Jesus’ forbears had an ambivalent relationship with temples and houses of worship. On the one hand, the human impulse to “contain” God led to shrines and tabernacles on a grand scale. On the other hand, as King David was to find out, God challenged the very notion of permanent sanctuaries: “Did I ever ask you for a temple? From the beginning, I have lived in tents as my people have wandered” (2 Sam. 7:6-7, ap). Because of his vanity, David never sees the Temple. It was left to Solomon as an engineering feat. Today we read Solomon’s prayer of dedication.
The great mystery of God’s presence is that even though the “highest heaven cannot contain” God, this very God chooses to stoop down and “dwell on the earth.” The One who is great becomes small and makes a home in a “down-to-earth” dwelling.
Even so, nothing made by human hands is permanent. God’s presence is always hidden in things that are transitory. The saying “this too shall pass away” applies to all our temples and monuments. The only remnant of Solomon’s great Temple complex is the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
My home church burned to the ground in January 2009. Because the congregation had already dwindled in size and shared a pastor with a nearby church, the members decided not to rebuild. Instead, they donated the insurance money to a variety of missions. All that remains on the site is a small memorial of park benches, a garden, and the relic of the bell tower. And yet, like the faith of the ancestors of Solomon’s Temple, the church’s ministry lives on through those who carry out God’s work in the world.