Deacon Susan Erickson
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place…
—7 Jeremiah 3-7
Dear Siblings in Christ,
How could it be “deceptive” to stand in front of a church and say “This is God’s house”? Yet today’s Old Testament reading for Morning Prayer suggests that under certain circumstances even God’s temple can be the site, not of holiness, but of self-deception.
God tells the prophet Jeremiah to warn his fellow citizens that God’s house is not always a place of respite:
“Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?”
—7 Jeremiah 9-10
In other words, sacred spaces are not sacred simply because they have been dedicated to the worship of God.
It is not just the bell tower, or stained glass, or the presence of religious symbols that constitute a temple’s (or church’s) sacredness. Rather, Jeremiah suggests that our attitudes and behavior as people of God contribute to the holiness of the spaces in which we worship.
These days I’m far too distracted by the news sites and political analyses on my iPad.
True, I don’t actively “oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow,” much less “shed innocent blood.” But first of all, do I spend too much time musing over others’ wickedness? And second, am I taking the time to ask whether I myself might be complicit in wickedness?
Distraction, lack of self-reflection, self-righteousness—these attitudes and behaviors get in the way of the joy the Psalmist expresses when he writes: “Happy are those who live in your house,/ever singing your praise.” (Psalm 84:4)
The house of the Lord is truly a sacred space when, with penitent hearts oriented towards God, we can proclaim that “a day in your courts is better/than a thousand elsewhere./ I would rather be a doorkeeper in the/house of my God/than live in the tents of wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10)
Faithfully,
—Deacon Susan
