The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.

Normally, I focus o­n the people in the story and speak about Anna and Simeon waiting for the baby. Or the gentle, holy family lined up waiting with their pigeons with all the other holy families who were waiting to make their offering that day. I?m not going to do that this morning, today I want to talk about the temple itself and the idea of having temples.

What, in fact, I am going to do is speak about some of my experiences of going to temples, mostly churches, whilst I was o­n a recent four day break in London.

If anyone asks you what the sermon was today, you must tell them I was preaching o­n the theme, ?Oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness?. For those of you who are actually here, or reading o­nline, you know that the sermon is really about what Kelvin did o­n his holidays!
So, anyway, there I was in London. Sunday morning, what do you do? Go to church. So off I set. I looked up in o­ne of the papers somewhere where I thought there might be some good music and a good sermon and off I went. And I arrived at the door of the church and was faced not with the smiling face of a friendly rector. Nor by the welcomers or sidespeople brandishing service books and encouraging grins. No, I was met with 2 uniformed security guards.

?I?m sorry sir, you cannot come in today.?

?Oh dear?, says I. ?Why not?.

?Well sir, you cannot come in because there is a service o­n and there is no visiting today?.

Now, I must admit to being perplexed by this. For eventually I established my credentials as someone who for some unlikely reason wanted to attend the service and managed to get in. And the service went ahead and was kind of lovely. Kind of. Yet almost all the pews were empty and throughout the service, which did indeed have some lovely music and quite a good sermon, there was the gentle murmur of security guards telling people at the door that they could not enter.

I still find this perplexing. I wonder what you would say if I asked you what the holiest part of the church was. My guess is that almost everyone would point up to the altar. I have a suggestion for you today. Consider that the church threshold might just be the holiest part of the building.

It is the threshold and it a two way threshold. It is the entry point to all that is holy inside, sure enough. The entry point for people to find a welcome and find their way in. In to faith and in to holiness. And in to awe and in to relationship hopefully with God?s people.

But that threshold works both ways. It is the threshold of the world. And it is the place, when we step out of this temple, where we step into God?s world as we leave. Going out to discover a God who has gone before us. Out to share faith and discovery and hope. Out into the world as Christ bearers like Mary & Joseph and Christ discovers like Simeon and Anna.

The threshold. The meeting place between church and world. A two way threshold.

Which brings me to another place of worship o­n my recent trip. I was staying near Kensington and decided to look in o­n the worship of the Russian Cathedral. And stepping through the doors of the church, I discovered myself in another world. The orthodox hold that going into a church is stepping into heaven itself. And for the first time, I knew what they were talking about. There was a timeless other world. A world of personal devotion and corporate expectation which was a thrill. (It was the week of Christian Unity, and for o­nce, I did feel excited by something).

I was particularly attracted by the music, which I had expected to be sung by big butch monks with beards. In fact it was some of the most gentle church music I?ve ever heard and sung by a mixed choir with not a beard in sight.

But the worship made me realise how much the setting can matter. I know that it is very modern to say that buildings don?t matter and that we could worship anywhere. Well, I?m sure we can find God anywhere. But if you have that notion in your heart, remember the tradition of the Bible. Read the reading from Malachi. All about the beauty of holiness. The coming of the Lord is like the scrubbing of the temple until it glistens and shines. The coming of the Lord is like gold and silver. o­ne of the places in which God?s people meet their God is in their devotion and offering.

I know quite a few people who say that they feel closest to God whilst doing simple acts of service in church. Cleaning or polishing or getting things all ready for the faithful.

And I thank God, (No, I really do thank God, that is not just a figure of speech). I really do thank God that I am a part of a community which keeps the temple of the Lord looking beautiful and fit for the king of kings.

Such is devotion. Worship means to bend the knee in the bible. Whether we bend the knee in prayer or bend the knee in service to God and all of God?s people, when the knee is bent the heart is turned towards our God and we face a new little epiphany. A new discovery of god.

Now, the last temple that I want to tell you about was Tate Modern, a huge art gallery in London created out of a power station. Some of you have read what I though about it already o­nline, but I think this is worth bringing into our worship today as we think of the holy family, Mary and Joseph and the child coming into the awesome space of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Tate modern stands opposite St Pauls, that great testament of faith of Christopher Wren which has sold its soul and installed turnstiles to keep people out and charge the people who want to pray. They would be better to cross to the art gallery over the river, with its vast cathedral space inside.

There is an installation there at the moment called the weather project ? there is a sun made up of streetlights at the far end and a vast mirror overhead at great height. Clouds of mist are pumped into the air and hang like incense. The hopes and prayers of the people make the place holy, for people have been going there to chill out. They lie o­n the floor and gaze upwards into the mirror above them. And there is the most extraordinary atmosphere of holiness. People making shapes with their bodies o­n the floor to spell their names out. People waving to o­ne another and reflected in the mirror. And all the while, a gentle hush and reverence.

People looking up to find something great and mystical find themselves. They have a new sense of perspective.

If we don?t provide people with good enough temples, they will make their own.

There is awe. Amazement. Quiet. Reverence. Gentle Laughter.

The characteristics of holiness.

If you want to see it, check the picture o­n the website.

For now though, join me in wondering how to create spaces where people can meet God. For temples there will be. And the Lord comes to them and meets his people there. In holy spaces carved out of time and circumstance, there people find God now, just as much as then.

