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Today is Palm Sunday, and if you had told me a month ago that this is where we would be on Palm Sunday, I doubt that I would have believed it. On the other hand, I will add this comment – every year on Palm Sunday, we just can’t get the palm processional correct. There is always something that goes wrong. Five or six years ago was especially bad. We had a large group of adults and kids dressed in costumes, all with palm branches, a person to portray Jesus, and we were ready to have a great processional. For some reason, we had divided them into two groups. One group – which only had four or five people – was with me, waiting outside the door by the piano. The other group – if I am remembering correctly – was in the foyer. My group was to come in first, followed by the others. No one seems to know exactly what went wrong, but after my group went in, the other group did not enter. David was playing the processional music, people are looking around, and in comes this small group of four or five people, waving their palm branches and half-heartedly shouting, Jesus is coming!while wondering what had happened to the rest of the processional. For whatever reason, Jesus wasn’t coming, and neither was the rest of the crowd. It was a rather sad little group of a few people trying to serve as the crowd for the Triumphal Entry. The music ended, we move on to the next part of the service – which was either a song or the time of greeting – and in the middle of the next part of the service, in comes Jesus and the rest of the crowd, late for the Triumphal Entry. All of that to say, this year, if we got it wrong, it really narrows down whose fault it is!
Are you tired of this? Tired of the empty seats and the necessity of staying home? I sure am, to be quite honest. Let us remember that on the first Palm Sunday, a lot of people were tired of a lot of things – oppression, hunger, struggle, injustice. You name it, the people faced it, and they were tired of it.
This morning, we continue the series of messages titled The Journey. For this week’s message, I borrowed the first word of the title – (W)Here – but I don’t remember where I saw it, so I can’t give credit where credit is due, unfortunately. When I saw the word, I liked the idea of combining the words whereand here, and decided to use that combination of words because this week’s message is about the construction of the Tabernacle, which lends itself to the use of that word.
If you are not familiar with the Tabernacle, it was a tent constructed by the Hebrew people to serve as a portable house of worship while they journeyed through the wilderness. The Tabernacle was very significant for several reasons, but perhaps the most notable reason is that it helped the people to understand that God was with them wherever they went, hence the combination word, (w)here – where we are, God is here. I know you find that to be a comforting thought, as do I.
I will be reading from chapters 35 and 36 of the book of Exodus. Once again, this week I am selecting verses out of those two chapters, because the story of the construction of the Tabernacle is a lengthy story. If you have your Bible or device, I invite you to follow along as I read, from Exodus 35:4-5, 10, 20-21; 36:2-7, and then we’ll talk about some of the lessons we learn from the experiences of the people as they constructed the Tabernacle while wandering in the wilderness –
4 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded:
5 From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering
10 “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded:
20 Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence,
21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work.
3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.
4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing
5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more,
7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
Lesson #1 – God is where his people are.
One of the significances of the Tabernacle was its portability, which helped to reinforce the idea that God was with the people wherever they traveled. In later years, when the people were settled into the Promised Land and the Temple became the center for worship, the people were more prone to believe that God was confined to one place, i.e., the Temple. In fact, when the people were later taken into captivity in Babylon, they feared that God would not be with them, and they would be out of God’s reach. What they learned, thankfully, was that God is wherever his people are, and is not confined to any one place. Later, during the time between the end of the Old Testament era and the time of Jesus, the synagogue rose to prominence, leading to worship taking place in many areas. The synagogue becomes, for us, a precursor of sorts for the church, as our worship is, to a great extent, modeled on that of the synagogue.
One of the lessons of today’s Scripture text is that God is with us in whatever way, or place, that we worship. As we have been reminded during this time of the coronavirus, we can worship even when we are not together physically. Although corporate worship is our preferred way, we are managing. Worship, we have been reminded is very, very adaptable. We worship when we can, where we can, and how we can. The early church adapted to their circumstances – persecution by the Roman Empire – by entering into the catacombs to worship. It was certainly not their preferred way, but they were able to worship. In other parts of our world, where the church must again meet in secret because of persecution, they do so, and they are able to worship. This situation in which we find ourselves is not what we want, but we can still worship. As much as we wish we were together, we are together in some fashion.
One of the lessons we are also learning is that some arguments over the past few decades about worship were, in great measure, the result of being in a time of plenty, of affluence, and of blessing. The arguments about what music style is the “correct” style; the format of worship services, such as the struggle between traditional and contemporary; that all seems now to be a result of privilege, and a time when we had so many choices. Now that those choices have been taken away, we are happy to take what we can get. And I am very grateful for what we have, even if it is not what we prefer.
And I hope against hope that the church – the church universal – does not have a short memory when this crisis is over. Just as the people forgot the lesson of the Tabernacle teaching that God was wherever the people were, I hope we do not forget the lessons we are learning, and that we have already learned. I hope we do not jump headlong back into life as it was, quickly setting aside the lesson learned in our difficulty.
The Hebrew people learned, where the people were, there was God. The psalmist called them back to that promise, many years later, after many had forgotten. Psalm 139:1-7 says –
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Lesson #2 –There is nothing to separate us from God.
Romans 8:31-39 says,
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I don’t know when that passage first lodged in my mind, but I know it was a long time ago. It was probably at a week of church camp, if I were to make a guess. I do remember being encouraged to memorize a passage of Scripture at camp one year, and this passage from Romans was the one I chose, and it has been my favorite for a long time, providing me with a great deal of comfort, encouragement, and strength over the years. Every Bible I have ever used has had that passage marked, highlighted, and the page turned over so I could quickly get to it.
