leaving twenty eight people injured and one young woman dead.
… where counter-protestors were beaten and clergy pelted with coke bottles filled with cement, an African American church put under siege,
and the whole event culminated in a white supremacist running over the counter-protesters with his car, leaving twenty eight people injured and one young woman dead.
They worship whiteness.
And again, in the name of this hellish God,children, women and men, mothers and fathers, all gunned down while they worshipped together.
The absurd horror of a refugee who escaped violence in Syria shot dead at a mosque in New Zealand, where he had found sanctuary…
God help us, we need sanctuary!
In the face of Herod,
in the face of the tragedy of Jerusalem,
thank God we can see the Pathos of God in Jesus!
Thank God for his tender sorrow,
the tears of God,
and the tragedy tearing at God’s heart!
in the face of the tragedy of Jerusalem,
thank God we can see the Pathos of God in Jesus!
Thank God for his tender sorrow,
the tears of God,
and the tragedy tearing at God’s heart!
Thank God, as well, that he goes to Jerusalem,
that God in Christ Jesus puts himself in the way,
goes forward anyhow,
knowing that he goes forward to be betrayed by religion and authority
—the impulse of every Jerusalem, every instinct to worship that bypasses God… Jesus goes to meet men whogladly sell all that is good in religion, for violence’s sake.
that God in Christ Jesus puts himself in the way,
goes forward anyhow,
knowing that he goes forward to be betrayed by religion and authority
—the impulse of every Jerusalem, every instinct to worship that bypasses God… Jesus goes to meet men whogladly sell all that is good in religion, for violence’s sake.
Do you hear me?
The pathos,
the tender sorrow,
the torn heart of God!
The pathos,
the tender sorrow,
the torn heart of God!
God is moved!
God weepsat the attack on the worshippers at Al Noor mosque and at Linwood mosque.
God weepsevery time sanctuary is supplanted by violence!
Do you hear me?
Jesus puts himself in the way!
Jesus puts himself in the way!
God is always found between the victim and acts of violence!
God was withDaoud Nabi, the attacker’s first victim, the greeter who was at the door to the mosque and whose first and last words to the attacker were, “welcome brother.”
God was withthe father shot in the back while shielding his two sons, now in a coma.
Even when the church sells itself out to quietism, get-along-ism, that’s-too-political-ism,
when it turns its eyes from white supremacy and any other idolatry under the sun… even then
when it turns its eyes from white supremacy and any other idolatry under the sun… even then
—God shows up!
“For in the day of trouble God will give me shelter, hide me in the hidden places of the sanctuary, and raise me high upon a rock.”
Sanctuary…
a worship space and a place of safety…
We need sanctuary!
a worship space and a place of safety…
We need sanctuary!
Amen, and God help us.
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