March 3 Worship: "The Tabernacle, by God's Design"

We broke out of the snowstorm doldrums on Sunday.  I think many people were excited to be out of the house on a sunny, if still cold, day after the past couple of weeks.  Several people commented about how many people were in worship; for better of for worse, I guess I didn't think much about it -- I just expect people to join for worship whenever they can.  (You know, pastors and their crazy expectations....)

We continued our Lenten sermon series on the Hebrews time in the wilderness.  In particular, we focused on God's instructions for how they would place worship at the center of their community, beginning with instructions to take an offering to gather the materials for the tabernacle and the instructions for the Ark of the Covenant.  As you may have noticed on Sunday, the more I have read this passage recently, the more struck I have become by the fact that God begins with instructions for an offering of valuable materials.  Giving, at least for the Israelites, was the beginning of their worship -- I think, as I mentioned Sunday, because it forced them to demonstrate that a relationship with God had value and importance.  (And, while I didn't mention it on Sunday, I think that the elaborate decorations of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant were required for the same reason -- by the gold and jewels, people would know there was something important to be found here.)  A couple of people asked after the service where the Hebrews got this valuable jewels and precious metals, given that they were slaves.  According to Exodus 12, the Egyptians were so anxious to have the Israelites leave the country after the plagues, that they gave them anything they asked, including silver and gold.

With the talk about giving money, time, and energy to God, I hope that the other lessons drawn from this scripture were not overlooked.  First, there is the reminder that God constantly works to change our expectations about God's being and God's possibilities through our worship; with the Hebrews, he began by changing their idea of God's physical location, from living on Mt. Sinai to dwelling (somehow) on the mercy seat atop the Ark of the Covenant.  Second, and this is where the purity codes, which dictated who could worship in the tabernacle and how they could worship, apply: God seems, throughout the course of the Bible, to be drawing humanity ever closer.  (Ironically, even though the purity codes are filled with all sorts of examples of who many not come to God, the existence of the code was actually an invitation for people -- at least those who behaved in certain ways -- to approach God in the manner of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.)

If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can find an audio recording here.