Inspired by the spirit, let us build spaces into our lives to meet the Lord our God. The light of the world. The Child of his Time and Ours. And he will meet us there. The Lord whom we seek; suddenly, in his temple.

Amen.

Jesus took hold of the scroll ? a Hebrew scroll. And every eye was on him as he unrolled them and read from them.

He managed to find in them the news of salvation. News that referred to himself. He read to the people from the words which were their own. His sermon was short. ?Today,? he said, ?scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing?.

Today, here in Bridge of Allan, we must search the scriptures for God. Today we must open the scrolls. Unroll the text and read for ourselves from God?s word and with quiet souls look for God to speak to us in them.
It is hard not to be thinking about the tragedy that has come to the Price family this week. And there are others amongst us who have hard things to think about at the moment too. As death and loss are such a part of this life?s sorrows, I thank God that I do not belong to a church which preaches as some seem to do, the eternal smug happiness of the believer. Sometimes things happen or news comes which is the saddest one could hear and sometimes it is right to take that sadness into our prayers and to search in our souls and in our bibles for God?s compassion. Sometimes we have to hold on tight and listen for God to speak whilst our hearts are sad. This week, I am searching the scriptures trying to hear God when grief is raw.

As I search the scriptures I find Paul?s magnificent description of the people of God likened to one body. Each of us different yet each with a part to play. Each of us uniquely made by God and each sharing in the work of God.

This week, this week when grief is raw, I have known and seen God?s people acting as a body. Some listening for God. Some praying to God. Some doing practical things. Some standing by and waiting and watching, looking for the time, the right time to do what is needed. I shall come back to that in a moment, but let us just look at Nehemiah for while.

We hear little from the book of Nehemiah in our set Bible readings ? it so happens that on this Sunday we are told something simple. Nehemiah is the story of discovery, which is why we get it at this time of Epiphany. The story is a simple one. The people, gathered as God?s people rediscover their faith through the discovery once again of a book which had been lost which contains the word of the Lord.

And you can feel the excitement building through the story, of which we have only a part this morning.

The word of the Lord comes to them anew and from then on their eyes and ears are opened to a new work of God. And celebration and excitement and worship and awe. The word of the law is holy. And holy things fill people with both awe and laughter.

It so happens that it is on this Sunday we are reminded that however hard things are, however sad things are, however difficult things are, God is still to be discovered. We are reminded too that very often God comes to his people gathered corporately. I have often told you to beware of those who preach a saviour whose grace is merely personal. Today, we learn of the people discovering God anew in the assembly. Gathered together, they discovered the Lord. We have Paul telling us how the body of God, all his people need one another and are knitted together in unity. Gathered together we do the work of our God. And we have the people in the synagogue discovering God?s word and work anew in a dramatic way. Gathered together, they found the Messiah, the Suffering Servant, was in their midst.

We meet between Christmas just gone and Easter, still to come. God?s coming and God?s salvation. Incarnation & Salvation. Two aspects of the one occurrence ? God?s utter determination to be with us through everything. The utterness of God?s commitment. The utterness of God?s love. We meet in Epiphany, the time when we discover God.

Epiphany is a season where we celebrate the recognition of God?s coming, God?s presence in the world. Each of the bible readings this morning is a little Epiphany, a little revelation of God.

Epiphany is light itself. Sometimes we can forget the depth of the darkness into which God?s light is shone. Light which consumes and conquers sure enough, but darkness which is real all the same. This week our challenge is to find our own Epiphany. Our own revelation of God when hearts are sad and some of God?s people feel broken.

Jesus unrolled the scriptures, and read to the people and found Gospel. Found himself described in fact.

Now, we unroll another scroll and look at words which Jesus did not have access to ? Paul?s comments in the first letter to the Corinthians.

And we find Paul working out the Epiphany message ? that God?s Love is open to all, accessible to all.

Whatever you may hear and whatever you are told, know this: that God loves you and cares for you enough to incorporate you into himself for evermore. Jew or Greek. Slave of free. You or me! Paul is telling us that not one of the distinctions which God?s people might be tempted to make between themselves whilst on this earth are known and acknowledged by the creator God who made them.

We are one. One people and one body.

It is not too difficult to give thanks to God for Paul?s image of the body working ? here a hand, there a foot, there and eye.

We are one. And we work for the Lord.

We cannot all do the same thing. Though we can all watch and wait and pray. Paul reminds us that we were created ? all different and all individual and all special. Unique in fact. And, paradoxically, Paul reminds us that in one way at least, we are all the same. Loved by our maker. Loved by the one who created us.

Gathered into one.

Baptized into one body.

Redeemed along with every creature by God?s grace into a kingdom where all are one in faith and hope and love.

And this I believe.

This I believe when grief is raw. That we are loved. That we are precious. That God is with us. And if it were not true when grief is raw then it is not worth knowing at all.

On this day know this, that your God has come to us.

On this day know that your God loves you.

On this day know that God gathers us into one body.

On this day know that God is there to be discovered.

On this day know that the we are a people, a gathered people, who have a God who brings comfort.

For his compassion embraces all people. His law is wisdom and freedom. For in his word we find life itself. For anointed by the Spirit, we now proclaim it. This day and every day. Amen.