Monday, March 2, 2015

3/8/15---We're on a Journey...Committed to God

This Sunday's Scriptures include the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 1-17) and Jesus in the temple (John 2: 13-22) where he drives the money changers out and turned the tables.

Both of these texts make me feel a bit queasy. Do I follow all of these commandments? Am I more like the money changers? Am I truly committed to God's ways?

I know that these texts invite me to a deep relationship to God and those around me. The texts place the ways and will of God over and above the world's ways. We are given direction to be in the world but not of the world; to live differently...

...but the world's ways are everywhere, difficult to overcome. The Ten Commandments are given to a nation who needed specific direction on their journey to becoming people of God, and they are given to us for the same reason. Jesus' actions in the Temple make it plain to us that the world will try and taint God's holy place; God' world.

The Ten Commandments were given so that the Israelites may become people of God, who are committed to God's ways over and above the world's ways. Jesus' actions in the temple signal a new age: one where the world's ways are denounced and literally overturned, in favor of God's new reign. The temple is replaced by the temple of Jesus' body, which is a foreshadowing of his death and resurrection and its embodiment in the celebration of Holy Communion.

Lent calls for a time of repentance. We are called to turn back to God, who called the Israelites and us to a covenant relationship with God and each other. God is no longer worshiped in one central location, the temple, but everywhere, through Christ's dwelling in each of us.

This is why things change in the church: because the church is always being led by a God who never stands still. This is comforting to me, as I embrace changes in my own life. This comforts me, who will probably see things change in church, in our denomination, and in our Church universal a time or two.

Although these texts make me queasy, they ultimately point me to a God who is committed to me, to the church, to the Church, and to you. God gave us ways to commit to God, through law, through Christ, and through Church. God keeps up the promises God made and is making to us. But that doesn't include standing still.

See you Sunday!

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