Construction through conversation
A reflection for Sunday 13th of November
First a bit of background. When Luke sits down at his study desk to write today’s gospel, he is painfully aware of the persecution of the early Christian church. Hence he gives this rather ominous warning to his readers.
“They will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.”
Today I think the attacks on Christians are a little more subtle, but they are no less effective, but that’s not what I want to talk about today.
At the start of the gospel reading, Jesus and his chums are having a little tour around the temple in Jerusalem. It must have been a pretty glamorous temple and there were lots of oohs and aaahsss. ‘Look at the lovely gargoyle or the workmanship of that cornice’.
And it got me thinking about the different sorts of temples that we have today. There are our lovely Churches and some very grand stately homes. You can probably think of some other fine landmark buildings in the area.
But there are also things that we speak of that are ‘temple-like’ in their beauty.
It might be a piece of jewellery, our home, our family or even our own bodies. The Master reminds us that the day will come when all these things will no longer exist and “all will pass away”. Our pride and adoration of earthly things have the potential to distract us from God, the one we truly adore. The trick is to continuously remind ourselves of who gave us these things in the first place. Can you see God in them? Isn’t it splendid that we have a generous God who gives us the skill to create exquisite things to enjoy?
But ultimately we look forward to the time when we won’t need these temples to help us see God. We will see him face to face, as He really is.
So this week you might like to think about what are your temples and how they show you something of the glory of God. Your temples might be something really simple. Like a flower or broken bread, the face of someone you love, or an unexpected stranger.
What are your temples? What are the things that you worship?
Now part of the reason why our places of worship are ‘temple-like’ is that they are the place where people encounter the living God. For us, this is the place where we encounter him in bread and wine, for that is what he promised. “This is my body”. “This is my blood.” Our Lord always chose his words very carefully and always meant what he said.
So my question is not just ‘What are your temples’? but ‘Where are your temples?’
Where are the places where you encounter the presence of the living Christ?
My next question is how do you build up a temple? And here I am thinking of the temple we call relationship.
When a new priest is inducted into a parish, Bishop Gary will often speak about the importance of conversations between priest and people. He will remind everyone that they are called to the very serious vocation of listening and conversation.
And I put it to you that these conversations are the building blocks of a very special temple. Crafted and hammered and chiselled and refined and polished, these conversations, these building blocks, become a temple, a relationship, where God is found, encountered, looked upon and rejoiced in. Just as surely as we find, encounter, look upon and rejoice in each other.
Something quite lovely and divine happens in conversations. In the construction through conversation, each one of us becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Just like Mother Mary you and I become the place where God dwells. We are the place where God moves and grows and transforms. And like the Blessed Virgin Mary you give God to the world. And you do this by both holding him and offering Him so that all may be richly sustained and become an even more exquisite temple than the one the disciples were admiring in the gospel.
So our loveliest temples are actually not built with rocks, stones and bricks. Our most wonderful temples are intangible, unshakeable constructs. They are invisible to the naked eye, but all the more gorgeous because they do not wear away, or fall down, or need a paint job, or the gutters need cleaning out.
One of the finest examples of this sort of temple is the marriage of an old couple of many years who through the burnt toast and the disappointments and triumphs, have built something together that is bigger, better and more sumptuous than the bride and groom themselves.
And it works the same way too with individuals who through their own conversations with the Master, have built something quite magnificent.
Sometimes those conversations occur in the silence of our hearts with no audible words ever being spoken. We gently rest comfortably in His presence as He is in us.
Sometimes in the conversation of the eucharist where the dialogue is always with the divine and always with each other.
These temples, these people really do exist and they are plentiful and enchanting.
And if you want to see someone who has built something more magnificent than the temple of Jerusalem, someone who has constructed it through conversation, then all you have to do is look in the mirror.