1 Kings 8:1,6,10-11,22-30,41-43
Psalm 84:1-6
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69

The story of the building of Solomon’s temple does not tell us what went into the planning or the design, but it took seven years to build. It was built as the fulfillment of God’s promise to David that his son would build a house of the Lord. The chapters leading up to our reading today describe the design and materials used. Picture this. The walls were of dressed stone finished at the quarry so that the temple site itself would not be noisy with the sound of tools. The beams and roof were of cedar brought from Lebanon, and the whole interior was lined with wood and overlaid with decoration including carvings of palm trees, flowers and cherubim all covered with gold onlay.

Precious olivewood and pure gold were used in the inner sanctuary where the Ark of the Covenant was to dwell; the symbol of God’s abiding presence with the people. Two large cherubim filled the room, their outstretched wings extending from wall to wall, and seeming to hover over where the Ark would sit. This would be an area that only the priests would enter, and ordinary people could only imagine or hear described. Once the building was finished, it was furnished with bronze vessels, a golden altar and table, and gold cups, and dishes for incense and all the other items necessary for worship. So much attention to detail; so much skilled labor to make it all happen! Only the best and most beautiful materials used!

Finally the day comes when all is ready. A great festival is held. Solomon and the people gather, and with much ceremony the ark, the sign of God’s presence in their midst, is carried from the tent of David into the inner sanctuary of the temple, the most holy place, by the priests. Imagine the music and the noise of the celebration; the singing and the horns. And when the priests come out smoke fills the whole house, the cloud signifying the presence of the glory of the Lord.

Yet even as he celebrates the finishing of the house he has built for the Lord, Solomon in his prayer before the people is only too aware that no house built by hands, not even the whole earth or highest heaven can contain God. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built.” God is so much bigger and more mysterious than can be imagined; a God who created all that is and cannot be confined to any one place. Yet it is in this place, so carefully conceived and constructed, that the people of Israel and even strangers will gather to pray to God - and Solomon’s prayer is that this God who keeps covenant will hear, heed and forgive – will indeed be present as promised, will listen, respond and restore relationship with all who worship.

For the past several months two groups in the parish have been meeting regularly planning and designing the changes that will take place as we renovate this sanctuary and entryway, and also prepare to begin our third Sunday liturgy in the parish hall next month. I have two bulging notebooks of minutes and jottings, and many e-mail messages accumulated in folders in my inbox that reflect the care and consideration going into these processes, the attention to detail and the finding of skilled craftspeople and advisors.

You have seen the changes begun in the parish hall – mostly so far the removal of all that is extraneous or less than beautiful. Soon you will see, and help make happen, new paint on the walls, new plantings outside, a spruced up ramp which will be our entry way leading to a new door with a large glass panel. Chairs and new lighting have been ordered, an altar and ambo handcrafted, vestments and hangings begun. A choir is forming, and new music and liturgies being written.

In Solomon’s temple the inner sanctuary was partitioned off and only the priests could enter. Here we are doing everything to make the space open and inviting. We are preparing a new holy place, an inner sanctuary for the people of God and the strangers who come to gather; a place of beauty and mystery in which to worship and receive the Word of God in the reading of scripture, the prayers and the breaking of bread. And we know that the God who keeps promises will indeed be in our midst.

Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread your ancestors ate and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever”

It is to a people steeped in the traditions of temple worship that Jesus speaks in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel that we have been hearing for the past four weeks. The crowds are following him because they saw the signs he was doing for the sick. He teaches and heals and they are fascinated. He feeds five thousand with a few barley loaves and fish and they follow him across the sea. He tells them “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” and they start to have doubts about him and what he is saying.

This is not what they expect to hear; this is not who they expect to come from heaven, this ordinary seeming man. They know who his parents are and where he comes from. And the crowds start to thin.

Jesus tells them “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”, and some of those remaining argue among themselves about how this is possible.

“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them”. These are “difficult” words for anyone to hear, even those of us who recognize them as John’s institution of the Eucharist. How can the God who made all things, who is so big and mysterious that no image can be made, who cannot be named, and who cannot be contained in the Temple or the whole of the heavens be present in the flesh, be eaten and absorbed into our flesh until we abide in each other?

For even some of the disciples this is too hard, and many turn back – back to the old expectations and the old ways.

Take, eat. This is my body given for you. Drink. This is my blood shed for you.

Absorb me into yourselves. Be that inner sanctuary, that holy place. Become what you eat. Abide in me and I in you, and you will have life, now and forever.

The offer and promise come from the God who cannot be contained, and yet walked among us in ordinary flesh; who comes to us in our ordinary selves, our very bodies, not just spiritually, but physically. Who chooses us as a dwelling place even when we are not beautiful; when our inner sanctuaries are still cluttered and unkempt; with all of our fears and doubts, our jealousies and hatreds, our resentments and longings; and when there are still secret rooms we are not sure we want to open.

Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God”.

Take, eat. God’s holy gifts for God’s holy people. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”

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