Temple

Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed that you promised to your servant my father David. 27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! 28 Regard your servant's prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today, 29 that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; hear and forgive. 41 "Likewise when foreigners, who are not of your people Israel, come from a distant land because of your name 42 --for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm--when foreigners come and pray toward this house, 43 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and do whatever the foreigners ask of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built. (1 Kings 8:26-30,41-43)

As Solomon dedicated the temple he had built to God, Solomon prayed earnestly that God would be present there and hear the prayers of anyone who prayed in the direction of that sacred place. The same cloud of God that had led the people of Israel through the desert, settled in the tent of meeting, and enveloped Moses on Mount Sinai, did indeed fill the temple that Solomon built, but even that was only a glimpse of the Almighty. Even in his prayer, Solomon acknowledged that no human-built dwelling could contain God.

Jesus was the reality of God with us. We are blessed with the gift of hindsight to understand that, when Jesus spoke about partaking of his body and blood, Jesus was inviting everyone to fully receive the presence of God in every aspect of our being - nothing separating us from God and God’s good purpose and plan. We can easily understand the reticence of Jesus’ original listeners who could only take literally his offering. Surely we would have responded with the same shock and repulsion.

We place high value on our sacred places, but we would do well to remember that what makes them sacred is the presence and activity of God among, within, and through God's people. Understanding that God is always with us means that wherever we are is holy ground. Welcoming the presence of God within us has the potential to transform every action into worship and every thought or spoken word into prayer. Even as all ground is holy ground, we are intended to be God's temple - God's presence in the world. In each moment, may we strive to both encounter and reveal our awesome God.

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." 59 He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum. 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"

(John 6:56-60)