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Ezra 3:1-13; Luke 19:37-48 There are two things our two readings have in common tonight. One is to do with worship, and the other is to do with the temple building. So the two are really connected very closely. The Ezra story tells of the time when the people of Israel returned from captivity in Babylon, and set about rebuilding Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by their conquerors. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story, It is a fascinating one to read, and I recommend it to you. In the passage we read, we glimpse something of the splendour of Jewish worship. Speaking as a Methodist, I grew up in a tradition which, whilst being fairly ordered and liturgical, was really rather plain. Our ministers, if they wore any kind of robes at all, would wear what I am wearing tonight. Otherwise, they would wear dignified dark suits, with a clerical shirt and a clerical collar. Times have changed, though, and many Methodist ministers would now wear, as I do, a white cassock-alb for communion services, and the black for everything else. Christian vestments have their origins in Roman clothing of the first few centuries of the Christian era, and are quite unlike those mentioned here in Ezra. But we get a bit of a feel for the splendour of the occasion at what was a very emotional moment for these returned exiles. This was the start of a most significant building project for them – laying the foundations of their new temple. So there would have been the glorious spectacle of the priests in their robes, there were the trumpets sounding, the cymbals clashing, and the responsive singing of the people. It was colourful, it was noisy, it was a great occasion, and, as we heard, people had very mixed feelings and emotions. The older folk, who could just about remember the old temple, were weeping, and the younger ones were shouting aloud for joy. The result was an uplifting of sound that could be heard miles away. In our second reading, Jesus too is weeping – weeping over the city, and weeping over this very same temple. To him it would have been a precious place, for it was at the very heart of the Jewish faith. He wept because of what it had become, and because of what he could see happening in the future, when it would be destroyed along with the rest of the city. He was right. There has been a tendency from time to time in the Christian faith to decry buildings. Of course, we do not regard them as essential to worship. I used to hold services under the shade of a tree when I worked abroad. But in our climate, we need shelter from the weather, so some sort of building is essential, just for survival. And so, over the years, we as Christians have built some very fine buildings, and, it has to be said, some very ornate ones. Wherever we go, Lizanne and I always make a beeline for the church, and see what it is like, for, it seems to us, you can tell a lot from it about a community, if only from the kind of literature on display, and how tidily it is kept. Last weekend we were in Ilkley, and attended one of the parish churches there, St Margaret's It was a very fine building, not unlike St John's, at the 'high' end of the CofE, as was obvious from the notice board outside which told as that there was a Solemn Eucharist at 10.30am The service was not unlike the SEC liturgically, but with incense and bells, it made St John's seem very 'low'! That's what you get for having a Methodist around for the last 8 years! But there was a great feeling of welcome and genuine friendliness, and it took us ages to get away after the service! One felt the presence of something special. If you look around our church here, you will see that it is teeming with symbols. One which many people miss, because it is high up, is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Whatever else is symbolised here, this is probably the most significant, because without the Spirit, the collection of people we call the church is nothing. It might as well be a bowling club. It is that Spirit which makes a congregation special. Soon it will be Pentecost, when the Spirit came down like a dove on the disciples. We have a fine building in which we worship, and that worship always needs to be the best we can offer to God. So let us be sure not to do anything which keeps the Spirit out, or else everything we try to do will have little meaning. Come Pentecost, let us vow to let that Spirit flow into the lives of each of us, so that God will be truly worshipped in spirit and truth here at St John's. |