The Sure Foundation

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen & Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ

March 4, 2018

Year B: The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

John 2:13-22

The Sure Foundation

            One of the things I like most about being an Episcopalian – about being an Anglican – is that we are part of a community that spans the globe.

            We get reminded of that community when at each of our services we pray for Anglican churches around the world and for bishops with their often hard to pronounce names!

            All around the world there are Anglican churches worshiping in more or less the same way that we do: the service has basically the same shape – we sing many of the same hymns – and in many cases even the architecture of our churches is similar.

            St. Paul’s, for example, was built back in the 1800s to resemble a church you might find in an English village.

            We’re part of something much larger than just this little community.

That’s one of the reasons why I’m always hesitant to make too many changes to the way we worship – what we say, do, and sing here is one of the most important ways that we are connected to millions of other Christians, past, present, and even future.

            And, I’m also aware that our Anglican identity here at St. Paul’s – which I often describe as traditional but not stuffy (which is what we strive for, and I hope is true) – our Anglican identity is also one of the things that has drawn many of our parishioners to St. Paul’s – a little taste of the church back in Antigua or Nigeria or England…

            You know, although I’ve dropping some pretty strong hints for the past five years, not one of our West Indian parishioners has invited me down to the islands! I’ve never been there or to Africa, but I have been fortunate enough to visit England a few times.

            The last time was more than ten years ago now, back when my love of Anglicanism was in full bloom.

            Sue and I spent most of our time in London, where I insisted that we visit plenty of historic churches. Although skeptical that this was a good way to spend a vacation, she’s a good sport, so off we went from church to church.

            In one case we arrived at a historic church before it opened for the day, and, to our surprise, there was a line of tourists waiting to enter.

            I said something like, “See, look at these people – this isn’t such a weird thing to do on vacation!”

            Sue gave me a skeptical look and, sure enough, it turned out that this particular church – called the Temple Church - was the setting for a scene in the hit book and movie, The Da Vinci Code. All of these people weren’t Anglican fans after all.

            Of course, no trip to London would be complete without a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral, that iconic symbol of not just the English church, but of England itself.

            When we visited there was some kind of special service going on. A choir was singing and the Bishop of London himself was officiating, dressed in all his finery.

            At one point in the service, the organ and choir struck up a familiar hymn, one that we sing here fairly regularly and will sing at the end of today’s service - maybe the most Anglican hymn of them all – and I saw the bishop smile when he heard the first few notes of:

            “Christ is made the sure foundation.”

            St. Paul’s Cathedral is a magnificent place but I’m also kind of partial to our more modest St. Paul’s right here – they are both places that over many years have been bathed in innumerable prayers.

As important as this building is to us, it’s nowhere near what the Jerusalem Temple meant to the Jews of the first century.

For them, it was the center of life, it was the holiest place in the universe, the place of prayer and sacrifice, the place where, in a sense, God lived – and knowing that helps us appreciate the power of today’s gospel lesson.

We heard the story of Jesus acting in a kind of un-Jesus-like way, as he angrily drove out from the Jerusalem Temple those who were selling animals and those who earned their living exchanging Jewish coins for Roman coins, which couldn’t be used in the Jewish temple since they bore the idolatrous image of the Roman emperor.

            All four gospels tell this vivid and important story, but in Mark, Matthew, and Luke, it happens near the end of Jesus’ ministry – his attack on the religious establishment is, in fact, probably what got Jesus into the most trouble – more than anything else, it’s probably what got him arrested and killed.

            But, today we heard the version of the story found in the Gospel of John, and in this take Jesus is angrier and even kind of scary, since we’re told he made and used a “whip of cords.”

            And, John’s chronology is different than the others. He places this story near the start of Jesus’ public ministry – you could even say that, for John, this is Jesus’ first public act – it’s quite an entrance – and signals the importance of what Jesus did that day in the Temple.

            For much of Christian history, Jesus’ so-called “Cleansing of the Temple” has been used to knock the Jews and their worship in the Temple – this system of sacrifice that required the selling and buying of animals and the exchange of currency.

            But, in more recent times, we Christians have remembered that Jesus of Nazareth was a faithful Jew – and so it seems to me that his dramatic action was not so much a critique of temple worship and sacrifice but much more a call to remember what’s most important – an urgent and even angry call to remember what’s essential – a call to remember the foundation.

           

            By the time the Gospel of John was written, the Temple – what had been believed to be the center of the universe - had been gone for decades, destroyed by the Romans in the year 70, with its treasurers carted off to Rome. Today pretty much all the remains is a retaining wall, what’s called the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, where Jews continue to gather, leaving written prayers in cracks between the large stones.

            The destruction of the Temple was a catastrophe for the Jewish people, and along with their eventual eviction from their homeland, raised real and urgent questions about their continued survival.

            But, the rabbis gathered and studied and prayed - and what they came to understand was that, actually, the Temple wasn’t the foundation – no, instead, for Jews the foundation was and is God’s covenant with them – the covenant which is fulfilled by following God’s Law – so, God’s people were meant to study the Law, to love the Law, and, most of all, to obey the Law not just in a house of worship but in every aspect of their lives.

            Meanwhile, as the early Christians drifted away from Judaism, they also gathered and studied and prayed and concluded, long before the familiar hymn was written that, for us, Christ is the temple and the priest and the sacrifice – they came to understand and believe that Christ is indeed the sure foundation.

            And, so, as much as we love our beautiful old buildings and as much as we love our traditions, as much as we love our comforting and comfortable ways of doing things – they are not the foundation – Christ is the sure foundation.

            And, sometimes, as our brothers and sisters from Incarnation are modeling for us these days, as difficult and as sad as it is, that means we have to leave behind our temple, leave behind many of our ways and much of our stuff.

And, although we will continue worshiping in this beautiful old temple, at least for a time, the truth is that in our quickly changing and oh so hungry and lost world, we all will have to leave behind at least some of our old ways, leave behind our fears, leave behind our complacency and prejudices, and step out – step out from the temple – step out in faith, trusting – knowing – that the sure foundation of Christ will always support us, no matter what.

“Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ the head and cornerstone, chosen of the Lord and precious, binding all the Church in one; holy Zion’s help forever, and her confidence alone.”

Amen.