"An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual presence."
Solomon's Prayer (I Kings 8): At the dedication of the First Temple of Israel:
"And now the Lord has kept His promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel."
As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud shining with the dazzling light of the Lord's presence...Then Solomon prayed:
"You, Lord, have placed the sun in the sky, yet You have chosen to live in clouds and darkness. Now I have built a majestic temple for You, a place for You to live in forever."
Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in front of the altar, where he raised his arms and prayed, "Lord God of Israel, there is no god like You in Heaven or on earth below!
"But can You, O God, really live on earth? Not even all of Heaven is large enough to hold You, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough. Lord my God, I am Your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to You today. Watch over this Temple day and night, this place where You have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. Hear my prayers and the prayers of Your people when they face this place and pray. In Your home in Heaven hear us and forgive us.
"When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of Your fame and of the great things You have done for Your people and comes to worship You and to pray at this Temple, listen to his prayer. In Heaven, where You live, hear him and do what he asks You to do, so that all the peoples of the world may know You and obey You, as Your people in Israel do. Then they will know that this Temple I have built is the place where You are to be worshiped."
Last Tuesday, quite early in the morning, I sat in my study and read through the Lectionary those Readings (Lessons) appointed for this Sunday's worship and sermon. When I began this Reading from I Kings, I was astonished. My God, I said to myself, the Reading appointed for this opening Sunday in our new church building was to be Solomon's prayer of dedication, prayed and recorded some three thousand years ago when he and his congregation completed building the first great temple of Israel, the first house of worship in our long Judeo-Christian heritage.
This prayer of dedication was a part of the first sermon King Solomon preached in his temple as the whole congregation gathered to celebrate their opening day, and to give thanks to God for their new and beautiful place of worship.
It would be tempting to call this a rare coincidence, because this Lesson occurs only once in the whole three-year Lectionary cycle. Some would say it's a classic example of serendipity. But I personally recognize and accept this Reading as a wonderful sign of God's Presence with us, and truly symbolic of His hand at work in our lives on this very special day--the opening of St. Margaret's church building. And if it is the Word of God spoken to us on this special day, then we must listen carefully to its message and make it a part of our life together in this new church.
I find in Solomon's Prayer three prophetic directions for us to emulate:
First, This is a House of God.
Above everything else, Solomon prayed for and asked that God's Presence dwell in His Holy Temple. Solomon did not build the temple for himself or for his people. He built it primarily as a dwelling place for God. A God, Solomon recognized, who so filled the whole of Creation that "not even all of Heaven was large enough to hold Him." Yet Solomon prayed that his temple would hold Him and represent for His peoples the very presence of God in their community--that it be literally a House of God.
And so it must be for us as well. Like wise old Solomon, we are sophisticated and worldly people. We know that no one place can contain or control God's Presence; yet we also need a place, a focus, a visible center around which we can gather and remember that God does dwell with His people.
My prayer is that when you see this House of God, whether from the valley below or the hills above, whether driving by along the highway or standing within its walls, that it will be an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual presence. A reminder that you are a temple of God, and God's loving presence dwells within you as well as within this beautiful place we call His House.
Second, Solomon reminds us that God's "dwelling," House, is also a House of Prayer.
Our Building Committee met for the last time a month ago, and as their final act, our church leaders, the architect and our builders gathered together at the very center of this House of God, right here under the Crossing, and offered their prayers of thanksgiving to God. We began that evening what must be a continuous cycle of prayer in this new House. Solomon's request of God must be our request:
"Listen to our prayers, Oh God, and grant the requests we make of You. Watch over this House day and night. Hear our prayers when we face this place and pray."
We are a very blessed and fortunate congregation, for the Holy Spirit moves freely and openly in our midst. Primary amongst many reasons for this are the collective prayers of the people who worship here. Our call, Solomon reminds us, is to continue those prayers and to make this church a house of prayer.
Third, in his Prayer of Dedication, Solomon asks that, along with being a House of God and a House of Prayer, that their temple also be a House of Hospitality for all sojourners who would visit and pray here.
"When foreigners and sojourners who live in distant lands hear of Your love, O God, and the great things You have done for Your people, they will come to worship and pray in this House. Please, God, hear their prayers (as well as ours)."
This is truly a beautiful building, and people will come and visit it. Whether they are drawn here by its architectural majesty, its open, light-filled sanctuary, or to worship and pray, we must always be prepared to welcome and accept all sojourners and visitors who wish to enter our doors.
This is an Episcopal Church, a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion of over seventy million peoples. We are also a community church, a part of this Coachella Valley, and our church is a gift to all who live in their beautiful desert. And so the doors of our building and our hearts must be open to welcome in God's Love all who come to us seeking peace, seeking an answer to their prayers, seeking God, Himself.
My final prayer for us is that your love and Christ's Love will so shine through these doors and windows that all sojourners who come here seeking will find that their prayers will be answered and that God's Peace and Joy will fill their hearts.
I close with a wonderful prayer I discovered two years ago inscribed above the entry door in an ancient seventh-century Anglican Church in Jarrow, England...words which will soon hang above the entry doors to this new church as well:
O God, make the door of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship, narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride, and strife.
Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children nor to straying feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter's power.
God, make the door of this house the gateway to Thine Eternal Kingdom.
Amen.
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