The dwelling place of God

Thought for parish pew slip 07/10/07 - Dedication Sunday

Readings: 1 Chronicles 29:6-19 Ephesians 2: 19-22 John 2: 13-22

Today we have the readings for Dedication Sunday, when we give thanks to God for the buildings that we have set aside for the worship of God.
In our reading from 1Chronicles we hear about King David, who had brought the Israelites out of their years as a wandering tribe, and established them in the city of Jerusalem. King David longed to replace the nomadic tent of the tabernacle with a permanent dwelling place for God in Jerusalem. The work of constructing the temple would be done by David’s son Solomon, but David made all the preparations. He drew up the plans and donated his personal treasury for the construction. In this passage we hear how the people responded with their own free will offering on a grand scale.
In Ephesians, St Paul points out similarities between the physical building up of the temple and the spiritual building up of the worldwide church. In Christ we are all being joined together into a spiritual building which is the dwelling place of God.
In the gospel reading Jesus reflects, with irony, that his own body is more truly the dwelling place of God than the temple in Jerusalem.