Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Tabernacles

Passage: Leviticus 23:33-44

For eight of the first nine years of my married life I was a student. My wife and I lived on part-time salaries and paid tuition bills. Our reality was one of austerity.
Lean times and hard times teach us lessons. Lessons about how to survive; lessons about how to trust; lessons about how to find abundant joy in the absence of abundance. When times of abundance return, it pays to hold on to reminders. Reminders of the lean times and the lessons learned therein.

The defining era in the life of God’s people is their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. A lean time to end all lean times. During this journey the Israelites travel without extra provisions in a dry and inhospitable wilderness. The stuff of sustenance is scarce. They are fed bread that literally falls from heaven; water that is squeezed from stones by the hand of God. The relief of emerging into a land of lush greenery, of lakes and streams, is unfathomable.

And yet who can fathom the wonder of seeing one’s daily bread appear on the ground every morning; water burst forth from the rock at just the moment when it seems all is lost? The very presence of God rendered in fire and cloud? What would you give up to experience these miracles?

God gives his people the gift of the wilderness. And then, lest they forget, God gives them an annual reminder. A festival. For one week every year God’s people return to the tents that sheltered them all those cold nights in the desert. For that week they sleep on the hard ground. They offer up to God the bounty of their land: grain and livestock, fruit and foliage. For that week they remember their precious journey out of slavery into freedom. Out of hunger and into satiety. In the Festival of Tabernacles – tents – they once again celebrate the sustaining generosity and abundance not of their new land, but of the God who brought them there. The God who protects and provides for his people in every time and every place, throughout every moment of their journeys.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Heaven on Earth

Passage: Exodus 39:32-43

The Israelites are in the middle of a long trek from Egypt to the Promised Land. Their surroundings are spare and bleak – it’s the wilderness. In this setting God gives his people explicit directions for the construction of a “meeting place”; a space that serves the exclusive purpose of communion with God. God accounts for every last detail – down to the fringes of the garments worn by his attendants. God goes to great lengths to describe each furnishing; gives strict instructions about who may and who may not serve in this meeting place. The bulk of four full chapters of Exodus are devoted to God’s plans for the Tabernacle.

Most contemporary readers either skip these chapters, skim them quickly, or read them only to scratch their heads when they’ve finished reading. Why the detail? What does it matter how they built the Tabernacle? Doesn’t it suffice to say “it was pretty fancy”, and move on?

We easily miss the point of these passages. God’s intended purpose for the Tabernacle is to provide an approximation of heaven on earth. Worshipers who enter the Tabernacle have the experience of stepping into a different world. Think about the attention to detail that goes into the creation of a place like Disney World. Everything from the brick in the walkways to the costumes of the attendants to the music on the PA system to the food in the restaurants is designed to transport the visitor. Everything from paint selection to personnel selection serves this purpose. When you step through the front gates, you’re stepping into a different world.
The one thing God communicates to his people repeatedly is that they belong to a different world. The inconceivable contrast between the wilderness and the interior of the tabernacle points to the inconceivable contrast between heaven and earth. God says, “This is where you belong; this is the way it was meant to be. Hold out for better.”

God goes on to tell his people to mirror the contrast between outside world and Tabernacle/Temple in their behavior in the world. In the same way that the interior of the Tabernacle symbolizes the perfection of heaven, the life of God’s people reflects something of the goodness of heaven. This goodness is expressed in generosity; compassion for the weak and marginalized; care for the poor; affirmation of every member of society. The society of the Israelites stands in stark contrast to that of their neighbors. It is God’s intent that when the nations of the world look at the Israelites, they catch a glimpse of heaven on earth.
This is God’s intention for the church, too. The authors of the New Testament remind the church repeatedly that they have taken over the role of the temple. By their conduct, their service, and their worship, Christians everywhere give the world a picture of heaven. In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul says,
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
In 1 Peter 2, Peter tells the church,
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Jesus Christ calls his followers to model the new way of the Kingdom of God. This new way stands in stark contrast to the way of a world preoccupied with self-protection, financial success, physical beauty, and military strength. The new way is characterized by self-sacrifice, compassion, mercy, and generosity. The job of the church is not to stamp out and condemn sin; our job is to model, here and now, life in the Kingdom of God. Heaven on earth. This is what people experience when they meet us and spend time with us. This is what we offer when we welcome people into the fellowship of our homes and our places of worship. As a "city on a hill", we are a beacon of light that attracts any who are tired of the darkness of a world bound in sin. We belong to a different Kingdom. We represent God's offer of transport from the bleakness of the wilderness to the beauty of heaven.