Today's Meditation
Read Exodus 40:18-33
18Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars; 19and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it; as the Lord had commanded Moses. 20He took the covenant and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy seat above the ark; 21and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the curtain for screening, and screened the ark of the covenant; as the Lord had commanded Moses. 22He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain, 23and set the bread in order on it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses. 24He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, 25and set up the lamps before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses. 26He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the curtain, 27and offered fragrant incense on it; as the Lord had commanded Moses. 28He also put in place the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. 29He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering as the Lord had commanded Moses. 30He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, 31with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. 32When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed; as the Lord had commanded Moses. 33He set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.
This morning's Old Testament Lectionary reading is an interesting one. At first glance it is rather boring. It is the specific arrangements that God made with Moses about the Tabernacle and how it would be set up for the people to come and worship God while they wandered in the desert, which they did for 40 years. But here is where I think it is interesting; our places of worship. Over the centuries people have worshiped God in various places. Some of them have been works of art, magnificent structures of wonder and achievement. I remember visiting Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, and Sacre Le Coeur in Paris, France. Amazing and glorious buildings that reach toward the heavens with wonder and splendor. The best artisans of the time offering their most sacred work for the people of God to awe at God's glory. Some have been simple places, barely a hut with 4 pews, a cross and an altar in the woods of New York, an intimate setting for travelers on hikes through the wilderness or an outdoor chapel in the mountains of Puerto Rico overlooking the most breathtaking landscape that God has designed, or an adobe church made of the only building material available, 6 ft thick mud in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There are thousands of examples of various church buildings all over the world - some plain, some fancy, some extravagant, some humble. And now our little churches at home where we pray and worship God singly or with our families. Over those centuries, those millenia that people have worshipped God, it hasn't mattered where or in what the people of God worshipped, what has mattered is that they have simply worshipped Him.
May God's Spirit be upon you today.
How Great Thou Art - featuring Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill
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