Thought for Today
Exodus 25:9 In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
1 Samuel 1:9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the LORD. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.
Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,
Luke 23:44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Almost any trip to Europe will offer a plethora of opportunities to visit magnificent and historic churches and cathedrals. Our recent trip included some time spent in Paris, France. We stood outside Notre Dame and marveled at the size, scope and the progress that has been made in its restoration. It is now open for worship and some limited degree of touring. Because of the massive crowds, we opted instead to visit another beautiful cathedral, “Precious vestige of the royal palace of the City The Sainte-Chapelle was built in the middle of the 13th century by Louis IX, future Saint Louis, to house the most prestigious relic of the Passion of Christ: the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross.” (www.sainte-chapelle.fr/en/discover) Sainte-Chapelle is noted for its incredible stained-glass windows.
We have previously visited Westminster Abbey in London, England. It too was a very beautiful and impressive church. In both instances, however, I was struck by the contrast with our facility and worship at First Parish Church of Newbury. Part of the difference is, of course, age. We sometimes forget that ours is a relatively young country. This year is our nation’s 250th ‘birthday.’ Sainte-Chapelle is ~ 1000 years older than our nation. First Parish Church was first gathered in 1635. Yet, each in its own way is a testament to the depth and degree of our faith and its believers.
Part of the difference between those European facilities like Sainte-Chapelle and First Parish Church is the difference between a church and a cathedral. “cathedral (From Gr. kathedra, Lat. cathedra, ‘chair,’ ‘throne’) The church containing the ‘throne’ or official ‘seat’ (Lat. sedes) of a bishop or a diocese. Here the bishop presides over the liturgy and by extension, the diocese.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 40) Today, many Protestant denominations do not have bishops; and, even dioceses are rarely recognized. For that matter, the name of our congregation is First Parish, but parishes are no longer part of our vernacular or our governance except in the state of Louisiana.
When we read the Bible, we can also encounter other designations for places of worship. During the Exodus, the Israelites worshipped in a tabernacle, a portable tent. During the period of the Judges we read references to various ‘high places,’ e.g., “2 Samuel 1:19 Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places! How the mighty have fallen!” A decentralized worship of God occurred at these various places, most notably Shechem and Bethel. Gradually, following David’s conquest of Jerusalem, worship of God became centralized at the Temple in Jerusalem. Following the Babylonian Captivity and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple, regular worship transpired in synagogues.
Our modern Protestant understanding of tabernacles, temples, cathedrals and other places of worship is somewhat different from that of our ancestors-in-the-faith. The Temple in Jerusalem included the Holy of Holies, the place where God resided on earth. Christians today understand God to be omnipresent.
Irrespective of temples, tabernacles, cathedrals or churches, no matter what we title them, they are all places where we worship our Creator God. It is worthwhile, however, to stand in those ancient places of worship and recognize the depth and degree of the faithful Christians who dedicated so much of their limited resources to constructing those monuments to our God.
We do not have to be in a formal facility to worship God. We understand that we can and should worship God everywhere we may be. But, those hallowed places serve as a reminder of that long line of our faith ancestors and can inspire us all to renewed faith and perseverance.
Worship God everywhere in your life, trust God,
Pastor Ray