Hopeful Homecomings: 1 Kings 8:1-13 - Reformation Sunday

Do you know how certain smells trigger memories?

The smell of turkey in the oven transports me back to my grandmother’s house, where my family celebrated Thanksgiving Dinner.

She lived in the house her parents built it in the late 1950’s, a beautiful red brick cape cod-style home with a big front porch and a beautiful stone fireplace. So many of our family’s most treasured memories happened within those walls.

Grandma's House by Mark Fonseca Rendeiro on flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

This is why it was so painful when my mom and uncle were forced to put the house up for sale in 2019 after my grandmother moved into a memory care home, where she passed away three years later. Losing her was hard enough, but the wound was salted when we saw what the new owner of the home did to it. She put up a giant metal chicken next to the gigantic gazebo she built on the front lawn. She tore out all of grandma’s azaleas and gardens, paved most of the pack yard, and installed a hot tub on the front porch.

The owner had every right to do with her home whatever she wanted. But her turning that beautiful home into a gawdy monstrosity serves as a painful reminder of what my family has lost.

People naturally become attached to places. The lands we live on, the buildings we inhabit, and the places where we worship become part of who we are. They shape who we are. They keep us together. And in many cases, they help us experience connection with God.

There is no place that is as sacred and beloved by the people of God as the Temple in Jerusalem, first built by King Solomon 961 years before Christ.

Prior to the temple, God’s people worshiped at the tabernacle—a tent which was moved about, with the Ark of the Covenant housed within. Not since Egypt had God’s people had never taken on a construction project of this magnitude. It took seven years, with thirty thousand Israelites forced to work on the project, along with 70,000 laborers and 80,000 stonecutters drawn from Gentiles living in the land. Even with much of the wood and building supplies furnished by King Hiram of Tyre, its cost would have run into the hundreds of billions in today’s money.

When it was completed, all of Israel was united in celebration. After 900 years, they are fully established in the Promised Land, and now there was a place where all God’s people could gather and worship and offer sacrifices; now there was a place where they could come and dwell in the presence of their God.

Even though the temple no longer stands, its Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism, where millions of pilgrims come to pray every year. Christians and Jews alike look forward to the arrival of the new temple, when the Messiah will come in triumph, bringing a new heaven and a new earth and the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation.

In the meantime, there are holy places where we experience connection with God and each other, in much the same way as the ancient Israelites did at the temple. You’re sitting in one of those places right now. But there may be other sacred places too: other churches you’ve belonged to; Christian camps or places in the natural world. And of course, all the spaces and places you’ve called home. You feel safe there. You feel loved. You feel the very presence of God. Unfortunately, our hold of these places is tenuous. Many of you have belonged to churches that have merged or closed or disaffiliated. Some of you grew up in other communities, other states, or even other countries, and you had to leave these homes, churches, schools, special places and loved ones behind.

God keeps his promises; God keeps his people; but it happens in the Christian journey that we must let go of things we consider holy, be they buildings, traditions, ideals, or institutions. The things we hold onto for security, meaning, and belonging will come and go. The temple Solomon builds will be destroyed, rebuilt, then expanded by King Herod during Jesus’s lifetime, only to be destroyed again a short time later. But God raised up a new temple—Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus established his Church not in the form of a building, but in the form of a people who confess his name in every time and place.

The reason why we celebrate Reformation is because Christ is always making his Church new to bear witness to his presence. Change is not an aberration in the Christian life; it is the norm. When change comes in the form of crisis, Jesus shows us the way. When change comes in the form of loss, Jesus brings renewal and rebirth. God uses all change to draw you closer to Jesus.

Ultimately, the holiest place is anywhere you find yourself where you can whisper a prayer or extend a helping hand to someone in need. The Church exists wherever and whenever two or more are gathered in Christ’s name. Ultimately, all the places we call home are just lodging places on the journey to the one place where we will all be home: the New Jerusalem, and the eternal temple, where we will worship the Lord forever and ever.