I know that when Paul talks of all that is unable to keep us from the love of God it was only a partial list; he could have added a great deal to the list, as could we. We could say neither the coronavirus, or social distancing, or isolating at home, and all of the other phrases that have now become commonplace, and to which we will be happy to bid farewell when the time comes. The Hebrew people, as they wandered through the wilderness, could have added to the list as well – neither wilderness, or uncertainty, or want, or fear, and on and on they could have gone.
For the Hebrew people, the time in the wilderness was a very unsettling time. Imagine – a generation of wandering in the wilderness! We have been in this situation, what, about a month? And in saying that, I am not at all making light of what has happened, because it has been deadly and disastrous for many, many people. But imagine what it must have been like to struggle for a generation!
But they made it, even though it was not easy and was not without many struggles. Wandering in the wilderness for a generation shaped them in powerful ways, just as this time will shape us in powerful ways. Yes, it is not easy, but there will be, miraculously, some measure of blessing that will come from this time.
I have heard, as I always do in times of struggle, some people ask the question, where is God? I do not, however, ask the question where is God?and I hope you do not either. God is where God has always been – with us. This is the meaning of one of the names of Jesus,Emmanuel, God with us. Isn’t that beautiful? Where is God? God is in the hospitals in New York City, the epicenter of the epidemic. God is with the patients. God is with the nurses, providing them with an extra measure of strength and fortitude. God is with the doctors, as they struggle to keep up with the overwhelming number of patients. God is everywhere in that city. God is with the workers everywhere who are struggling to produce the supplies that are so greatly needed. God is with the families who cannot get into the hospitals to see their loved ones. God is with those who are caring for their neighbors. We do not have to question where God is, because God is wherever people are and God is wherever there is suffering. Let us, then, pray that when we come out of this time our hearts will remain as full of compassion, as full of concern, as full of empathy, and as full of love as they have been in these recent weeks, as we have seen the ways in which God is with us.
Worship is essential.
In the past weeks, there has been a lot of debate about what constitutes an essential business or an essential trip out of the house. Some churches are rebelling against the idea that their worship services are not considered to be essential. And yet, here we are, worshipping. Are we not able to worship? Of course we can! Are we not gathered together in this moment? Of course we are! Don’t fall for those who claim this is about infringing on religious freedom or that our failure to gather together reflects a lack of trust in God. Listen, I look both ways before I cross the street so that I don’t get run over, although these days I probably don’t have to look because of a lack of traffic. Some things aren’t faith; they are simply common sense. God gave us brains and assumed we would use them and expects us to use them. The churches – which are not the majority, I should point out, but only a small minority – who continue to encourage people to come and meet in large groups are not demonstrating faithfulness to God as much as they are demonstrating a lack of good sense. If they want to demonstrate their faith, why aren’t they walking across a busy highway with their eyes closed?
Last week I mentioned the temptations of Jesus, when he went into the wilderness after his baptism. Do you remember the second temptation? Matthew 4:5-7 says,
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you,and they will lift you up in their hands,so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Inviting people to join together in a group at this moment in time sounds, to me, a lot like tempting God. Yes, worship is essential. But stay home, and worship electronically!
And let me say this as well – I do not believe God has caused the crisis in which we are now living. I know there are people who will pronounce it as God’s punishment upon humanity, but I do not believe that to be the truth. I do believe, however, that such a time as this can be used by God to teach us what we might not otherwise have been open to learning and also to lead us to where we might not otherwise have been willing to go. I do not, however, believe the coronavirus has been sent by God to punish us, even though that is a common belief at this time. I don’t have time to go into detail about why I do not believe this, but you can contact me and I’ll be happy to explain my view.
When the people were wandering through the wilderness, it was a time when they had to focus on life’s essentials. And I should add that when I mention wilderness, it was not the wilderness we would think of. To us, wilderness means a vast forest, which would be full of what people need to survive. In a forest, food could be found, water would be plentiful, and resources for shelter and other needs would be abundant. The wilderness in the book of Exodus, however, was more like a desert. It was a harsh and barren landscape, with very limited supplies of food, water, shelter, and other provisions. God provided their food through manna (and that is one of the stories we will study) but the wilderness was a very harsh environment in which to survive for a generation.
God provided the Tabernacle because life – even life in the midst of a crisis – is about more than survival. It is about more than meeting the needs of the crisis of the moment. The people needed to be reminded of the spiritual side of life, which can never be forgotten. And the people understood this, which is why they responded in such an overwhelming way. Verses 4 – 7 of this morning’s text says, 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing
5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more,
7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
The people responded because they knew there was more to life than just food and water and shelter. We are spiritual beings, which means that worship is essential. Worship is always central to our lives, especially in difficult times. While wandering through the wilderness, the people could easily have become consumed with everyday survival, to the exclusion of worship, but they were not.
Here is one of the many reasons why worship is essential – there’s a lot to process right now, and when this is all over, there’s going to be an overwhelming amount to process, especially grief. The grief of not being with a loved one when they passed away. The grief of not being permitted to visit a loved one in a nursing home or a hospital. The grief of a job loss. The grief of a business that fails.
I am very grateful for science and medicine to help us in the battle against this terrible disease, but we are not just people of biology and flesh and blood. The medical cure will absolutely come. There will be a vaccine. There will be a cure. There is not, however, a vaccine for the grief that is here, and is yet to come.
Never forget, then, that God is here. Do not doubt that truth. (W)Here we are, God is here!
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