Sermon Video: "A house of prayer for all nations" - Mark 11:15-18

Having entered the Temple courts on Monday of Holy Week, before his upcoming time spent teaching the people there for the last time, Jesus drives out of the Court of the Gentiles those who were doing the business of the Law of Moses (selling kosher animals for sacrifices and exchanging foreign money for coins that could be put into the Temple treasury) in that supposedly sacred space.  Gentile converts, those who had chosen to join Judaism, could not enter the temple itself (warning signs on the entrances reminded them they'd be executed if they tried) and could only worship/pray to God from a greater distance than Jewish women, who were kept further away than Jewish men.  However, for convenience sake, the sacred space they're supposed to worship God in was turned into a marketplace (and a short-cut from one side of city to the other).  

Can a church negate the sacred nature of its house?  Certainly, among the way happens is: (1) By not making everyone welcome {racism, sexism, class divisions, unwelcome attitude toward ex-cons, those with addictions or questions about their sexuality, etc}, (2) Through a focus on perpetuating the ministry, primarily through emphasizing money, more than fellowship and worship, (3) through a focus on earthly power instead of God's kingdom, typically by making the church a Red Church or a Blue Church, or (4) by failing to be a place of Love and the Fruit of the Spirit (a spirtually dead church).  In each case, depending on the severity {a church could suffer from more than one, many do}, the worship done in that space is wasted, for naught.  

May God help us to see where we fall short, as a church, of creating/maintaining sacred space, and may God grant us the humility to change.

Is this place sacred? John 2:12-17

During our Wednesday night Bible study this week we were continuing through the Gospel of John and came to the passage where Jesus chases the merchants out of the temple courts with a homemade whip.  Aside from how cool that must have been, to see Jesus acting so counter to our conception of him as meek and mild (something we get more from religious art than from the Gospels), it led us to discuss our own sense of sacred places.
Do we have sacred places today?  Should our church sanctuary be treated like the Temple?
It is an interesting discussion to have because most people who enter into a place of worship get the feeling that it isn't just another room.  In some branches of Christianity there is an expectation of silence prior to services, maybe even lowered lighting to enhance the solemn mood.  In other Christian churches you'll enter into the sanctuary and be greeted with a cacophony of noise; from pre-worship music to boisterous laughter from the conversations going on all around you.  I've been a part of both, and I can tell you, it only takes a moment to realize which type you've walked into.  Are both styles treating the space with proper reverence?  What should we be doing/saying/thinking as we prepare to worship?
The simple answer is preparing your heart and mind to praise God, learn from the Scriptures, join in corporate prayer, and partake of the rituals which unite our faith (whether you call them a Sacrament or not).  I can see the value of both approaches.  To focus on God, silence helps.  To remember that you're a part of a family that God has created, the warmth of conversation among friends help too.  There isn't one right or wrong on this, the point is that God's people gather together in worship.  Whether they do it in an old store front or a magnificent Cathedral doesn't really matter.  Whether to do it to silence and candlelight or the beating of drums and the hum of old friends catching up doesn't really matter.
In the end, Jesus has replaced the need for animal sacrifices with his own; he has replaced the need for one central place of worship with the gift of the Holy Spirit to all believers, and he has elevated each humble place where we gather to worship into a sacred assembly.