Dear St. John's Community,
The apostle Paul had a day job, and that was making tents. (It is only mentioned in one place, in the book of Acts.) Remembering this detail about his life makes his words to the Corinthians even more vivid:
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling--if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked.
For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Cor. 5:1-4)
The tent imagery is about our mortal bodies, of course, but you can take it beyond. I am thinking about buildings and streets as well.
Seeing images of town squares in Italy that are empty, and walking past churches that cannot be used in our own city, is to behold empty, beautiful tents. And it's a reminder of the difference between those things that are containers, and the precious things they are meant to contain. (Like the difference between the church building, and the congregation that blesses it with its presence.)
We are right to care about and tend to good architecture and good gathering spaces, just like it is good for us to take care of our bodies. But the containers are not the ultimate thing. They are temporal, and the life that God blesses us with is eternal.
***
Worship at St. John's virtually.
It appears that our first-ever online worship experience this weekend was a success! A lot of people tuned in, and I have been getting notes from people from across the country who tell me it was a nourishing worship experience. If you'd like to experience the service again, or for the first time, click
here
or on the image below. And feel free to share this with others.
