Homiletic
Series: The Lord is King and There is No Other.
Homily
IV: We Are God’s Building.
Scriptures: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Corinthians
3:9c-11,16-17; John 2:13-22
In his book More Than Houses
Millard Fuller, co-founder of Habitat for Humanity International, writes: “A
common meeting ground. That, from the
inception of Habitat for Humanity, is what I envisioned the ministry to be from
all faiths and persuasions. This
hammer-and-nail ministry brings together all sorts of people for all walks of
life. Foremost among my desires is the
ministry’s potential of being a bridge for Christians—all members of the
Christian faith in all its various denominations. Christian churches are so divided, and the
divisions are on so many levels. There
is high church and low church, liberal theology and conservative theology,
charismatic and non-charismatic, evangelical and mainline, Catholic and
Protestant. There is no agreement on
communion: how often to take it or what it means. Churches can’t agree on how preachers should
dress, much less what gender preachers are permitted to be, or even what to
call “preachers”! The list of things
that divide churches goes on and on. I
have always thought it was shameful that the Christian family could agree on so
little.”[1]
Seventeen (17) years ago I was
invited to visit this “common meeting ground”.
So taken by what I experienced that I could not help but immerse myself
completely in the Habitat for Humanity movement. As a leader within our local affiliate for
thirteen (13) years, I have been blessed to witness the power of this “common
meeting ground” where government agencies, businesses, civic groups, Mosques, Temples
and yes every sort of Christian are able to gather for a common pursuit, to
serve a family in need of a simple, decent, affordable home.
I feel it would be a safe
assumption that most of us understand the importance of a home for the health
and well-being of our families. I also
know there are those here, in our community, who know all too well the
uncertainty when displaced from secure living accommodations.
It is the latter that the
Nation of Israel is feeling during the Babylonian exile in our first
reading. Ezekiel is given a different
vision, a vision of hope. “He witnesses
a life-giving river flowing out of the threshold of the temple toward the arid
East. As the river flows, it brings
life—freshening the salt waters of the Dead Sea, and causing living creatures
to multiply.”[2] We have to understand, to the Jewish culture
of this time, the Temple was the “common ground”. Paul picks up this familiar image and
transforms it. Familiar with the temples
and public building of the city, Paul explains to the Corinthian believers that
they too are edifices (a building, especially one of imposing appearance or
size), built upon the one foundation of Jesus Christ.
It may seem strange to
celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of somebody else’s church
building. The Basilica of St. John
Lateran was given to the Church by the Emperor Constantine after he legalized
Christianity. This is the Basilica of
Rome, which the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, presides. This feast reminds us that our communion with
the Church of Rome and her bishop is one of the things that unite us in the
Catholic Church. In the baptistery there
is an ancient inscription that reads, “There is no barrier between those who
are reborn and made one by the one font, the one Spirit, and the one faith…”
This feast reminds us further,
that part of our faith is the Church is the temple in which God’s spirit dwells,
US, as individual living stones and collectively as Church, the Temple of God. So the feast challenges us to answer the
Jewish question posed to Jesus in the Gospel, “What sign can you show us…?” (Jn 2:18) What
sign can you give, that proves you are the way, you are part of the one Church
built on the foundation that is Jesus?
I believe we have been
answering this question throughout our four (4) week series, “The Lord is God
and There is No Other”:
·
Sermon
#1: Living with conviction of heart. We
discussed how it must become painfully obvious to the casual onlooker that our
true allegiance belongs to God. That we
are united and obedient to the lessons of the Gospel and the Church, even when
social norms and distractions would tempt us to compromise our values.
·
Sermon
#2: Being Models of Faith & Imitators of the Lord. Here we discussed the bottom line, LOVE. That the response to many of life’s hard
questions is love and as imitators of our Lord we must have a passionate
concern for each other, especially the immigrant, elderly, orphan, and the
poor.
·
Sermon
#3: Hope Does Not Disappoint. As believers we can have the audacity to hope
beyond all hope, believe good will triumph even in the midst of trials and
suffering. That even death does not have
the last word, as we await the resurrection, where we will be raised by our
Lord as God has promised.
We are God’s building! “Like living stones, let yourselves be built
into a spiritual house…” (1 Pt 2:5)
on the one foundation Jesus Christ, who is our “common ground”.
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