Rev. David Boyd

Scripture Reading: John 2:13-22

I thought it was a great weekend last week. A big thanks to all who made it so successful! If I had one disappointment, it was that more of our former ministers and congregational members couldn't be here. But, it is understandable given that many are not well and that it was a weekend in March, when travel isn't so easy. It was interesting preparing for the two services last weekend, the one in which we celebrated the past 100 years and the evening service of rededication. I've listened to parts of the original dedication service — it was taped then — and read through the bulletin from back in March of 1969. There were a couple of things that stood out: one is that almost all of the prayers written used the old King James style of praying complete with "thees" and "thous." The other thing that stood out is that the language of dedication was very particular: "By virtue of our sacred office in the Church, we do now declare to be consecrate, and set apart from all profane uses, this house of God..." (Service of Dedication, St. Paul's-Trinity United Church, March 9, 1969.)

Given the recent changes of the architecture and intent behind churches these days, I'm not sure we could use the same language. Many churches are constructing sanctuaries that serve many purposes: a church, a concert hall, a multi-purpose meeting and activity room, a dining hall. Indeed, we use our sanctuary for many purposes and I wonder what the writers of the 1969 dedication service, which came out of the United Church service book, would consider to be profane. The word, profane, literally means, "not religious or concerned with religious things" in its general sense, or "blasphemous or sacrilegious" in its more specific sense. It comes from the Latin word "profanare," which means "outside the temple." It's an interesting question to determine what is profane in the broad sense of the word and what is sacred, and what our involvement should be, as a Church, with profane things. I would suggest that today the lines are blurry at best. Many of us would suggest that the Church needs to be more out in the world, attempting to offer a different way of being rather than the competitiveness, self-centredness, greediness, and acquisitiveness that we see so much of these days. I'm not suggesting that the more negative aspects of profane be employed by the Church — far from it, but we need to be more engaged in sewing the seeds of God's love and justice throughout this world... and that means being active outside of these walls and even inviting the world outside in.

Maybe the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple has some things to teach us today.

Like the rebuilding of this church in 1968-69 and the building project of 1999-2000, the Temple in Jesus' day was also undergoing renovation. Herod the Great began a renovation of the Temple in the year 20 Before the Common Era and this continued right through the times that Jesus visited the Temple. Herod, in a cynical political move, attempting to win over his Jewish subjects, wanted to build a huge and beautiful Temple. He wanted to restore the glory of the Temple and expand its magnificence.

But Herod was only interested in buying the loyalty of the people; he wasn't really interested in creating a sacred space let alone a space that engaged the issues of the day. Herod didn't intend so much for the Temple to be a place that challenged injustice, that proclaimed the Commonwealth of God, or that enabled poor people to feel that God loved and included them in God's designs. Herod really was interested in trade and making money. He wanted a portion of the Temple taxes and he encouraged trade to occur in the Temple courtyards. Herod wanted the Temple to enhance his despotic rule and make him money and give him prestige.

The Court of the Gentiles, which was the court of the Temple from which Jesus forced people out, was a loud, boisterous place; there were live animals — turtle doves, cattle, sheep — and people were yelling at each other. There were contracts made and coins were jangled. The Temple tax had to be paid in Temple coinage, so the money-changers had to be present hawking their rates. The Court of the Gentiles had become a market place concerned with commerce, buying and selling commodities. It was a commercial place rather than a place of prayer and worship for Gentiles and Jews who didn't wish to go further into the Temple precincts. One could say that the Temple, as well as still being a sacred space, had become also an anti-religious place of buying, selling, exploitation, manipulation and consumption.

Is it any wonder that Jesus drove the money-changers and animal-sellers out! Jesus acted out the words of the prophet Zechariah who prophesied that when God brings about the radical reversal from injustice to justice, all will be welcome into the Temple and there will be no more need of money-changers or animal-sellers. Jesus was visibly demonstrating that that day had come, that God's justice was in their midst, that all people were to freely enter the Temple, enter God's presence as it were, and experience the promise of salvation and wholeness. Jesus visibly demonstrated that God's Commonwealth was in their midst and things were changing. Greed, injustice, exploitation, manipulation, consumption all were to be transformed and swept clean. God's Commonwealth of radical reversal had come!

And we, as the Church, are about that radical reversal. We are called to sweep away greed, injustice, exploitation, manipulation, and consumption in our work as agents of God's love, as people of the Commonwealth of radical reversal, as the Body of Christ. In the Lenten study series that we are using, John Dominic Crossan, in speaking about what he calls the divine clean-up, that is the celebration of love, justice and the fair distribution of wealth, stresses that Jesus announced that the Commonwealth of God IS here. The radical reversal IS here.

But this radical reversal isn't God's work to do alone. Desmond Tutu, building on something that St. Augustine said 1500 years ago, once said, "Without God, we can't do it; and without us, God will not do it." The Commonwealth of God, this radical reversal, this powerful expression of love, is a partnership between we human beings and God. We can't sit back and let it happen because God will not do the work alone. It is our work to do with God. It was the work of the Temple and religious leaders to do in Jesus' day and age; it was the work of the religious leaders long before Jesus. That work stretches out ahead of us. But lest we think this a daunting task — which it would be if we were alone, God does this work with us; it isn't just us creating healing and wholeness. God is with us; we are not alone.

Which brings me back to the idea that churches are not to be places of the profane. Well, yes. That's true if profane is meant to mean just blasphemy and sacrilege. But, in the broader sense, we must be willing to invite the world in; our churches should be places where people come to talk about justice in the world. The churches need to be meeting places where people can talk about the issues of our day like health care, poverty, should Canada's military be in Afghanistan, or pick a topic. The church needs to be a meeting place where people advocate for housing, health and justice. The church needs to be a meeting place where healing can occur and the radical reversal of injustice to justice is an accepted norm.

In the last 100 years the church has been a meeting place where many different people gather to exchange ideas and to discover common ways to celebrate and live out love. And we aren't just the church when we gather here within these walls. We are the church wherever we are. Whatever we do, we are called to live the Commonwealth of love. In a sense, Jesus drives us out into the world to be his agents, his ambassadors of this radical love by which God orders the world.

There is still work to do. Lots of work. The world needs cleansing with the radical broom of love. "Jesus, with you we are ready for another 100 years of love, healing, justice and wholeness."

Amen.